City: Birmingham, AL

Category: Tours & Attractions

Telephone: (205) 669-8767

Address: 50 Lester St.

Description: Modest and perhaps overlooked the Karl C. Harrison Museum of George Washington is one of those curious little gems that delight the visitor upon discovery. Focusing on artifacts from the colonial period up to the Civil War, the collection holds art, letters, furniture, and house wares, much of it from the Washington family and their descendants. It provides a glance at our first first family. Calera resident Charlotte Smith-Weaver, a sixth-generation granddaughter of Martha Washington, donated the items for the museum and local banker Karl C. Harrison founded the museum in 1982. Items of note include Martha’s prayer book, George Washington’s writing instruments and tools, an original sketch of Mt. Vernon, and the last tintype taken of Robert E. Lee, a descendant of Martha Washington. Admission is free.