Travel Tips Interview

With this week’s post I wanted to interview a friend of mine who has done a good bit of traveling in her life. She has been all around the South and even up to New York and the across the pond to London, England.
I figured it would be interesting to pick her brain a bit in how she successfully packs a bag for the airport, what makes her decided to travel to where she has been to, and what she feels she has learned and gained from traveling the world. I hope to one day go to half the places she has been to and seen. But until then, I will take listening in on the adventure!
https://youtu.be/GIFQt6HqOA8

Travel Checklist

The blog today is going to be a little bit of a different one. Today I will be giving a checklist of what a person should do when they go to a new place. Because, no matter how small a place is, if you plan it out correctly, you can make the most out of it.

1.      Look Up the Popular Areas:

When going to a new place, it is a good idea to look up the areas in the town that are popular as a start. Some people may be particular with this, because they want to only find obscure places. There is nothing wrong with tourist areas though. It will give you a good start to the adventure!

2.  .   Locate Local Shops:

Some of my favorite things to go to in new places are the local shops. A lot of the time the items in the shop are handmade by the owner and are not too expensive. This will give you a nice little memory of where you went to.

3.     Find Hidden Gems:

Now that you have seen the popular areas everyone knows about, try to find somewhere a little more obscure in the town you have found yourself in. Do not be afraid to ask a local resident of the town about places to go. You are more than likely to find a place from them than on the Internet. And you may make a new friend from it!

4.     Find a Place to Eat:

Something I almost always do when I go to a new place is find a place to eat. I usually try to eat at places that are unique to the town. Everywhere you go you will find a McDonald’s or Cookout, and so the locally owned restaurants are always nice to go to. And usually have fantastic food!

5.     Find Times Places Are Open:

This is a very important thing to remember, because I have definitely messed up on this a few times. If you know you are trying to go to a certain place, make sure to look up the open and closing times beforehand. I have shown up to a few places when they had already closed. It put a little bit of a damper on the trip.

6.     Be Ready for Anything:

No matter where you go, anything can happen. From a car mess-up to lack of money, it is best to be prepared for anything to go wrong or happen. It is best to make a checklist of everything before you travel anywhere. Especially to somewhere a good bit away.

I hope these are helpful tips and help make your next trip worthwhile!!

Goshen

There are many places I have been to where I did not know anything about the history of it. This is how most people, unfortunately, are when they go places. We just go through them and admire what has already been put in place who knows how long ago. Today I had the chance to go back to the city of Goshen, Alabama. A place I have been to quite a few times but knew nothing about.

The town was originally called Goshen Hill and it was quite a few miles from where it is located today. The town is actually one of the oldest towns in Pike County. The town was founded in the early 1820s. The land was very fertile and farmers were able to grow cotton, corn, peanuts, and hay for the cattle. And during the Civil War the land that Goshen Hill was on was used as training ground for Confederate soldiers.

During February of 1884, there was a tornado that came through the area and killed 26 people.

A railroad system was put in place in the area in 1890. Because of this, Goshen Hill moved closer to the tracks. Soon after this, the townspeople changed the name of the town to Goshen. The name was inspired by the biblical Land of Goshen. The town was settled around a public well in the center of the town.

Just like with most towns that I have found that acquired a railroad system, the town of Goshen grew in size by population and in the physical size of the town. So a built a new school, post office, a cotton gin, a sawmill, and several mercantile stores.

The town is not very large today. In a 2016 census, it was found there were around 343 people living in the town. It is a very small place.

The high school in Goshen actually just became a bicentennial school this year. Meaning that it has been around for 200 years. If you enjoy country cooking, Goshen has a very good restaurant called the Old Red Barn. I have only been once, but I thoroughly enjoyed it when I went.

There is not much to do in Goshen, but it has that small-town charm. It is at least worth the visit.

