I completed a small bucket list item this weekend!
One of my favorite Christmas songs is “Christmas in Dixie” by Alabama. It has been my favorite song since I was little. I cannot explain why, seeing as I was born and raised in the northeast! More recently they have become one of my favorite bands. The band members are from Fort Payne, and so at the end of the song they sing, “And from Fort Payne, Alabama… Merry Christmas tonight.” We went to Fort Payne for the day and I got to spend a “Christmas in Dixie.”
I never knew much about the boys from Fort Payne, that is until we literally drove past Fort Payne, Alabama, when we were moving from Pennsylvania to Texas, over three years ago.
Living in Texas, there were more country stations on the radio, including a country classics one, which became my favorite. I was introduced to a whole new (well, new to me) section of country music. I kept hearing Alabama song after Alabama song and I enjoyed all of their music.
When we moved to Chattanooga, I realized that Fort Payne was only an hour away from us. I knew that going to Fort Payne during Christmas time would make the trip extra special for me, to make my favorite Christmas song come true for me personally.
We ended up having an activity packed day, and we learned a lot about Fort Payne’s history.
We arrived at lunch time and started out at The Spot, a cafe in downtown.
After lunch, we walked up and down the street. We browsed in a few shops, and admired the Christmas decorations. Seeing all of the banners in town that said “Christmas in Dixie,” was a treat for me.
Merry Christmas from Dixie, to everyone tonight.”
We walked down a few blocks to the City Park, where there are Alabama statues. We stopped to take a few photos and then we scoped out the park, where a Christmas event would be taking place later on that night.
We walked across the street from there and checked out the Depot Museum. The Depot was built in 1891. Admission was $3 and there were a ton of interesting artifacts donated from Fort Payne residents inside.
Did you know that Alabama was known as the sock capital of the world? We learned at the free Hosiery Museum that during the height of the sock boom, one out of every eight pairs of socks was made in Fort Payne. The Hosiery Museum had machines that made the socks on display, as well as old historical photographs of the town.
From there we walked next door to the Fort Payne Opera House, where we also got a free tour. The Opera House was built in 1891, and still holds performances today, including Alabama! The woman who talked to us at both the Opera House and the Hosiery Museum was wonderful and full of knowledge. I wish I had remembered her name.
Then it was off to the Alabama Museum, the whole reason for the trip. It is a small museum and gift shop, but it is filled to the brim with items from the band members. We ended up buying a Christmas ornament from the gift shop.
After that we checked out the Big Mill Antique Mall, housed in the old hosiery mill. Also in the mill was Vintage Cafe, where we had a mid afternoon light meal.
When it got dark we headed back to the park for their annual “Christmas in the Park” event. There was a bonfire, free concessions, music and a tree lighting.
We had a nice day exploring a new area in a new state. I am glad that we found a lot of different things to do and learned some history of the area. I had worried that Derek would be bored with a whole day devoted to the Alabama band, and it ended up being much more than that!
