What’s “The Alabama Ramble”?
This is the column intro that I use every time. Want to just read about Wetumpka? Skip to the next section.
Photos by Wesley Miller and Harrison Neville
If you’ve spent a decent amount of time outside of the South, then you’ve probably noticed that people who aren’t from here don’t think much of Alabama. When asked why, they generally have little to offer beyond a vague prejudice rooted in what they know from the 1950s. Tellingly, I have yet to meet a critical outsider who has actually been here.
Because here’s the thing: Alabama is a place of wonders.
We are, for example, the most biodiverse state in the country — and no one else even comes close. We house the decaying remains of one of the most globally prosperous — and infamous — civilizations in recent human history. We also offer the traditional cosmopolitan comforts — arts, entertainment, and some of the best food in the country — all without big city traffic. Shoot, we’re even the only state with an alcoholic drink, and a moonshine at that, as our official state beverage.
None of this is to say that we’re perfect. We’re not. But while there are things we can do better, there is quite a bit that we do right.
The purpose of this column, however, is not to win converts from anywhere else. The better we keep the secret, the less likely Birmingham becomes the next Nashville — sorry Nashville, but you know it’s true. Instead, the hope is to remind us all that we live in a special place. And with a little time and gas money, there is plenty to explore and enough adventure here to last a lifetime.
A stroll through Wetumpka, Alabama’s HGTV boomtown:
Downtown
Over the past few years, I’ve spent way too much time at the dentist’s office. Actually, quite a few dentists’ offices. I’ll spare you the details, but it’s been a journey. And during my many, many visits to the dentist, I have learned one thing: dentists love to play HGTV.
At first, it struck me as a bit idiosyncratic, but if you stop and think about it, it makes sense. What else would they show? The news? Tuning in to our national political cycle while undergoing a root canal just feels redundant. HGTV, however, is perfect: low on drama, universally watchable, and engaging enough to help you forget where you are.
All that to say, there I was three years ago sitting in quiet dread in yet another dentist’s waiting room when I realized that the people on the TV were talking excitedly about Alabama. Wetumpka, Alabama to be specific. I had been to Wetumpka a few months before and found it nice. It’s situated at a quiet, beautiful spot on the Coosa River with several inviting small businesses and an artsy character.
I quickly came to learn that Wetumpka had been selected the winner from over 5,000 applicant towns around the country to star in season one of celebrity HGTV couple Ben and Erin Napier’s “Home Town Takeover.” It then occurred to me that this was not just an Alabama story — people in homes, and dentist offices of course, around the country were watching the exact same announcement as me. Wetumpka was suddenly famous.
If you’ve seen the show, then you’ll already be familiar with the revitalizations in the south-central Alabama town. And, if you know a bit about HGTV, then you won’t be surprised to hear that tourism to the area has exploded. But Wetumpka is much more than a “tourist trap” — as the tongue-in-cheek paint on the visitor center once proclaimed. The folks from HGTV worked hard to bring a compelling story to life that was rooted in the character of the town. And I don’t think that they could have done so without having a town as unique as Wetumpka.
So, let’s visit. Let’s see some of the HGTV sights. But let’s also see some of the places that didn’t make it onto the TV show. The places that make Wetumpka what it is: a scenic town that was already singular enough to stand out in a sea of 5,000 others.
Author’s note: There was simply too much to see and do in Wetumpka for just one Ramble, so I’ve split this one into two. This time, we’ll explore downtown. In part two, we’ll see what adventures await nearby.
First things first: Coffee
Being people of discerning taste — I mean, you are reading my column — I’m assuming that you, just like me, would appreciate starting your visit with a good cup of coffee.
Fortunately for all of us, Wetumpka is home to a friendly, scenic coffee joint called Restoration 49, housed in the old Bank of Wetumpka building, built in 1905, right in the middle of town.
This is Haley. In 2021, she and her husband, Dylan, opened up their first coffee place 30 minutes east in Tallassee. In 2023, they opened up their second store here. Haley’s husband, it turns out, is pretty handy and built that counter himself.
Between Haley and Dylan’s efforts and the original design of the building, this place is gorgeous. Take a gander at their shop in Tallassee as well.
Oh, and they get their baked goods from Wild Flour. As my unbridled enthusiasm shows, Wild Flour may well be my favorite bakery in Alabama. Honestly, when’s the last time that you ate your food so zealously that pieces of it literally flew off?
And if you’re wondering about all that sweat on my shirt — no, no, that’s not due to my feverish pastry fiending. We oh so cleverly timed our trip to coincide with that nationwide heat dome.
Now, let’s continue exploring Wetumpka.
Downtown Wetumpka
Starting with — the meteor! Way back when much of Alabama was underwater, a 1000-foot wide meteor hit this area at a speed of about 10-20 miles per second. It may well have tossed debris as far away as what is now the Gulf. This type of meteor crater, it turns out, is also extremely rare.