Animal Testing

For this weeks blog, it is going to be a little different. This week I want to talk about the issue of product testing on animals. Which, in my opinion at least, is unnecessary considering half the things they are put through in the testing process.
Many countries have begun to either ban animal testing or lower is so there is a reduction in the number of animals that suffer in labs. Countries such as Japan, the Netherlands, Germany, New Zealand and the UK have banned testing on chimpanzees or any great ape. In the US there is no ban. But in 2015, apparently, the last of the chimpanzees being tested on were sent to sanctuaries. The testing of cosmetics and other personal products has also been banned in quite a few countries in Europe and the Middle East.
Animal testing is also a practice that is very expensive. It was found that the National Institute of Health spends somewhere around $14.5 billion per year on animal experiments. And this money comes from taxpayers. But the NIH has gone down on the number of chimps they use in testing. So that is a start.
It has also been found that a decent amount of the time, the results found from testing on animals is not even transferable to humans. It was found by the US Food and Drug Administration that only 8% of drugs tested on animals are found ok for people to use. And that 95% of drugs tested are not. This shows the unnecessariness of the testing since, a lot of the time, it is found to not work correctly.
Many animals also do not fall under any protection laws. It was found that around 85% to 95% of the millions of animals used in testing do not fall under this. Giving the scientists more room to abuse their experiments I feel.
The animals undergo negative reactions to the products. They undergo burning, having products placed in their eyes, injections of different kinds of products and quite a few more. They go through all of this, and a lot of the time the product does not even work correctly for people.
Animal testing unfortunately, I feel, will continue to be used on products. Especially cosmetic products. But I am hoping that in the future, the testing will either be reduced more or taken out all together.

Luverne

This week had been a difficult one to find some down time to make a trip. But I was finally able to take a trip to a little town not too far from Troy called Luverne, Alabama. I have been to this town before, but had never gotten the chance to really look around.

In Alabama, there have been a number of towns that began mainly because of the railway system. Luverne being one of them. The town was founded in 1889 because of this and actual became a stop along the railroad track. The track was the Florida and Montgomery railroad track. And with the building of the railroad, came more people. And so the town grew.

In 1893, the people of Crenshaw County, where Luverne is, changed the county seat to Luverne. Since it had grown in size.

The town of Luverne has been given the nickname of “Friendliest City in the South.” It’s a name you will see on every welcome sign for the city. But the happenings of the town have not always been the “friendliest.”

The only recorded lynching in Crenshaw County happened in Luverne. On June 22, 1940, an African American man named Jesse Thornton was lynched for not calling a white man “mister.” The body of Jesse was found in a nearby river called the Patsaliga River. The white man was later found to have been a police officer. The reason I say recorded was because most lynchings were kept on the down low. There is a good chance there were many more than just this one.

On a lighter note, in the town of Luverne there is a Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company. Around almost every corner in the downtown Luverne area you will see Pepsi painted on a wall. I may have seen Pepsi painted out at least seven or eight times. There are about two or three different Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company buildings around town. It is definitely a major trademark of the town. The company mainly makes Coke products, but they also make coffee products such as Starbucks.

The town is a very beautiful town. It appears to have been kept up very nicely for years. Usually with old towns they, unfortunately, start to wither away. But the citizens have done a good job with Luverne. The downtown area is very neat and my favorite spot I saw of the town. I will definitely be going back! And i recommend the ice cream shop in downtown. The ice cream is delicious!

Youngblood Dam

Some of my favorite places to go to are hidden gems. Unfortunately, I do not find enough of these places. But when I do find them, they bring me a lot of joy. This week I was about to find a gem a little outside of Troy called Youngblood Dam.

The dam is located around 6.5 miles outside of Troy closer to Youngblood, Alabama, on Youngblood Lake. It is a beautiful spot that quite a few people enjoy to fish at. If you look closely in the picture above you will see people doing just that.

