Weiss Lake Property Daytrip to the Florence Museums

The museums of Florence in North Alabama are another fun daytrip from your Weiss Lake property at The Bluffs.  These museums display a wide range of interesting early American collections. Indian Mound and Museum, Kennedy-Douglas Center for the Arts, Pope’s Tavern Museum, W.C. Handy Birthplace, museum and library, and Frank Lloyd Wright Rosenbaum House are some of the popular attractions in Florence for tourists who love to view historic collections.  

Indian Mound and Museum

Indian Mound and Museum is located at Florence and displays relics, which are found in Paleo, Transitional, Pale archaic, Archaic, Woodland, Mississippian and Historic phases of Native America history. Apart from viewing rich collections you can also enjoy special programs like the biennial Festival of Singing River.

This festival lets you view early American Crafts and Arts and enjoy other activities like dance and food on the bank of the Tennessee River. General public can visit the museum by spending only $2 while for students the entry fee is one fourth of the entry fee of general public. Admission is free for Festival of the Singing River. This museum remains open on Tuesday to Saturday from 10:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. however, remains closed on all federal holidays.    

Kennedy-Douglass Center for the Arts

Kennedy-Douglas Center for the Arts is a wonderful historical house with art museum that is located in Florence City in Alabama. The entire museum complex is housed in two historic buildings – Kennedy-Douglass building and Wright-Douglass building. Inside this museum complex you will find a studio, gallery and even a meeting place for all cultural groups. Items like personal papers; genealogical records and photographs are also displayed in the museum.

Apart from visiting the Kennedy-Douglass Center for the Arts you can participate in various social programs and competitions held in this center. In September and October you can enjoy monarch National Ceramic Competition while in the mid of May you can take part and can enjoy their special program – ‘Arts Alive’. This center is open from 9:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. during weekdays, however, remains closed on the federal holidays.  

Pope’s Tavern Museum

Pope’s Tavern Museum is considered as the oldest structure in Florence. Antiques are used so perfectly to decorate this museum that you can feel the lively atmosphere of an early tavern inside this place. Other part of the museum displays uniform, medical equipment and artifacts, which will take you back to the American Civil War era.

Like other museums in Florence, Pope’s Tavern Museum also organizes special programs like Frontier Day Celebration, Civil War camp re-enactment and ‘Every Light a Prayer for Peace’. This historical house remains open from Tuesday to Saturday. Admission fee of Pope’s Tavern Museum is quite reasonable - $2 for general public and $0.50 for children.       

W.C. Handy Birthplace, Museum & Library

This historical house is the birthplace of William Christopher Handy, famous as ‘Father of the Blues’. The entire complex is formed by the log cabin birthplace of W.C Handy, African-American Research Library and a Museum Room. The museum room displays musical instruments and personal papers, photographs, music manuscripts and other personal possessions of W.C. Handy.    

W.C. Handy Music Festival and his birthday celebration are two significant programs of this museum. This museum remains open from Tuesday to Saturday and charges $ 2.00 and $ 0.50 from general visitors and children, respectively, to view the place.

Frank Lloyd Wright Rosenbaum House

Rosenbaum house was built by Frank Lloyd Wright in Usonian style. It is the only Usonian architecture in Alabama, built during the period 1939-1940. Today the number of this type of building in United States is very limited and so this house was turned into a National Historic Property of US.