Moon Over Homewood

I’m in Birmingham, Alabama for a deposition today on a big case. I attended law school in this city back in the 1980s and so am very familiar with it. I lived here for three years in an area called Homewood. I lived in some post WWII townhouses that sat at the bottom of Red Mountain. On the top of Red Mountain is a statue that’s the largest cast iron one in the USA. It’s a massive thing that was built in 1903 for the 1904 World’s Fair by Guiseppe Moretti, it was to be used to show off the industrial nature of the city of Birmingham. The city was long a center of iron and steel working and the statue is a tribute to that.

The statue is of Vulcan, the Roman God of fire and the forge. The statue was placed on the mountain in 1936. Where I lived in law school was right near him. The funny thing about him is that his bottom is naked. I could see his derriere from my back yard. We always told people to come find us behind the Vulcan’s behind. Yes, we were easily amused.

They have an elevator where you can go up and get a nice view of the city and there’s also a visitor’s center. There are also some television towers up there keeping him company since it’s the highest place in the city. If you’re ever in the city, go by and check it out, it’s a nice little outing.

There’s also a little song about “Moon over Homewood” since the Vulcan seems to be mooning the area with his cast iron cheeks up there on the mountain. Sadly, I couldn’t find the words for you.