Joe Wheeler Park Camping Trip - July 23, 2014 - Huntsville Day Trip

Not long after breakfast this morning, we set out on a day trip to Huntsville, Alabama, about 50 miles away. 

Our first stop was Monte Sano Park.  We almost took the camper there instead of Joe Wheeler, but opted for Joe Wheeler because it was closer and has more full hook-up sites.  A note for would-be Monte Sano campers:  don't try to tow a camper through the "northern" route that your GPS or phone map app will show.  This route goes right through residential neighborhoods with narrow streets and hairpin curves.  Instead, go the "southern" route, down highway 231/431/Governer's Blvd, and up Monte Sano Road.  It's a much straighter, less congested route.

"Monte Sano" means "mountain of health," so named because of the mineral springs in the area. 

 

The camp sites at Monte Sano were very nice.  Most of them were level and clean, and a number of them had full hook-ups.  The park has a planetarium and observatory, which is open only on Saturdays.  The park was built in the 1930s as a part of the Civilian Conservation Corps.  At the overlook there is a tiny "hut" that serves as a CCC museum.  It is not normally open on Wednesdays (the day we were there), but a park volunteer was working on an outdoor classroom for elementary students, and he was kind enough to let us in the museum.

 

This park is somewhat strange, as it is right smack in the middle of Huntsville.  Near the park is the Burritt Living Museum, which we did not visit but is apparently a sort of village that shows how things were done in days gone by.  

The overlook at Monte Sano

 

We did not stop at Burritt because we had another destination on our list, the Constitution Village.  This, too, was right in the middle of Huntsville, nestled between the courthouse and the hospital complex, in the actual location where 44 delegates from the 22 Alabama counties in existence in 1819.  The buildings are reproductions but were built from plans of the original buildings that were on file.  If you go, opt for the guided tour, which will give you far more details/knowledge than you'd get just touring the place on your own.  There is a cabinet shop (the building in which the delegates met), a post office/law office/surveyor's office, a blacksmith shop, a print shop, and a family residence.  Unfortunately for us, a thunderstorm came up during the middle of our tour, and the village manager came out and said that they could not allow their tour guide to be out walking around during a storm.  She passed out umbrellas and said that we were welcome to tour the remaining buildings on our own. 

It was almost 2 p.m. by the time we finished our Constitution Village tour.  We were hungry but wanted to get out of downtown Huntsville to eat, so we headed back in the direction from whence we had come.  Finding some place to eat was difficult because of our self-imposed travel rule:  we don't eat at chain restaurants when we're traveling.  This is kind of tough when you're driving down major highways.  We drove all the way back to Rogersville (where Joe Wheeler park is located) without finding some place we wanted to eat.  We ended up stopping at a grocery store for food to eat back at the camp site.

I'm not sure what's on the agenda for tomorrow, maybe the much longed-for visit to the Coon Dog Cemetery near Russellville, Alabama.  ;)