Little did i know until....

My heart begins racing as I approach each state capital during this epic journey, as always. It provides me a strong feeling of accomplishment knowing I am in the midst of adventuring another state. As I approach Alabama's capital, that anticipated heart rate increase does not fail me. Oh, I love the rush!

I park in front of a beautiful white mansion, located across the street from the Capital building, having no idea of the significance. Within seconds inside, an elderly host informs me I am standing in the foyer of the first Confederate President Jefferson Davis' home. I enthusiastically reply, "I took an elevator to the top of the Jefferson Davis monument stretching 351 feet in the air located in Kentucky. I have also visited the beautiful Presidential Library in Mississippi.” My host smiles ear to ear, "Well, there you go!" We both continue conversing enthusiastically for the next twenty minutes or so. I take all which he shared with me and briskly walk across the street. I stand at the bottom steps of the State Capital.

Step by step I climb the marble stairs to the top entering through the massive wooden doors. I make a quick inquiry to security asking for directions to a specific plaque I recently learned about.

I find myself standing right at the spot where it all happened. I slowly read the plaque in front of me - "In this hall the ordinance of secession which withdrew Alabama from the sovereign states was passed on January 11, 1861". On this date and in this exact location, Alabama pulled away from the Union, joining five other states in defiance to the recent election of President Lincoln. The beginning of so much more, for many, many years to come began right here.

I quickly exit, moving back down the stairs.  I begin searching for a certain something stepping down one step at a time, scanning from corner to corner.  Oh, the adrenaline rush hits again as I pinpoint it.  A six-pointed brass star is embedded in the marble.  This is the exact spot Jefferson Davis publicly accepted the position of the first and only President of the Confederate States on February 18, 1861.  I look out to the street directly in front of this historic spot where our history changed dramatically. I sit on the marble step for a moment as I ponder on how the attendees were feeling in that moment - excited, worried, optimistic?  I believe not one of them had any real idea of the impact of this historic day on our nation for the years to come.

One hundred four years later Martin Luther King Jr and 25,000 people marched to the front of these exact steps protesting the denial of voting rights to blacks. Story to follow soon.