Most of the crater views are on private property, so the town does an annual tour. Still, there’s evidence of the impact all around — more on that in a bit — and the town features various signage commemorating its apocalyptic past. Such as this mural wherein our dinosaur buddy appears to be in for a very bad day.
We should also probably mention that house in the background.
You can’t talk about Wetumpka without talking about “Big Fish”, the 2003 Tim Burton movie filmed here. And, aside from the bridge, it’s hard to think of anything more iconic to Wetumpka than the “The Big Fish House,” the main character’s home, that unmistakably rises above town with striking Victorian confidence.
And standing here in front of the house is Shellie. While her day job is heading up the chamber of commerce, I’m going to guess she’s much better known now for her time on HGTV, where she featured prominently as the home’s owner.
Her story sounds like a Hallmark movie: she and her husband lived in Colorado, but they worried that the area was no longer a good place to raise their kids. So they made a list of potential places to move, took a road trip to visit each one, and decided on Wetumpka.
They prayed that they could get a house at a certain price, and the Big Fish house ended up being exactly that price. They took it as a sign and made the leap. The house had largely sat vacant since filming wrapped for “Big Fish”, and it was in complete disrepair. But Shellie and her husband took that as a sign too — a sign that God had provided, but he wanted them to do their part.
They tried to renovate the home, but over time they began to worry that it might be too much for them. Several years later, when pitching their town to HGTV, the folks in Wetumpka decided to include Shellie’s house. Lo and behold, “Big Fish” happened to be the favorite movie of the TV show’s famous host, Erin Napier. So fixing up the home ended up being a passion project for her and a central story for the show.
Meteor? Check. Famous movie house? Check. Now for…a snail?
Yes, indeed! A snail. And look at the size of that thing! Alas no, while it’s sadly not to scale, it’s still not just any snail: this is the Tulotoma Magnifica river snail, or as one of the locals described it to us, “the snail that saved the town.”
Back in the ‘20s, Alabama Power built the Jordan Dam just north of Wetumpka. Unfortunately, the reduced water flow proved catastrophic for this little gastropod, and if it hadn’t been for the efforts of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service, it would have gone extinct. To preserve the snail, in the ‘90s, Alabama Power was required to release more water from the dam.
In a surprise twist, the increased water flow in the Coosa River allowed for kayaking and canoeing, which brought tourism money that kept the local economy afloat. More recently, Main Street Wetumpka used this story to thematically connect the different areas of downtown through the Tulotoma Snail Trail.
I also can’t help but add that the saga of the Wetumpka snail is no less relevant today. Alabama has the most freshwater snail biodiversity in the country, and no other state even comes close, but many of our species are going extinct, not just our snails, because of how we manage our dams. If you want to learn more or find ways to help, then this is a good place to start.
My soapbox aside, if you would like to visit the snail sculpture, it’s on Main Street in front of the Elmore County Museum. And if you’d like to partake in all that kayaking and canoeing, then hit up these folks.
As small town visits go, if there’s a bookstore, then I will always make a stop. In Wetumpka, we visited Sweet Home Books where we met Diane, the owner, and Ellie, her daughter. Despite the barber pole above her, if you look closely at Diane’s tumbler, you’ll note that it reads “Not The Barbershop.”
HGTV spent an entire episode renovating Wetumpka’s barbershop. Shortly after the show aired, the barber retired, and Diane took over the space. So, in addition to selling books, Diane now finds that she answers many questions from surprised tourists who walked in expecting to get their hair cut.
When visiting, make sure to stop a moment at the front door. See that spot to the left beneath the window? That’s a piece of the original door. When the Napiers, the famous HGTV couple, replaced it for the TV show, they realized that it had a bullet hole from a late 1800s shootout involving the dentist. This being HGTV, of course a dentist was involved.
Anyway, the Napiers kept the bullet hole and placed it in the new door.
Once inside: books! While perusing, we learned that Wetumpka served as the inspirational setting for the sci-fi comic book series Starfell. The comics reimagine the meteor impact as the seed that unleashes an alien invasion in the early ‘60s.
If you’ve spent even an afternoon in downtown Wetumpka, then you will immediately recognize many of the sights in the comics as the survivors wander their way across the post-apocalyptic town. A few issues in, you’ll even notice this bookstore, where the characters seek refuge — in what I assume to be a symbolic nod to the importance of reading — after the surrounding buildings have all been destroyed.
As you continue your downtown stroll, keep an eye out for the scrap metal horses and Sasquatch. And while a full-size, welded sasquatch is generally a pretty worthy goal in itself, I recommend you step into Marcia Weber’s art gallery beside him.
Make sure to make an appointment ahead of time.
Once inside, you’ll meet Marcia, who — right here in small town Alabama — has one of the largest collections of folk art for sale in the entire country.
