Mark your calendars for this upcoming event on Sunday, May 10th, 3:00 PM at 2827 Highland Avenue! James Lowery is an authority on the path of the Birmingham Mineral Railroad, and has installed 199 signs to indicate the former roadbed.
October 19, 3-5 p.m., It’s Nice to Have You in Highland Park, at 2827 Highland Avenue
November 16, 2 p.m., A Traveler’s Tales: William Bartram’s 1775 Journey…through the Southern British Colonies and the future state of Alabama, as told by Brian Rushing, naturalist and Bartram admirer, at 2827 Highland Avenue AND:
Celebrating the release of Building Birmingham’s Industrial Base, our 2025 Members Book, at 2827 Highland Avenue
January 18 or 25, 2 p.m., Tuxedo Junction documentary at the Virginia Samford Theater.
February 23, 5: 30 p.m., BHS Trustees Supper and Annual Meeting, celebrating the release of Birmingham By the Book
March 15 or 22, 2 p.m. 1776, at the Virginia Samford Theater.
The Birmingham chapter of the American Institute of Architects is holding its first ever Residential Architecture Symposium. The goal? To give curious homeowners an opportunity to learn more about how the design of where they live can have a significant impact on how they live. A summary of the event follows.
Keynote: “The Art & Science of Place Planning”
Purchase the Book that Inspired the Movement
The right place elevates personal well-being. It can help promote purpose, facilitate human connection, catalyze physical activity, support financial health, and inspire community engagement.
Conversely, the wrong place can be detrimental to health. In Right Place, Right Time, Ryan Frederick argues that where you live matters enormously—especially during the second half of your life.
Panel: “Why Residential Architects Matter”
Why This Matters to You:
Details:
Ticket Link Here – Ticket price includes Ryan’s book! Bring a friend—these conversations are better shared!
Tuesday, September 16th, noon to 3pm.
BIrmingham Botanical Gardens, Doors open to the public at noon.
See also Birmingham Historical Society’s A Guide to Architectural Styles
The 83rd Annual Meeting of the Birmingham Historical Society is at 7PM on Monday, February 24th at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens and will feature guest speaker Gerald Watkins, Director of the Friends of Rickwood Field.
CALLING ALL CAKES
For The Great Chocolate Cake Contest
THE RULES: Bake your cake and bring the form above,
along with the recipe, and your cake for judging, to the
Birmingham Botanical Gardens Auditorium
between 3:30 and 4:00 p.m. on February 24.
JUDGING CATEGORIES: Most Chocolatey Cake Creation + Best
Overall Cake + Best Visual Presentation + Best Flavor Profile +
Most Pleasing Texture + Best Memory Statement
Please mark your calendars for this book signing and talk about the history of Birmingham’s largest employer and one of the nation’s largest transplant programs. Based on the book by Dr. Arnold Diethelm, cardiovasular surgeon Dr. William Holman will recount the leadership of visionary doctors at UAB medical center.
About our speaker: Dr. Bill Holman
Following training at Cornell and
Duke Universities, the cardiovascular
surgeon joined the UAB faculty in 1987.
Currently Emeritus Professor
in Surgery, Dr. Holman championed
the editing and publishing of Order
from Chaos, his father-in-law’s
unpublished manuscript.
Watch the interview on CBS 42 by Jen Cardone
Alabama governors have had their share of controversy over the years, but no one can forget “Big Jim Folsom”. A huge man, at 6’ 8” and weighing 250 pounds, he was hard to miss in a crowd, and his larger than life personality matched his size. A notorious ladies man, as a recently widowed governor, he once organized an event where young women lined up to kiss him, earning him the title of ‘Kissin’ Jim’.
He was a populist, grew up very poor in Elba, Alabama, and often traveled with a hillbilly band, the Strawberry Pickers, along with a mop and a bucket to ‘clean up’ politics where he also collected donations. He was loved by the people he supported, but ultimately ruined his career due to his alcoholism and bawdiness.
