Jessie Owens Museum & Memorial Park

The twenty acre park has attractions to honor Owens, a museum, a long-jump pit and a replica of Jessie’s home.

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Location of Decatur in Limestone County and Morgan County, Alabama.

Decatur Alabama is a city in Morgan and Limestone counties in the State of Alabama. The city, affectionately known as “The River City”, is located in Northern Alabama on the banks of Wheeler Lake, along theTennessee River. It is the largest city and county seat of Morgan County. The population in 2010 census was 55,683.

Decatur Alabama Population

Decatur is also the core city of the two-county large Decatur, Alabama Metropolitan Area which had an estimated population of 153,374 in 2013. Combined with the Huntsville Metropolitan Area, the two create the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area, of which Decatur is the second largest city.

Decatur Alabama History

Like many southern cities in the early 19th century, Decatur’s early success was based upon its location along a river. Railroad routes and boating traffic pushed the city to the front of North Alabama‘s economic atmosphere. The city rapidly grew into a large economic center within the Tennessee Valley and was a hub for travelers and cargo between Nashville and Mobile as well as Chattanooga and New Orleans. Throughout the 20th century, the city experienced steady growth, but was eclipsed as the regional economic center by a fast-growing Huntsville during the space race. The city now finds its economy heavily based on manufacturing industries, cargo transit, and hi-tech industries such as General Electric, and the United Launch Alliance.

Decatur Alabama During The Civil War

Decatur, Alabama was the site of two railroads that joined there, the route from Nashville and the other from Chattanooga. The crossing of the Tennessee River was in Decatur and contested by General Hood during his move on Franklin and Nashville in 1864.

Athens, Alabama, just North of Decatur, is also rich in Civil War History as is Elkmont, Alabana, about 8 miles north,  the site of the Battle of Sulphur Trestle in September 1864.

Decatur Alabama Zip Code

• 35601
• 35602
• 35603
• 35609
• 35699

_{Decatur Alabama News}

• Decatur Daily
• WHNT 19 News
• WAAY 31 TV
• WAFF 48

Decatur Alabama Map

_{Credit: Wikipedia contributors, “Decatur, Alabama,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Decatur,_Alabama&oldid=622060365 (accessed August 31, 2014).}

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Alabama National Wildlife Refuges Index Page

Sauta Cave National Wildlife Refuge

Sauta Cave NWR (known as Blowing Wind Cave NWR until 1999) is a 264 acre Refuge purchased in 1978 to provide protection for the federally endangered gray and Indiana bat and their critical habitat. The cave provides a summer roosting site for about 200,000 – 300,000 gray bats and a winter hibernaculum for both the gray and Indiana bats. There are two entrances into the cave on the Refuge but they are closed to the public

As is the case with many large caves, rare and unique species occur in Sauta Cave. As a result, the Alabama Natural Heritage Program ranks the cave’s biodiversity as a site of very high significance. Surprisingly, the cave is not a pristine one as it was used as a saltpeter mine during the Civil War, a nightclub during the 1920’s, and a fallout shelter during the 1960’s.

In addition to the rare fauna within the cave, the federally endangered Price’s potato bean occurs on the Refuge. All 264 acres of habitat outside of the cave is predominately hardwood forest.

Getting There . . . 
Sauta Cave NWR is located just above the Sauty Creek embayment of TVA’s Guntersville Reservoir, seven miles west of Scottsboro, Alabama, just off highway 72.

Source: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service 

ALABAMA WILDLIFE AREAS MAIN PAGE

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