Dixieland Delight in Fort Payne Alabama

Leg 3 – Dixieland Delight, Fort Payne Alabama

4/30/2023 – 5/6/2023

Our first stop on The Journey West will be in Fort Payne, AL, hometown of the group Alabama, one of my all-time favorite bands. The drive to Fort Payne is longer than we tackle in a day and we decided to overnight in Nantahala, North Carolina.

We left I-40 in Asheville and followed US19, also known as The Great Smokey Mountain Parkway, to our overnight spot at the Nantahala RV Resort. “Resort” is a stretch, it was basically a gravel parking lot, but it backed up to a creek and we enjoyed chilling next to it after a long drive day.

Bright and early the next morning we headed out with Fort Payne in our sights. We continued to follow US19/US74 along the Nantahala River in North Carolina and then along the Ocoee River in Tennessee. Both the Nantahala and Ocoee have excellent white water segments and the drive was beautiful. We eventually picked up I-75 in Chattanooga and I-59 down to Fort Payne. It’s good to be on the road again.

Home this week is Wills Creek RV Park. Wills Creek is a nice enough park but I was hoping for a stay at Desoto State Park a few miles away but their internet coverage was non-existent and that’s no bueno. No internet, no working, no good.

Fort Payne, AL and Lookout Mountain

We decided to come to this area for a couple of reasons; Lookout Mountain and the group Alabama. Then I discovered a couple of other reasons; Little River Canyon National Preserve and a visit with another of Bill’s cousins.

Alabama (the group)

Fort Payne is home to the group Alabama. These three cousins got together and began writing and playing music as the group Young Country and then Wild Country. After 8 years of building their chops playing gigs and bars they finally got a deal with RCA records and their first #1 hit, “Tennessee River” was released in 1980. They went on to release a total of forty-three #1 hits.

Over the next 8 years they cranked out hit after hit and crossed over into pop and southern rock. I first heard “Mountain Music” on Q105, a pop station I used to listen to out of Tampa, and from that moment on I cranked the volume anytime an Alabama song came on.

Alabama is one of the best-selling bands of all time and most awarded band in country music with over 280 awards from a variety of organizations. In spite of all that, they will tell you they are just farmers who like to make music. Both Randy and Teddy still live in Fort Payne and run their cattle farms and locals say it is not unusual to see them around town. We did not have the good fortune of running into them at the Walmart, but we did stop in at their museum.

Alabama Fan Club and Museum

Walking into the museum you are greeted with a display of their Gold and Platinum records displayed under stained glass windows of each artist. The Alabama Fan Club and Museum contains over 50 years of memorabilia from the early Wild Country days at the Bowery in Myrtle Beach to a collection of guitars and fiddles and many of their awards. Randy, Teddy and Jeff each have a section of the museum with personal memorabilia, letters and family photos displayed. It took a little over an hour to walk through the museum and we left there with a little more knowledge of who these guys are. They are a couple of humble men with strong ties to their community. We have been fortunate enough to see Alabama two times and continue to seek them out while we are on the road.

Lookout Mountain

Is Lookout Mountain really a mountain? The mountains we are familiar with have peaks with passes dividing them. Lookout Mountain is different, it seems to be a continuous mountain that you drive along. It starts just south of Chattanooga and continues all the way down to Gadsden AL. That’s about 75 miles long!  Bill kept saying, “This isn’t a mountain, this is a ridge or a plateau, but it isn’t a mountain.” Well, Bill, you are right. Sort of. Lookout Mountain is a mountain ridge and makes up the southern end of the Cumberland plateau. Its highest point is 2,392’. Now we know.

Little River Canyon National Preserve

When I saw that Fort Payne was in the valley between Lookout Mountain and Sand Mountain I knew there would be plenty to see and do. What I didn’t know was there is a National Preserve 8 miles out of town.

After camp was set up, we decided to drive out and visit the Little River Canyon National Preserve. Usually on drive days we just like to chill when we get to our new home base, but it was still early enough in the day and we may not have time later in the week to see it or another activity may have to be sacrificed. At any rate, this was the perfect time to go.

The Little River flows on top of Lookout Mountain creating one of the deepest canyons in the eastern US, in places measuring 500’ from the cliff edge to the river below. The canyon became part of the National Park System in 1992. The river’s flow varies greatly from season to season. During the spring and early summer months, water is rushing over the falls and down the river. Late summer and fall it slows to a pace where you could actually swim at the base of the Little River Falls. That is not the case today.

We stopped in at the Little River Canyon center and watched a short movie about the canyon and then we headed out to see it for ourselves. Before starting the scenic drive, we drove across the river and walked down to an overlook of the Little River Falls. One path leads to the overlook and another will take you to the river’s edge. Today was not a day to go down to the river’s edge. The falls are gorgeous and completely unexpected.