The story begins in 1981, when a couple out-of-town curators were at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Art working on an art show called “Black Art in America” for a famous D.C. museum. They were trying to write a bio for renowned self-taught artist Mose Tolliver, but the cultural gap was wide — for context, Mose grew up the son of a sharecropper — and they simply couldn’t understand one another.
The curators caught wind that there was a lady working at the museum who used to teach at an all-Black school. That was Marcia. So they came to her and asked for help. When she met Mose, they hit it off.
So Marcia decided to quit graduate school and help Mose promote his art instead. This led to helping other self-taught artists. Gradually, she built up a collection of art as well. In short, Marcia happened to be at the epicenter of self-taught art before the rest of us even knew what it was.
From the beginning, even though the art world had yet to take notice, she believed that what she was doing was important, so she kept original photos, letters, and art from what became a who’s who of American self-taught artists. If it wasn’t for her, most of that would have been lost to time.
It’s a story of beating the odds: for both Marcia and the self-taught artists she represents, and she has dedicated her life to it. Marcia told us that she hasn’t “had a paycheck in 31 years, not a monetary one. My husband has always been so supportive; I could never have done it without him.”
And while I find this story incredible on its own, what’s most compelling for our purposes here is that anybody can go meet Marcia, see the world-class art, and take a look at some of her memorabilia. Just make sure to call ahead so that you don’t miss her.
I’ve included a few photos below from her gallery, but if you really want to get a feel for the extent of her collection, then take a look at the video.
Lunchtime
Wetumpka has no shortage of restaurants. I’ve always been partial to sandwich joints, so we decided to stop here: the Copper House Deli. The building has been around since the 1870s and has housed a cotton factory, a hotel, a service station and a brothel.
Much of the interior was constructed using the building’s original hardwood flooring. And, as flooring goes, you will notice that it is entirely covered with pennies. The official count is 177,000 pennies in what the owner has fairly described as a “once in a lifetime project.”
Enough talk, let’s eat.
Ah, yes. Me at my most dignified…yet again. If you look closely at the background, you’ll notice that Copper House Deli also has views of Wetumpka’s other major landmark, the Bibb Graves Bridge.
The Bibb Graves Bridge and Gold Star Park
Assuming that you have timed your trip a bit better than us, and you aren’t visiting during a nationwide heat wave, then I recommend you take a walk through Gold Star Park, which is directly connected to downtown. And if you’re visiting Gold Star — and, really, Wetumpka in general — then it will be impossible to miss the Bibb Graves Bridge. Built in 1931, it’s one of the more scenic bridges in the state, and Gold Star offers some of the best views.
See the church at the end? *chef’s kiss*
The bridge is pedestrian-friendly, so be sure to make your way up top where you can get to the views. If you look closely, you’ll notice that all the rocks are pointing away from the flow of the river. That’s the meteor. 80 million years later, and we can still see the angle of impact. Trip out on that.
Following a casual consideration of just how finite your existence actually is, if you head back down and under the bridge, you will find yourself walking along the river on the Gold Star Park trail.
It’s quite pretty, and there’s plenty to see. And while I’m not a birder, I’m told that this is the place for it.
My favorite spot on the trail is up by the parking lot, where I assume many people will want to see the Civic Room of HGTV fame. The building is named after Wetumpka’s first female mayor who was instrumental in preventing the demolition of the historic Rosenwald School, which is now the Black History Museum — more on that in part two.
As much as I appreciate HGTV’s time in Wetumpka, I admit to being more taken by the Ma Brown Dogtrot Cabin next door.
In 1881, a young married couple, the Browns, began construction on this two-bedroom home where they would come to give birth to 11, and raise 12, children — a thought that I find particularly humbling as I struggle to raise one child in my three-bedroom, air-conditioned home.
If you know your Alabama architecture, then you’ll recognize this as a first-rate example of a housing type that used to be common to rural farming families — the dogtrot. A breezeway under the house and between the two rooms to keep cool during the summer, and a chimney per room for warmth in the winter.
Ma Brown lived in the cabin for 69 years until 1950, and the home was moved to the park in 1992. It was a different world, but pieces of it are still here, hidden all around us.
Part 2…
We’re off for now, but we’ll be back next time to see what kind of trouble we can get into outside of town. We’ll dive into more stories of Alabama from yesteryear, assault our coronaries with a milkshake of reckless abandon, and see if we can figure out where all those sculptures — such as the giant Coke bottle, the ten-foot sentry overlooking the old jail, and this motorcycle — lead.
Until then, be well, do good work, and “War Eagle”…or “Roll Tide”…or maybe even “Go Trash Pandas”. Ramble on!
Parting thoughts
Nerd out on Alabama with Wesley here: [email protected]
Ask him to explain his Insta handle here: @theatomicdustbun
See plenty more photos from all around Alabama here: @thealabamaramble