The area itself does not have too much history I could find unfortunately. In what I could find, there is not even a census to prove how many people live in the area. So, the community of Youngblood is a bit of a mystery. For me at least. The area is a gorgeous area though. With the dam, the lake, an abandoned building on the shore, and a really lovely area that a family could easily have a cook-out on. And is, once again, a nice place for fishing. The woman in the picture actually caught one shortly after I took it. The wildlife around the area also create a really nice effect.

There is a little trail that goes down to the water, and it is very easy to climb down. The hill is not too steep to go down. Making it easy for any age to get down to it.

The place is absolutely beautiful and I very much recommend anyone to go to it! Next time I go, I am hoping that it will be warm so I can actually get in the water!

Brundidge

This next place is somewhere that I have driven through quite a number of times: Brundidge, Alabama. I was actually in it earlier today! It is a town that, with the amount of times I have been through it I did not know much about it.

The town was founded a little before the Civil War by a man named George C. Collier. Which gave the town the name “Collier’s Store.” In 1854, the town was renamed to Brundidge after a well-known citizen by the name of James M. Brundidge. He founded the local Masonic lodge.

After the Civil War, the town became an agricultural town. In 1889, a depot for the Alabama Midland Railway was placed in the town. Passenger trains also passed through the town back in the day.

In 1900, the Brundidge Banking Company opened and the First National Bank followed in 1904.

The town has also had three different newspapers. But all are no longer running. They were the Brundidge News in 1893, the Brundidge Sentinel in 1926 and the Brundidge Banner in 1962.

In the 1920s, a citizen of Brundidge by the name of Alonza E. Johnston opened a peanut butter mill that he called Johnston Oil Company. The company was then, not long after, selling more than two million jars of peanut butter a year. They also sold velvet bread and mayo. Johnston also had warehouses, gins and an ice plant. They are now no longer running. But the Johnston Mill and the General Store have been turned into a museum!

The well-known civil rights activist John Lewis went to the Brundidge schools growing up.

The city itself is the second largest city in Pike County, Alabama. With a population of a little over 2,000 in the 2010 census.

In the downtown area, there are a high number of antique shops. Giving the town the nickname of the Antique City.

Since the city used to be a major producer of peanut butter, every October, on the last Saturday, Brundidge hosts the Peanut Butter Festival. There is usually a live band, a recipe contest, and a parade. I have never been but I will definitely try to go this year!

It is a neat town that truly has a lot of character! I have been through it a number of times and I will most definitely go many more times. 

Travel Tips

When it comes to travelling to a new place it can be either easy or difficult. Depending on if you prep for it or not. My most successful trips have been the ones that I at least put a little thought and preparing into. Obviously, spontaneous trips are fun as well! I have had my fair share of those and had a lot of fun. But there were more sights I could have seen if I had done some prepping beforehand. So, I wanted to give a few tips to having a successful trip!

1.      Choose a destination

The most important way to have a successful trip is actually deciding where to go. Doing this will help make the trip possibly shorter and also give some structure to it as well. Already knowing where you are going ahead of time will give you a chance to give it further prep.

2.      Ask friends if they want to tag along

Now the next step is to see if any buddies of yours want to join along in the trip! This will help in further planning processes as well. If no one can go though, do not be ashamed of going on a solo trip! There is truly nothing wrong with it. I have done a few myself and had a wonderful time. But having group road trips is a blast as well!

3.      Start picking a day

This is important especially if you are going with a group of friends. Pick a day that completely works for you and others. It is preferred to choose a day that you or no one else has work. This will more than likely fall on a weekend day. But sometimes a week day goes.

4.      Check the weather

Once you have a day picked out, your next step needs to be to check the weather for that day. It would be a huge mood downer to have plans for a sunny day and show up to a downpour. It is best to know ahead of time to be ready for rain, shine, cold or warm!

5.      Start gathering the essentials

Once the weather situation is figured out, it is now time to pack up! What you need to take really depends on where you are going to. What you are wearing for the day also would fall under this! And that, once again, all depends on where you are going and how it is going to be that day.