The Scenic Drive

Across the road from the entrance to the Little River Canyon Center is the Little River Canyon scenic drive which follows AL-176. The road follows the canyon for 11 miles and provides several overlooks. We pulled into each one and some offered better views than others, but they were all breathtaking. We were even lucky enough to see Grace High Falls, which is a “seasonal” fall. The creek will probably be dried up in another couple of weeks.

We left the drive at Eberhart Point and headed back to camp. Another option, if you are in a car, is to continue the drive down to Canyon Mouth. There are no other overlooks on this section and the road is not suitable for RVs. Canyon Mouth is at the southern end of the preserve and provides picnic facilities, swimming and hiking. There is no charge to visit the Little River Canyon Center or enter the canyon, however, if you decide to go to Canyon Mouth, there is a $15 fee to enter or use your America The Beautiful Pass.

DeSoto State Park

One of our afternoon rides took us out to DeSoto State Park, which is located at the north end of the National Preserve but is maintained by the Alabama State Park system. They have a very nice campground, lodge, pool, and miles of hiking and mountain biking trails. We chose to do a two-mile loop hike. It was a nice walk in the woods, up and over rocks, through rhododendrons and by several waterfalls. The hike was easy enough and the trails were very well marked. It was a great way to spend a couple of hours and get a little extra exercise.

DeSoto Falls

Five miles down the road from the park is DeSoto Falls. DeSoto Falls is part of the west fork of the Little River and one of the most visited waterfalls in Alabama. It costs $4 to park and walk out to see the falls. There is a nice park with a beach, which on a nice hot summer day would be a great place to cool off. But today, the lot was empty.

From the park level you can see the historic AA Miller dam and the top of the upper falls. To get a better view of the falls, follow the path down the stairs to a large overlook of the upper falls and just a little further down to a great view of the lower falls and the pool below. Very Pretty!

Jeep Ride with a River Crossing (Mom, Dad, you may want to skip this section 😉)

The area in between the Little River National Preserve and DeSoto State Park contains 23 miles of dirt roads to explore. Bill found a trail he wanted to do and said there was a water crossing. Hmmm… I’ll go but if it’s too high, we aren’t doing the crossing. Deal? Deal.

The ride out was nice and we came across a little creek, silly me thought this was the water crossing. Oh, this is cool. LOL. We continue on down the road and it stops at the Little River. WE ARE NOT GOING ACROSS THAT! Bill pulls the jeep out on one of the rocks and surveys the area while I get out and look around. It’s shallow enough where we are standing but I can’t really tell on the other side, 150’ AWAY!.

Off He Goes

Bill wants to do it; I don’t want to do it. I stay on the side of the river and he slowly starts making his way across the river. It gets a little deep and I start to get a little nervous. Well, I won’t lie… A LOT nervous. But he’s taking it slow and the jeep makes it through, no problem. The road picks up on the other side of the river, and he heads up it to turn around and come back.

Here I Stay

It is then that I realize, I’m standing on the side of the river, alone, in the woods, where there are bear, mountain lions and coyote and its late afternoon. Crap. Then I see the jeep again and he starts making his way back across the river. Even though I’m not very happy, I get my camera out and video him coming through the river. It was pretty cool and I would have enjoyed it IF we weren’t the only ones out there.

Later that night, over dinner, I asked him, how did you know you could do it? Where do you get your confidence from? He said, “I could see the bottom of the river and could judge the depth, I went slow, I could see I had a way out and I had 4 bars of cell signal”.  Well, I still didn’t feel better about it, but we made it out unscathed.

See Rock City

Lookout Mountain offers several “tourist attractions”, Ruby Falls, The Incline Railway and Rock City. I’ve been to all three as a kid but Bill has not. He picked Rock City and off we went, hoping to beat the rain.

Rock City was created by Garnet and Frieda Carter in 1930. Frieda marked the original path by winding a string though the giant rock formations and the gardens were built. On May 21, 1932 they opened the garden to the public, admission was only 25 cents. Today they are celebrating “90 Years of Enchantment” and admission costs a whopping $26.95.

Rock City was a little off the beaten path, so Garnet had to get creative with his advertising. His idea was to paint “See Rock City at Lookout Mountain” on the roofs of barns along major highways. By 1950 over 900 barns from Florida to Michigan and all the way out to Texas displayed his message. If you have done any traveling in the south, you have undoubtedly seen billboards and barns advertising “See Rock City”. We even saw a few of the old ones on our way into town.

The trail begins at the Grand Corridor which is lined by beautiful pink rhododendrons with peaceful music playing in the background. Then we are navigating the Needles Eye and into the Gnome Valley. We continued on through the Goblin’s Underpass and across a swinging bridge over to Lovers Leap and the 7-States Viewpoint. From there we made our way down into the Fat Man’s Squeeze, over to the Hall of the Mountain King and into Fairyland Caverns. Sounds enchanting, right? Thank you, Frieda for sharing your garden with us.

