Birmingham, AL: A Sunday Afternoon in Avondale Park

 

Avondale Park, Birmingham, Alabama. December 2020.

A sunny winter day in Birmingham, perfect to visit Avondale Park for the first time. 

Avondale Park, Birmingham, Alabama. December 2020.

A library is adjacent to the park - what a perfect pairing! Books in a park! 

 

Avondale Park, Birmingham, Alabama. December 2020.

 

Avondale Park is in the, ummmm, which Birmingham neighborhood? I assumed the Avondale neighborhood, but further investigation suggests the park looks at the Avondale neighborhood while it resides in the Forest Park neighborhood. 

 

Avondale Park, Birmingham, Alabama. December 2020.

 

My post-visit research into the park also reminds me how often we go to a place, seeing only what we see in those moments, and we have no idea of what we don't see. 

For example, on a superficial level, I didn't notice the rose garden. 

I also didn't know that for centuries, local folk and wayfarers refreshed themselves with the spring waters that flowed from an opening in Red Mountain down to what is now Avondale Park. Mortals have baptized the spring with different names over the years: King's Spring, Big Spring, Cave Spring, and now Avondale Spring, neither knowing nor inquiring of the spring how she calls herself.  The spring feeds the park's duck pond.

I didn't know, of course, the rich and diverse social history of the park. 

Consider the stories of John Todd and the elephant under his care, Miss Fancy. Miss Fancy lived at Avondale Park, back when it had a zoo. 

Avondale Park, Birmingham, Alabama. December 2020.

I wish I knew how Miss Fancy fared after she lost her beloved John Todd. I wish I knew more about Mr. Todd's story outside of Miss Fancy.

In 2019, Irene Latham published a children's book about Miss Fancy and a young Black boy in Birmingham. In Miss Fancy's time at Avondale Park, only white visitors could enter the park. Embedded in Ms. Latham's story of Miss Fancy is the grim story of Jim Crow laws. This article by James Baggett, Reading Birmingham: Miss Fancy Tells Sweet Story of Jim Crow’s Harsh Reality, explains.