6.      Who is driving

This is an important one for group road trips. It is best to figure out who is driving before you leave so you are more likely to leave on time. Because sometimes people are not too willing to drive their vehicle a certain distance and it is better to figure it out beforehand.

7.      Now hit the road!

Once everything is figured out, all you have to do is hit the road and enjoy the ride there!

I hope these tips help you have an amazing travel experience!!

Alexander City

Another place that I visited last weekend was Alexander City, Alabama.

This is a city that I have been in quite a few times. Both to work at my summer job and enjoy Lake Martin. Which surrounds most of the town. But I had not really known much about the town and its history.

When the city was first founded in 1872, it was given the name Youngsville. After the founder of the town James Young. The following year, the town of Youngsville had a boom when the Savannah-Memphis railroad was put right through the town. So, shortly following this, the town was renamed to its now Alexander City after the president of the railroad Edward Porter Alexander. Who was also a hero of the Battle of Gettysburg for the Confederate side.

In 1902, most of the town actually burned down. The fire started in the Alexander City Machine shop and the fire travelled from there. Some of the buildings that burned down included three banks, a telegraph office and a post office. The losses totaled a whopping $400,000. Which now would not be too bad to recover from, but back then, it probably took a good bit to build up the finances. They were, obviously, able to rebuild after.

In 1926, the Martin Dam was built in the area. This created the largest man-made lake at the time: Lake Martin. Lake Martin is probably the biggest attraction for Alexander City today. I have stayed on the lake too many times to count. I have boated, tubed, camped, swam, kayaked, worked and done many other things on that lake.

In 1965, Alexander City Community College was established in the city, This is actually the college my parents met at. In 1988, Alexander City Community College and another college called Nunnelley State Technical College combined to make the current Central Alabama Community College. Or as the locals call it: “Lake Martin College”. The town has three elementary schools called Jim Pearson, Stephens, and Radney; middle school called Alex City; a high school called Benjamin Russell.

If you go to the city, it is very common to see the name Russell. The Russell family have had business all throughout the town since 1902. And they are they family that most people who work in Alexander City work under. When I worked at WillowPoint Golf and Country Club, they were the main family that owned the club. But the Russell’s sold most of their business to Berkshire Hathaway and Fruit of the Loom in 2006 for $600 million.  

There is not much to the town but it is a nice place to visit!

Troy University Symposium

On Monday, February 18^th, 2019, the NBC social media coordinator Micah Grimes came and spoke at the annual Symposium held by the journalism department.

Micah Grimes speaking at the Symposium

He started out as a student at Troy University and within four years, had moved to New York and began a job at NBC. He now has employees based in New York, London, and Los Angeles. The Symposium was held in the TC ballrooms from 10 am to 11:30 am. There were mainly journalism students in attendance, but there were some non-journalism students as well. The same goes to professors.

Another view of the Symposium

One of the slides Micah Grimes created

Micah Grimes gave a rundown on how he came to his success.

He gave quite a few pointers that

even us students could easily follow. He also talked about in another slide of his about how journalism is changing as a whole. He even said that, with how some of it has evolved or dissolved, that it can be sad to watch. First with newspaper and now, as he even said, TV.

Another slide made by Micah Grimes

Mr. Grimes mainly came to talk to us about the importance of social media in journalism and how it has helped him have the successful career he has had. But he also spoke to us the importance of different aspects of journalism and how to make it to the top and become as successful as he now has.

It was a Symposium that I thoroughly enjoyed!

Alabama Statue of Liberty

Most people in America, and around the world, are aware of the Statue of Liberty in New York. Many people all have travelled from far and wide just to see Lady Liberty in all her glory. But people living in the Southeast may not have a need to travel quite as far to see her. Since Alabama has its very own Statue of Liberty replica.

This is a place I did not necessarily go to, but I saw it on the way to one of my other adventures. And I thought it was extremely neat. Since I had never heard of it.