His grandson, Jamie, has written a book about Big Jim’s relationship with his grandmother Christine Putman, who met Folsom when she was a cashier at the Tutwiler Hotel. Although the relationship lasted several years, over multiple cities, and resulted in a son, Big Jim kept the relationship hidden from the general public during his political campaign. Despite multiple marriage promises to Christine, and even after the birth of their son, he never married her. Years later, he publicly acknowledged paternity, and made a financial settlement. However in the interim, to her heartbreak, he had married another woman. His political opponents capitalized on this with songs like the one below:
She was poor but she was honest, honest, honest
No victim of a rich man’s whim
Till she met that Southern gentleman, Big Jim Folsom
And she had a child by him.
It’s the rich what gets the glory;
It’s the poor what gets the blame;
It’s the same the whole world over, over, over;
It’s a dirty gosh-darn shame.
Now he sits in Governor’s Mansion
Makin’ laws for all mankind
While she walks the streets of Cullman, Alabama
Selling grapes from her grapevine
So, young ladies, take a warning
And don’t ever take a ride
With Alabama’s Christian gentleman Big Jim Folsom
And you’ll be a virgin bride. (to chorus)
(Clockwise left to right: “Kissin’Jim” – Alabama Department of Archives; Strawberry Pickers – Burgin Mathews; James E Folsom, Sr. – Encylopedia of Alabama; Christine and Big Jim – AL.com; James E Folsom, Sr. – Encyclopedia of Alabama; Big Jim at the Governor’s Conference – Public Domain)
The popularity of beautiful Bluff Park was definitely affirmed at the extremely well-attended presentation by Birmingham Historical Society Director Marjorie White and landscape architect & BHS Trustee Birgit Kibelka on September 19 entitled Bluff Park: Then & Now, hosted by the Hoover Historical Society. Hoover had a series of town halls this past spring to determine the community’s interest in greenways, trails, parks, and public spaces. As a follow-up to those town halls, this event delved further into the history and possibilities of a Bluff Park Preserve with maps, photos of rock formations and existing springs, views, and historical correspondence.
Proposed Preserve
Friends of Shades Mountain (FOSM), working with the Hoover Historical Society, and Birmingham Historical Society are promoting the creation of the Bluff Park Preserve on Shades Mountain. As the City of Hoover explores possibilities for future parks and preserves, the opportunity to save the last remaining publicly accessible viewpoint along Shades Mountain presents itself. The proposed future Bluff Park Preserve might include the original “Bluff Park,” Lover’s Leap-Sunset Rock, and the site of Tip-Top Grill. Please read this BHS newsletter for additional information.
School is starting and fall is just around the corner. We’ve added a few new events to the calendar that should be interesting. Please mark your calendars.
September 19, 6:30 p.m., Bluff Park: Then & Now, hosted by the Hoover Historical Society at the Hoover Public Library, 200 Municipal Drive.
October 1, 4:00 p.m., 100 Years Publication Celebration, 2827 Highland Avenue.
October 3, Members’ Books to be mailed to those not receiving them at the reception. Please let us know if your book does not arrive.
October 29, 3:00 p.m. Christine Putman & Big Jim Folsom, Talk & Book Signing with Folsom’s grandson Jamie Putman, 2827 Highland Avenue.
A series of Birmingham lectures as part of the National Historic Preservation Month includes one on “How to Conduct Historic Building Research and How to Obtain a Historical Marker” THIS TUESDAY AT NOON.
Presented by the City of Birmingham’s Department of Planning, Engineering, and Permits, hear directly from the city authorities what you need to know to comply to historic requirements.
The lecture will be in the Birmingham Public Library – Arrington Auditorium, 2100 Park Place. Learn how to use sources in the public library and the county courthouse to research historic homes and buildings…and how to get a historical marker to recognize them. Should be an interesting lecture! Please plan to attend.
Historic Preservation Education Lecture Series
Click here for a printable schedule of events for Historic Preservation Month.
For more information, contact Hannah Garmon, Historic Preservation Manager, at 205-254-2424or Hannah.Garmon@birminghamal.gov. You can also reach Karla Calvert, Urban Design Administrator, at 205-254-2479or Karla.Calvert@birminghamal.gov.
May is Birmingham’s Historic Preservation month, and the City of Birmingham will be hosting a series of events to showcase the economic and social benefits of historic preservation with walking tours and lectures. Please plan to attend! Select the image below to download a pdf file of events. Or download brochures below for more information on policies and federal incentives regarding Historic Districts.
