Did your ancestors take a vacation that illustrates a national trend of the time?

Mammoth Cave river tour, National Park Service

NOTE: This post is the fifth in a series of excerpts from the road trip diary Hazel Pierce kept on her honeymoon trip with husband Don Vickers in 1926. Along with the excerpts are some observations and comments from this blogger.

After Hazel Pierce and her husband Don Vickers left Alabama, they drove through the Tennessee cities of Columbia, Nashville and Gallatin. In her diary, Hazel noted “pretty fields of wheat, rye and tobacco, also some lovely apple orchards.”

Hazel and Don left Tennessee and stopped at a Kentucky cave that had become a national attraction: Mammoth Cave.

“This is one of the Seven Wonders of the World. We first went into the office and a man showed us a blue print and explained to us about the cave. He sent a guide with us and carried a gas light and gave use one. They had the Delco lights part of the way.

“This cave was quite a mystery. There was different formations that resembled flags, bacon, turkey, Niagara Falls and many other things. There was one room called the radio room and they have the radio in there sometimes. There was some parts where the ceiling would be as smooth as could be and other parts very rough.

“We went down 250 feet below the ground and walked about 2½ miles. There was (Echo) river down in there and the guide took us for a boat ride. One place we passed through was very small and this was called ‘Fat Man’s Misery.’ This was a very interesting trip. We were about 2 ½ hours on this trip.

“We were given souvenirs at the office and the guide showed us a little girl which was petrified. She was found in the cave and it is believed she was captured by the Indians and rather than endure their torture she sacrificed her life. We went a short piece from the place where Floyd Collins was trapped in the cave We drove on to Cave City and spent the night at the Dixie Hotel."

According to Dave Tabler’s Appalachian History blog, Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave is the country’s

oldest touring cave. Formal guided tours started in 1816. The cave remained in private ownership until 1941

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and grew into a prime tourist attraction. Because Mammoth showed how profitable cave tourism could be, it spawned a number of rivals in the 1920s, the dawn of the automobile vacation era.

In 1925, Kentucky farmer Floyd Collins became trapped in Sand Cave while searching for a cave entrance on the road from Cave City to Mammoth. The effort to free Collins drew attention and reporters from around the country. Reporters set up headquarters in Hotel Dixie, the same place Hazel and Don spent one of their nights on their honeymoon road trip.

Did your ancestors take a vacation that illustrates a national trend of the time?

The next post will be the final excerpt from Hazel's honeymoon road trip diary.

1926 road trip honeymoon: on to Birmingham and Decatur

Birmingham, Alabama, skyline

NOTE: This post is the fourth in a series of excerpts from the road trip diary Hazel Pierce kept on her honeymoon trip with husband Don Vickers in 1926. Along with the excerpts are some observations and comments from this blogger.
 

"We left Montgomery early. At the edge of this town we crossed the Alabama River. We passed through several progressive little towns and saw some good looking farms. All the trees are budding out and the scenery is very beautiful. 

"We stopped over in Birmingham to see our brother-in-law, Mr. Laney. We drove around to see the city and it is a beautiful place. 

"After leaving this city we drove through some mountainous county. The roads were just fine and the

scenery beautiful. We passed by some coal miners . . . There was several mines on the road. In a few places

Birmingham coal miners
Library of Congress photo
LC-DIG-ppmsca-15602

the roads were under construction and they used large machines for this work. 

"We crossed the Black [Warrior] River and the Tennessee River. The latter is very large and a ferry is used to carry the cars across. About six or eight are carried across at one time. 

"Just before arriving there we passed through Albany and Decatur, which are called “The Twin Cities.” These were pretty places in North Alabama. 

"The trees are just beginning to bud out and the dogwood to bloom.

Black Warrior River
Courtesy Alabama Travel

Spring is much later coming here than at home. We stopped by one pretty little log cabin which was newly built and bought some chocolate candy. It was fine. The cabin was the prettiest I had seen in a long time."

Again Hazel does not make note of their route from Montgomery to Birmingham and then on to Decatur. But it again it seem likely that they traveled along the most direct road, U.S. 31.

Albany, Alabama, was also known as New Decatur. A year after Hazel and Don passed through Albany, Decatur annexed it and the separate town ceased to exist.

Birmingham today is still home to coal mining and large steelmakers, but they no longer play the role in the city’s economy that they once did. Modern Birmingham is better known for its medical and research centers and national construction and engineering firms.

 

1926 road trip honeymoon paused at the Imperial Hotel

NOTE: This post is the third in a series of excerpts from the road trip diary Hazel Pierce kept on her honeymoon trip with husband Don Vickers in 1926. Along with the excerpts are some observations and comments from this blogger.

"On Saturday (May 1^st) we drove to Montgomery. We enjoyed this trip very much. We crossed the

Perdido River and Escambia, also several small streams and big bridges. We went to a good picture show in

Shown here occupied by B. Wolff Furniture Store,
this building housed the Imperial Hotel
in downtown Montgomery in the 1920s.

Montgomery. We spent the night at the Imperial Hotel, which is a good place.

"On Sunday morning it was raining and we rested. After dinner we went up to the State Capital which is very pretty place. At present it is being repaired. After our sightseeing trip I wrote some letters while Don took a nap...

"...While in Montgomery the place was decorated with flags of every nation. The streets were full. All the

show windows were decorated with antiques. We saw guns and ammunition  used in the Civil War, and dresses that were worn in olden days, cooking utensils used then and many other things. They were quite different from what we have today."

Hazel did not record in her diary the route she and Don took to get from the town of Bay Minette to Alabama's capital city of Montgomery. But judging by the fact that they crossed the Perdido and Escambia rivers, it seems likely that they drove along U.S. 31.

In 1926, the American Association of State Highway Officials had just approved the U.S. numbered highways. So the new U.S. shields like the U.S. 31 here had just begun to appear around the country.