The Statue of Liberty replica was placed in Birmingham in 1958 on top of the Liberty National Life Insurance building. Giving the Birmingham area a third famous statue along with the Vulcan and Electra.

As opposed to the 305-foot-tall New York version, this one only stands 36-feet-tall. Making it about 1/5^th the size of the actual one. Alabama’s Lady Liberty, unlike the original being made with copper, was made with bronze. The statue was originally located in downtown Birmingham.

In 1988, the Alabama Lady Liberty was moved over to where it stands today in Liberty Park. Which is a small development right off of I-459. It is actually now located more in Vestavia Hills, Alabama. But it did not make it too far from the city it was originally placed in.

Alabama’s Statue of Liberty replica is actually one of the largest ones of this particular statue. And it is such easy access for people in the South.

The flames in the torch of Alabama’s Statue of Liberty are actually real, gas-fired flames. They shoot from the torch all the time.

The admission into this park is actually free!

This statue is very easy to see from the highway, and that is how I was able to spot it. I do not recommend doing this, but I was able to easily get a picture of it while driving down the highway. Even from afar, I could easily tell the monument would be fantastic to see.

I am hoping to actually pay a visit to it soon to truly get a good look at it. And then one day, hopefully I will be able to see the real deal in New York’s bay!

Noccalula Falls

All throughout Alabama, there are incredibly beautiful waterfalls. I, unfortunately, have only been to one of these waterfalls, but the one I went to is a sight to behold: Noccalula Falls.

Noccalula Falls is located in Gadsden, Alabama. Which is about forty minutes away from Jacksonville. The falls are right in the middle of the city so, if you are not paying attention, you may drive right past it.

The name of the park comes from a legend of the area. In the legend, a woman of the Cherokee tribe by the name of Noccalula was ordered to marry a certain man by her father. But she was in love with a different man her father did not approve of. In response to this, she jumped to her death at the falls. Whether this legend is true or not has been under debate. But I would like to believe it is true.

The land was owned by the former mayor of Gadsden, R.A. Mitchell, in 1909. After he passed, it was passed along to his daughter Sadie Mitchell and she offered to give it to the city in the 40s. the city did not finally purchase it until 1946 for $70,000.

The park itself sits on about 250-acres of land. The most well-known part of the park in the waterfall that can be seen when you enter. The waterfall is about 90 feet tall and truly a sight to see. Depending on whether it has recently rained or not, the water can be more of a stream or can have raging waters. Which is how it looked when I went this past weekend.

Near the falls is a long trail that goes all about the Black Creek Gorge. Along the trail you can see an aboriginal fort, a dam, a pioneer homestead, carvings from the Civil War, and a newer built suspension bridge. In my trip, I only saw the suspension bridge.

The park also includes a petting zoo, mini-golf course, the Gilliland-Reese Covered Bridge that was built in 1899 and a train ride. There is also a nine-foot-tall bronze statue of Noccalula right by the falls.

The park was successfully named on the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage in May of 1972. And in 2017, it was rated as the best campsite in Alabama. Three people actually successfully kayaked over the falls as well in 2011.

The park also has a botanical garden that has over 25,000 azaleas.

Noccalula is a beautiful place that I would highly recommend to anyone. Make sure to check if a rain has come through to see it in full force. 

Dothan

Another city that I have recently been to is Dothan, Alabama. This year was my first time truly going to the city instead of just driving through it to get to the beach. And it is a neat little town. Not too big and not too small.

The land that Dothan is on was once had a sort of spring. And, so, when the settlers came through, after they found the spring, they named the area “Poplar Head”. The settlers found the land to be good for farming so they moved onto it.

The Indians that had already inhabited the area were eventually forcibly moved out and the people of the area were all white settlers. They successfully harvested the timber that grew there. By the Civil War, “Poplar Head” had pretty much been completely abandoned. But the town started having regrowth about twenty years later.