Fairyland Caverns

Fairyland Caverns was added to Rock City between 1942 and 1945. Tourism declined during this time due to WWII. Garnet Carter reimagined a way to invigorate tourism to Rock City by creating Fairyland Caverns based on his wife’s love of German fairytales and folklore.

Jessie Sanders, an Atlanta based artist, was commissioned to design and sculpt the 3D dioramas that are still on display today. It was magical walking through the caverns and remembering all these fairy tales I grew up listening to; Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Bean Stalk and Goldilocks and the Three Bears to name just a few. What was your favorite fairytale?

Next we walked around Mother Goose Village and I tried to remember all the nursery rhymes being depicted. I got stuck on a couple, but it eventually came back to me. Then I wondered, do the young ones today know those nursery rhymes? Have they heard any of Grimm’s Fairytales?

Rock City is a great place to spend a morning or afternoon and Bill was pleasantly surprised. I think he was expecting a cheesy tourist trap but what he got was a peaceful walk through a beautiful rock garden.

Lodge Cast Iron Museum and Factory Store

I love cooking with cast iron. Bill and I are always looking for pieces whenever we go to a flea market or the Goodwill. In fact, most of our skillets came from the Goodwill and I have two pieces that were passed down to me from my grandmother.

When I found out that Lodge cast iron was made in South Pittsburg TN and they had a museum, I knew we had to go. It’s our last day in the area, we get up, have our breakfast and head north to South Pittsburg.

A Brief History of Lodge

Lodge began manufacturing cast iron cookware in 1896 and today they are a 5^th generation family owned company that just celebrated 125 years in 2021 and opened the museum in the fall of 2022. There are not any tours in the actual factory but they do a very good job showing how the cast iron cookware is made starting with the elements used to make the iron, to molding it, shaving it, grinding it washing, drying and seasoning it.

After we learned how the cookware is made, we walked through the generations of Lodge. This area spoke to how the Lodge brand changed and evolved through the years. The second generation fascinated me the most.

Sales began dwindling during the Great Depression, just as it did for most businesses. To help the company through these difficult times, Lodge began making iron figurines to be used as door stops or garden decorations. It worked; these items boosted sales just enough to sustain the company. Today these items are sought after collectibles, so keep your eyes peeled when you are out antiquing, going to garage sales or at the flea market. I will be. 😊

Just around the corner from the Generations of Lodge is… wait for it… THE WORLD’S LARGEST CAST IRON SKILLET! (I am going to have to start a list of all these World’s Largest items we are seeing) The skillet is 12’ across, 18’ long and weighs 14,360 pounds!

My Cast Iron Story

The last kiosk on the way out asks if you have a cast iron story to share. Why, yes I do. It goes like this:

My grandmother gave me her cast iron Dutch oven. She used this during her younger years when they camped and I’m sure she made some very delicious food in it. Well, I was young, I had no idea what to do with it so I let it sit. When we moved out to Oregon, the boys found it and took it outside to make mud pies in. There it sat, in the rain, rusted.

My dad came out for a visit and saw the boys playing with it and the condition it was in and said to me, “Your grandmother would have a fit if she saw what has become of her Dutch oven.” That got me. I washed the dirt out, Bill got out his drill and a wire brush and cleaned all the rust off and then we seasoned it. I bought a cookbook and learned how to cook over coals with it and now I have this awesome Dutch oven and make wonderful meals and desserts in it.

Every time I use it, I think of my grandmother and I am grateful my dad pointed out the error of my ways.

We finished up in the factory store and I only walked away with a hook to use with my Dutch oven 😊

Unclaimed Baggage

As we headed back to Fort Payne, I remembered reading about this store in Scottsboro, Unclaimed Baggage. Have you ever wondered what happens to lost or unclaimed suitcases? Back in 1970, Doyle Owens had an idea and with a $300 loan and a borrowed truck headed to Washington DC to buy his first load of unclaimed baggage from a Trailways Bus Line. He sold the contents of the suitcases off card tables in a rented house and Unclaimed Baggage was born.

The store now takes up a city block, houses a small museum and even has a café. There are racks and racks of clothes, shelves with all sorts of water bottles, books, electronics and anything else you could imagine.

They also had some unusual items on display in the museum, like shrunken human heads and some ancient Egyptian artifacts. We had a little fun with a photo op they had set up in the store and just wandered around looking at all the “lost” stuff.

Another Cousin

You’ll never guess who we found in Alabama? Another cousin of Bill’s. I tell ya, he’s got family all over the country and every one of them is so welcoming to us. Bill and Keith had not seen each other in at least 40 years but you’d never know it, it was like we had just seen them a week ago. We had a nice visit and got to go out for dinner a couple of times. Hopefully we don’t wait another 40 years before seeing each other again.

What’s Next?

Our week in Fort Payne is over and it’s time to head a little farther south. Next week we will be in Mobile AL for a few days and then move a short distance over to Biloxi MS for a few days. I see some beach time in the very near future.