Carson Village, Birmingham, Alabama
Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried under the oak below Bethel. So it was named Alton Bacuth (oak of weeping). ~ Genesis 35:8 I didn’t know why God would choose to mention this in Scripture. My footnotes revealed nothing, so I looked to my friend, Matthew Henry (commentator from the 1600s). Did you do the same as me, and think that Rebekah was Jacob’s wife? How quickly we forget our lessons! At some time or other, Jacob took on his mother’s nurse. Matthew Henry seems to think it was after Rebekah died. We read in Genesis 24:59 that she (Deborah) left Laban’s house with Rebekah when Rebekah left to go marry Isaac, so she’s been with the family a very long time! Surprisingly, while scripture records the death of Deborah, the nurse, it does not tell us when Rebekah died, except in Genesis 49:31 when Jacob gives instructions to his sons about where to bury him – the same cave where Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah and Leah are buried. Sadly, we’ll discover soon that Rachel (Jacob’s favorite wife) was buried along the road.
We finally got to see my brother, David! What a joyous reunion! Especially when you consider how much we didn’t like each other when we were kids. Our poor, poor mother! I don’t know what I would’ve done if my sons had behaved toward each other like David and I did. Makes for lots of memories and good conversation now though. 😊
Our first day together, David took us to Red Mountain State Park. Once upon a time, this was an iron ore mining operation from 1863–1963. After it was officially closed, it sat untouched for nearly 50 years until U.S. Steel made one of the largest corporate land donations in the nation’s history, selling more than 1,200 acres at a tremendously discounted price to the Red Mountain Park and Recreational Area Commission in 2007 in order to preserve its history.
The land was valued at $16.5 million, and optioned for two years at the discounted price of $7 million. Upon completion of the land purchase, U.S. Steel pledged an additional $1 million in cash for the development of park amenities, making this project the largest philanthropic gift in U.S. Steel’s 100-year history.
We really enjoyed it, and now you can too!
It’s from the iron they’re sucking up from the ground.
It’s now our trail.
by removing the 18-inches of concrete, this past September 30th!
The wires on the side of the walls are NOT for lighting.
When down in the mine, workers would carry a battery pack with them.
If they needed to send a signal, like to send down another cart, they’d touch the battery pack to the wiring,
which would set off a bell at the top of the mine.
Picture it in color when everything would be red!
It was huge though! Probably close to 80′ tall!
That’s actually taken from behind the building.
We’ve never seen a caterpillar move that fast!
Wonder why the park is allowing it to take over?
Did you happen to notice the two chairs? Blaine and I will be in them later.
After our hike, we stopped at Casa Fiesta and all three of us gorged on their outstanding Fiesta Bowls!
The real thing looks much better and tastes phenomenal!