Tom Bevill Visitor Center
The Tom Bevill Lock and Dam at Pickensville, AL is the setting for the Tom Bevill Visitor Center. This elegant structure, a reminder of the plantation houses of the area, stands a lonely vigil on the banks of the Tenn-Tom. Nearby is the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers Snagboat MONTGOMERY. Both the house and the boat are museums of the Tenn-Tom river folklore and history.
Snagboat Montgomery
The U. S. Snagboat MONTGOMERY, circa 1926, is permanently dry docked beside the vistor center. This restored stern wheel steamboat is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and contains exhibits about the boats' operation and history.
One of the last steam-powered sternwheelers to ply Southern rivers. Served U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile District, from 1926-1982. Restored to former operating appearance. Contains interpretive exhibits.
Wikipedia:
Montgomery is a steam-powered sternwheel-propelled snagboat built in 1925 by the Charleston Dry Dock and Machine Company of Charleston, South Carolina, and operated by the United States Army Corps of Engineers.
Montgomery cleared snags and obstructions from the Coosa, Alabama, Apalachicola, Chattahoochee, Flint, Black Warrior, and Tombigbee Rivers until her retirement from the Corps of Engineers on November 8, 1982.
She was restored in 1984 and again in 2004. One of only two surviving Army Corps of Engineers snagboats (along with W.T. Preston), she was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1989. Montgomery now operates as a museum ship at the Tom Bevill Lock and Dam Visitor Center in Pickensville, Alabama.
Montgomery is built out of steel plates mounted in a steel frame. Her hull is 156 feet (48 m) long, which extends to 178 feet (54 m) with the addition of the sternwheel. She is 34 feet 3 inches (10.44 m) wide, and has a hold depth of 6 feet (1.8 m).
She has a scow-shaped bow and a flat bottom with no keel. She is designed to hold machinery anywhere along the hull length, and to withstand the stresses of pulling on snags. Rows of steel I-beams support its superstructure, including the forward-mounted boom, mounted on an A-frame. The frame is designed to support different types of equipment, including bucket dredges as well as the snag boom. The boom is maneuvered by steam-powered winches, and there are steam-powered capstans to assist in stabilize the boat while snagging. The pilot house is set on a deck above the boilers.
History
Builder: Charleston Dry Dock and Machine Company
Launched: 1925
Out of service: November 8, 1982
Status: Museum ship
General characteristics
Length: 178 ft (54 m) LOA
Beam: 34 ft 3 in (10.44 m)
Depth: 6 ft (1.8 m)
Installed power: Steam
Propulsion: Sternwheel |
