Latest / In Focus with Carolyn Hutcheson / Landmarks Foundation - TPR's In Focus - Oct. 15, 2026

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Landmarks Foundation - TPR's In Focus - Oct. 15, 2026 · In Focus with Carolyn Hutcheson

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  Support comes from the Rosa Parks Museum on Troy
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  University's Montgomery campus, located on the spot
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  of Mrs. Parks' historic 1955 arrest and featuring
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  exhibits that chronicle the history of the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
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  More information at troy.edu/rosaparks.
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  From Troy Public Radio, this is In Focus,
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  and I'm Carolyn Hutcheson. Last summer, we visited
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  Old Alabama Town in downtown Montgomery,
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  and we met Jessica O'Connor, the new Landmarks
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  Foundation Executive Director. Her belief is that our preserved
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  structures and sites reflect the stories
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  of our shared history.
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  Jessica O'Connor, welcome. Thank you for having me.
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  Right now we're in Lucas Tavern, which is turning into our main headquarters.
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  So we're making sure everybody comes to immerse themselves in the
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  history as they immediately get started. Give us your backgrounds. I grew up
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  in Cheyenne, Wyoming. I went to school in North Carolina. I got my Bachelor of
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  Arts in African American Studies from Winston-Salem State University,
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  my master's in public history at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and then
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  I was in Mississippi for 6 years with the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.
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  Doing all sorts of things like museum professionals usually do.
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  You are a Westerner who seems to have adopted the South.
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  Yeah, I really have. You know, I've been in the South just about as long
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  as I was in Wyoming growing up, so it's— it is home in
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  a lot of different ways. This is a wonderful piece of history.
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  We're talking about Old Alabama Town and Landmarks Foundation.
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  What's the difference between the two? So Old Alabama
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  Town is where our history comes to life. It's the opportunity
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  for our visitors to come and see exactly what it means to do preservation
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  work, to find themselves in an Alabama story, a Central Alabama story.
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  And the Landmarks Foundation is sort of the umbrella organization for all of
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  that work. It originally helped us bring all of our structures to Old Alabama Town
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  to create the neighborhood, and we're also kind of moving in a new preservation
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  direction so that we can teach people to be preservationists in the roots that we
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  have too. So it's It's a blend of the two together to bring people to
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  see the history and then make sure that they can do the history for future
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  generations. You had an enormous crowd of schoolchildren
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  today, and of course teachers are having the field trips.
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  What do you think they get out of visiting this place?
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  I think there's a lot of value for our students to a little more
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  broadly experience a field trip because a lot of that funding
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  gets cut. You know, the humanities are always the first thing to go. As we
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  look at a bigger future in AI and STEM. I think it
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  gives them an opportunity to see the past in an
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  interesting and a dynamic way and to make their own
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  connections as they're figuring out growing up and being in the world.
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  How did we get from 1820-whatever to
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  2026? What does that 100 years look like in Alabama?
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  What does that 250 years look like for the United States as we look
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  at that anniversary? And it's easier to teach that when you're in it than it
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  is to look at a textbook or a video or something in the classroom.
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  So speaking of the 250th anniversary observance,
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  what do you think Old Alabama Town can share
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  about that history and that early history as well? I think the
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  foundational history is really important that we share here. More importantly
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  than that, this is the place where you can find something or
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  somebody that represents you as a citizen. We have our African American
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  history, our women's history, urban history, agricultural. So there is actually
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  a way for you to find yourself at Old Alabama Town somewhere.
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  Give us some examples. Some of my favorites— we do a
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  Black Experience Tour monthly, and that takes our Old
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  Alabama tours to a very different level and something that we haven't done
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  previously to explore not just enslavement,
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  but what freedom means for different groups of people. Because Montgomery's enslavement
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  story is an urban story, it's very different than sort of the— what we think
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  of as enslavement in the United States. You know, we have women's history just about
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  everywhere. But as you're walking through the gardens, you know, you can get your
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  green thumb and see all of our different gardens and the way that we maintain
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  those traditions here. Or if you're over on our working block, you can see all
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  the trades and the blue-collar jobs, because I think we are starting to lose some
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  of those traditions and those craftspeople, and we want to find a
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  way to bring those back. For your listeners who have not yet discovered
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  Old Alabama Town, here it is in the heart of Montgomery.