With the re-growing of the town came a new name. “Poplar Head” was already the name of a town in northern Alabama so they had to come up with a new name. And in 1885 they agreed on Dothan. Which comes from the name of a city in the Bible. Where Joseph was sold into slavery in Egypt by his brothers.

Dothan was able be put on the first train route in the region. Which brought more people and an increase in crop sales in the area. The crop of cotton was added as well. But that crop was destroyed when the boll weevil outbreak came through. So the farmers then moved to peanuts.

One fourth of the peanut crop in America is not grown about 75 miles away from Dothan, Alabama. Which brought on the well-known Peanut Festival to Dothan. Which is usually a two- week long fall festival that is enjoyed by people of all ages from both Dothan and other cities in the state. And even people out of state. Dothan actually has the nickname of “The Peanut Capital of the World”.

As the city grew, an airport was built in the 60s and the city started having colleges built in the area as well. It is home to Wallace Community College, which was built in 1969, and the Troy University Dothan campus, which was built in 1961.

It is an interesting little city that I would truly love to explore more in the future. And since the town is less than an hour away from Troy, it would be an easy place to get to!

Auburn

A city that I went to last week was Auburn, Alabama. This is a city that I have been so many times, I could not even begin to guess. As I went to elementary, middle, and high school there. But I never knew the history of the town.

The land that Auburn is at was settled in the Treaty of Cusseta in 1832. And the first people moved here in 1836 from Harris County, Georgia. It was built to be a place of religion and education.

In 1856, a Methodist college by the name of East Alabama Male College of Auburn began. It would later be renamed to Auburn University.

With the start of the Civil War, the town of Auburn went into a sort of depression. Businesses closes, schools closed and were turned over to the state, and the residents started to abandon the town.

The Methodist college was also turned over to the state and later renamed Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical College. It was actually the first four-year college to accept women. This helped the city to start to grow again and by 1910, it had hit the peak it was at before the war. Championships won by the college’s football team in the helped bring in new residents and students as well.

After World War II, when the G.I. Bill hit, more students began to enter the college. Making the city grow even more. With this, the city had to start expanding outside of the original boundary lines in the late 1950’s. The building expanded up to 24 square miles outside the city.

The building of Interstate 65 began in 1957. With this gave more people a chance to enter the city and help it grow even more. It gave people of the city easier access to bigger cities as well.

In the 1980s and 1990s, the Auburn public schools were ranked in the top schools of the state and nation, and once again, helped increase the size of the town. Between 1980 and 2003, there was a 65% growth in population and a 220% growth in economy.

It is currently the largest city in eastern Alabama and is Alabama’s fastest growing metropolitan area. And it the 19^th fastest growing metropolitan area in the United States.

Auburn, Alabama truly lives up to its nickname of “Loveliest Village on the Plains.”

Introduction

Hello my name is Natalie Ledbetter! I am a college student with a huge love for travel and history as well. And so with this blog, it will be a mixture of the two.

In this blog, I will show pictures of the places I travel to and then give a historical background of the place I travel to. Whether it be a particular place in the town or the whole city itself. Most of the time, it will be a particular place in the town.

I will probably show mainly pictures with my travels. But I will also include video, audio, and maybe an interview with someone who also enjoys travel as well. Finding a person probably would not be too hard because quite a few people love this activity.

I chose this topic to also give those who may not be able to travel quite as easily as others, a way to feel like they have gone far and wide in the state or nation.

I am also giving those who do travel option, more places to go over a weekend or during the summer. I will give places that would be good for warm and cold weather travel as well.

Why I want to create this blog is because of my love for travelling places. Last year I made the resolution of travelling more and going more places. And ever since then, I have been seriously hooked.

And I want other people to share in one of my favorite activities. And one of my passions.

I also wanted to go with this topic to have a reason to travel to more places. Which is something I am very excited about.

A goal of mine with this is to also show that there is no shame in travelling somewhere by yourself. By all means, bring friends. But there is no shame in it.

I am very excited to share this blog with you guys. And I hope you thoroughly enjoy it.