Before the days of the Internet, one could do a virtual tour with books like Old Alabama Town: An Illustrated Guide by Mary Ann Neeley. This book allows one to learn about the different buildings and how they fit into Alabama history of the 19th century. Even now, this book could be carried on a self-guided tour through the many buildings that comprise what amounts to a museum of how we lived in the "old days."
The coordinates are for the Reception Center, located at 301 Columbus Street, where one can get information about Old Alabama Town and buy the book. Tours are also available. For those who prefer to use the library to get a copy of the book, the Montgomery Public Library has several copies in more than one branch. Look under 976.1/Neeley. Information is also available at the Landmarks Foundation web site at: (
visit link)
The following information on Old Alabama Town comes from the book's back cover:
"Old Alabama Town is a visual and historical chronicle of one of the South's important architectural landmarks - four blocks of 19th-century buildings restored to their original condition, collectively forming an educational village that preserves and displays life as it was lived in Alabama from the 1830s through the 1890s. Acreation of the Landmarks Foundation of Montgomery, Old Alabama Town displays the lifestyles and environment of the period through architecture, decorative arts, and living history. The "town" has been made available for students, secondary school educators for field trips, and to tourists for entertainment and family excursions.
More than 50 historic structures, all formerly in danger of demolition, have been transported from around central Alabama and restored on-site. The Living Block of the village allows visitors to explore a log cabin, dogtrot house, carriage house, "shotgun" house, pole barn, schoolhouse, tavern, grange hall, and grocery. The Working Block allows patrons to visit a blacksmith's shop, drugstore, grist mill, cotton gin, woodcrafter's shop, print shop, and cookhouse. Additional regions of the village present some of the most significant historic homes to be preserved in the state: the Cram-Lakin House, Thompson Mansion, and the Ordeman-Mitchell-Shaw House, among others.
This guide, designed in full color, is introduced by the author's historical, sociological, and cultural overview of Montgomery. The 45 individual entries detail the history and features of each structure and are supplemented by a map, archival photographs of the buildings, and 60 contemporary color photographs. This book will be useful to tourists, preservationists, students and scholars of Alabama history and architecture, and all those interested in an interpretive museum of southern life."