Gadsden was an important shipping center, second only to Mobile, and in recent years was very reliant on industry. After problems in the 1970s and 1980s, Gadsden began looking to improve the city with downtown redevelopment and the addition of the Cultural Arts Center.
The Emma Sansom Monument was a 15-year-old Alabama girl who guided General Nathan Bedford Forrest across Black Creek as he pursued 2,000 Federal troops in 1863. The statue is a depiction of Emma pointing to a shortcut across Black Creek, which enabled the General to capture Union forces.
Gadsden Museum of Art has a permanent collection of paintings, sculpture, decorative arts and historical artifacts from Native Americans, Early Settlers and Early Industry periods. Monthly changing exhibits feature works of local and regional artists.
Address: Gadsden Museum of Art, 515 Broad Street, Gadsden, AL 35901, United States
Phone: 1 (256) 546-7365, Fax: 1 (256) 546-7365
Hours:
10am-4pm; Closed: Sun
Tips: Open first Friday of each month: 4 - 8pm.
Disability Access: Full facilities for persons with disabilities.
There are three galleries within the Mary G. Hardin Center with regularly changing exhibits, the Imagination Place Children's Museum, the Community School for the Arts as well as dinner theater, courtyard concerts, and chamber music presentations.
The Children's Museum has hands-on exhibits that feature a grocery store, bank and doctor's office. The galleries present works by local and national artists.
Address: Mary G. Hardin Center for Cultural Arts, 501 Broad Street, Gadsden, AL 35901, United States
Phone: 1 (256) 543-2787, Fax: 1 (256) 546-7435
Hours:
10am-6pm; Sun:1pm-5pm
Always closed on: New Year's Day (January 1), American Independance Day (July 4), Labor Day - USA (1st Monday, September), Thanksgiving - USA (4th Thursday, November ), Christmas - Christian (December 25), Easter - Christian
Noccalula Falls Park is located near Gadsden with falls that plummet 90 feet to the limestone ledge below.
The nearby gorge trail travels past caves with visible Indian carvings, an old aboriginal fort, abandoned dam, and the pump house for Dwight Cotton Mill.
Noccalula Falls Park also features train rides, a playground and petting zoo, large botanical gardens, deer park, and pioneer homestead.
Water flowing over Noccalula Falls.
Hours:
March 1 to May 30: 9am-5pm
May 31 to August 30: 9am-7pm
August 31 to October 12: 9am-5pm
October 13 to October 31: 9am-3pm
Tips: Admission for park, unlimited train rides, gardens, fall viewing and village.
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Noccalula Falls Park, Gadsden
