Sweet Home: Alabama’s History in Maps

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Exhibit Hall in the Burrow Center currently boasts a collection of maps — The Evelyn Burrow Museum’s Exhibit Hall in the Burrow Center for the Fine and Performing Arts currently boasts a collection of maps from as early as the mid 16th century to modern times showing the evolution of the state of Alabama. “Sweet Home: Alabama’s History in Maps” will be on display through at least Feb. 28.

The Evelyn Burrow Museum, in conjunction with the Alabama 200 bicentennial celebration, is exhibiting a collection of maps of the state documenting its changes before and after statehood was established. On loan from the Birmingham Public Library, “Sweet Home: Alabama’s History in Maps” will be on display through at least Feb. 28.

The exhibit is located in the exhibit hall of the Burrow Center for the Fine and Performing Arts at Wallace State Community College. The exhibit hall is open Monday through Friday during the college’s regular business hours and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday during museum business hours.

While on exhibit at the Birmingham Public Library, the display garnered rave reviews and is considered a must see for anyone interested in the history of Alabama or the Southeast.

Jay Lamar, director of the Alabama Bicentennial Commission, called “Sweet Home: Alabama’s History in Maps” one of the most exciting, beautiful and stimulating exhibitions she’s ever seen. “People will discover things about Alabama that they never knew or imagined by experiencing these lovely, remarkable maps.”

The exhibit tells the history of Alabama with maps that depict the state’s development from the earliest days of exploration through the present day. The exhibit explores 450 years of Alabama history through more than 50 maps carefully selected from the library’s world class cartography collection.

For more information about Alabama 200, visit www.alabama200.org.

The map “La Florida” originally appeared in the 1584 edition of Abraham Ortelius’s atlas “Theatrum Orbis Terrarum.” This map is from the 1591 edition. It is the first published map of the area that would become the southeastern United States. A village that would later go by the name Tuscaloosa is located in the area that is present-day Alabama.

Not all of the maps on display show topography. This map from 1974 is a graphic representation of employment in Alabama counties. Each colored tier making up the boxes represent a different sector of employment: transportation, mining, retail, government, etc.