Aldrich Coal Mine Museum

10/25/2025

Tonight is the first night for our ghost tours.

Starting at 7:30PM until 10:00, come learn about the ghostly miner seen around or the Liliac Lady who announces her presence with scent amongst other spooky accounts from people who have persoanlly experienced things on our 100 plus year old property.

*Admission is $5.00 per person, children 5 and under are free

124 Co Rd 203
Montevallo, Al 35115

Contact 205-688-6885 for more info.

09/27/2025

Today is the day yall. Come on out and see us for some local history and smoked BBQ sandwiche plates.

09/14/2025

Check out the ghost hunt the great folks at Kennesaw Ghost did a few weeks ago.

Interested in doing your own investigating? Just hit us up to make arrangements.
And Stay tuned for our nights in October where we do our own special ghost tours, who knows, maybe you’ll have your own ghostly interaction.

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

09/12/2025

11:00AM
September 27, 2025

Come out and see us for tours and BBQ. We will have both museum buildings open for tours.

We also have limited quantities of some new merch so come out a see us.

07/06/2025

After George David Shortridge mined the first coal in the late 1830s or early 1840s at a place called Woods Pit only two and a half miles from Montevallo, it would continue on for a century before rising costs and a depletion of the main coal seam led to its closing on July 5, 1942.

Before its closing, the Montevallo Coal Company saw many firsts within the state of Alabama including:

First coal to be sold under a trade name.
First coal to be mined year round, not just seasonally.
First coal to be collected using a steam engine.
First coal to be shipped to market by railway.
First site to use systematic underground mining.
First professional coal operation in the state.

It’s been 83 years since the mines closed and the town died, but the memory lives on.

07/06/2025

04/05/2025

Rajah Lodge (1890-1947)

Rajah Lodge was named as such by William F. Aldrich after an artist had a dream in which Mr. Aldrich was dressed as a Rajah of India with his wife dressed as Maharani.

By the time of building completion in 1890, it was 4 stories high and gave the appearance of a chateau with its many veranda and balconies. It was a dark mahogany color and had over 30 rooms. It had big bay windows of stained glass with window seats underneath. The home was filled with furniture and artwork from across the globe.

It was surrounded by large gardens, containing fish pools surrounded by water plants and foliage. The gardens also contained 4 greenhouses where delicate tropical and out of season plants grew.

The property was, for many years, one of the show places of the south. It was said to be second only to the famed Biltmore estate in terms of magnificent private gardens in the entire South.

The property stood empty from 1912-1922 when the Aldrichs’ moved to Birminham after the death of their son, Farrington. He sold the property to the Montevallo Mining Company on January 11, 1922 and it became a boarding house for the miners. The building was completely torn down in 1947.

03/28/2025

Don’t forget tomorrow at 10:00 AM is Open House at Aldrich Coal Mine Museum and Farrington Hall with a walking tour to the mine entrance scheduled for 11:00 AM and 2:00 PM.

Admission is $5 per person.

If you came last year come on back and bring somebody with you! If this is your first time we welcome you and hope to see you again.

03/15/2025

02/01/2025

There is an untold amount of lost African American history. We have tried to uncover and save a minuscule amount of it from the Aldrich Area.

(We do have several unnamed photos in our collection I will post later and see if any family is still in the area to put a name to them).

01/30/2025

Aldrich Prison (1913-1928)

In 1913 prisoners were leased from the state to work within the Montevallo Mine.

The Mine Company was required to build their own prison facilities including a barracks style main building with church and bathhouse, and separate medical facilities. The Aldrich Prison also contained its own farm.

The company was responsible for hiring their own guards, Chaplin, and Doctor.

01/22/2025

Did you know that mining coal used to be a seasonal job?

Back when coal was first being mined around Montevallo, it reached its highest peak in January and its lowest point in July when demand was at its lowest.

When Truman Hemingway Aldrich leased the mines in the summer of 1873 he put his men to digging right away.

The locals (and some other mine operators across the state) joked that because he was from New York, he was an unpredictable yankee who didn’t know what he was doing.

But when that first frost came and everyone was looking for coal, he had the market cornered due to his large stockpile of coal built up from a summer of work.
He was able to sell to the locals and ship coal to surrounding counties and even down south toward Mobile, driving out the European coal in the southern market.

This led to the Montevallo Mines becoming the first real coal mining operation in the state in 1875.