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  Give us the location. Yeah, so tickets are purchased here up on Hull
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  Street on the Lucas Tavern. Old Alabama Town is about 100,000
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  square feet of space, but we do have 2 blocks. Our living blocks
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  will teach you the way people lived, the ways that they occupied their time,
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  the conversations they were having, the connections they made with each other.
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  And then our working block explores what got them there— jobs,
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  trades, the everyday, the triumphs, the challenges across
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  those 2 blocks. Today I noticed teachers with students
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  going through the headquarters and then around the property
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  to see these historic structures. What do you as executive
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  director see them teaching children? I think what's
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  been really interesting is looking at how they bridge technology.
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  You know, they see the old payphone, or they may see, you know, a telegram
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  or the telegraph system, and then they have those individual moments with
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  their students based on what those kids are finding interesting. And they— well, actually,
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  we got the cell phone because of all the things that came before us.
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  An interesting hands-on opportunity for teachers to do cause and effect based
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  on what the students are finding interesting in the moment. And of course,
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  families visit Old Alabama Town. What is the range of
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  structures that they can actually see? We've got the tavern,
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  of course, as our home base. We've got the Grange Hall to go
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  into husbandry, carriage houses, outbuildings, houses of
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  enslavement, and the people that worked inside of the Ordeman-Shaw complex. We always
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  have our rental properties as well, which are rooted in that same history, and they
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  all have very interesting backstories as well. A lot of people enjoy
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  having their businesses located in a historic structure,
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  in a historic district. And it's too, I think it's a good conversation
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  starter, especially for those businesses that are coming in that are a little
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  new. They give them an opportunity. You're here because of the history,
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  depending on the property, of course. But it wouldn't be Old Alabama
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  Town without the businesses. Are there special events that you host here?
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  There are. Like I said, we have our Black History Experience the 3rd Saturday
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  of every month. And then we have a variety of programs coming into
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  the fall as well. Jessica, you are from Wyoming.
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  People may not realize that Southerners The culture really
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  was sort of exported. Yeah. One of my favorite stories and
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  personal point of research is the town of Empire, Wyoming. And that
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  was founded by free Black families who were using land
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  grant acts, homestead acts, to be able to move westward. So when
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  land sort of dried up or there wasn't enough land in Kansas, as people
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  kind of hit that midpoint, they continued to go west and they would settle
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  in places like Wyoming to create their own all-Black cities. The tragedy in that town
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  of Empire is not so different than southern stories as we get into the Jim
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  Crow era, but a lot of the people that settled that land were people of
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  color. Were there any other surprises that you found along
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  the way in your research? I think in that story,
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  I don't know if I was surprised by it so much, but kind of
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  enamored with the idea that the land grant acts that they were using were
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  so loose in the language. That they would send
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  wives, daughters, aunts, nieces ahead of time to
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  buy land, and then the men would follow and buy connecting pieces of land
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  so they could go much larger than that false promise of 40 acres and
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  a mule as they got out west to do dry farming. Do you find any
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  parallels between there and here? Yeah, I think it would
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  be a little bit earlier than the concept of the American dream,
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  but finding community, identity,
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  A little piece of something to call your own, I think, is a really common
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  theme between all of our structures and the people in places like Empire.
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  Is there anything you really want your listeners to take away
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  from our conversation and their visit to
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  Old Alabama Town? I believe that everybody is a public
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  historian. You know, if you have those boxes of
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  things in the attic that you've been keeping away, or who gets to make
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  Grandma's pound cake, those recipes are archives.
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  Something like we're doing between generations is oral history. Everybody's doing public
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  history at any given time. So I always encourage people, if you have the opportunity,
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  talk to your elders, make copies of those photographs, join us for our programs
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  so you can share what you're learning with the generations that are now coming after
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  you. What is the website here?
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  oldalabamatown.com. That'll take you to our main page. Social media down
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  at the bottom as well. Membership information's on that same website and
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  the Companions to Lucas Tavern. We're working very actively
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  on our accessibility, not just for people who need accommodations
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  physically, but who would like to come but have other barriers.
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  So we are now a Blue Star Museum. And then any of our families who
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  are using SNAP or EBT benefits also have a significant discount
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  under the Museums for All program. Thank you for being our guest today. Thank you
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  for having me. Jessica O'Connor is executive director of
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  Montgomery's Landmarks Foundation, which oversees
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  Old Alabama Town and its preserved historic structures.
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  Thanks for joining us for In Focus, which is a podcast.
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  Feel free to get in touch at infocus@troy.edu.
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  I'm Carolyn Hutcheson, and this is listener-supported
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  Troy Public Radio.