Florence Arts and Museums

06/02/2026

Registration has been extended for the Project Archaeology teacher workshop!

Registration is extended to June 5th for Investigating Rock Art teacher workshop in Florence, Alabama June 10-12, 2026. Sign-up today!

Register here: https://secure.touchnet.net/C20196_ustores/web/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCTID=3205

06/01/2026

ARCHAEOLOGY DAY at Pope’s Tavern
Pope’s Tavern Museum will host its fourth annual ARCHAEOLOGY DAY on Saturday, June 13, 2026 from 9am until 2pm.

Archaeology Day will give anyone interested an opportunity to learn more about archaeology at an active archaeological site. Everyone is welcome to participate in excavating, sifting, and processing artifacts. Several supporting organizations will be present, including the Alabama Archaeological Society and TVA Cultural Resources.

In addition, we will be hosting the following activities alongside the archaeological stations:
Flintknapping with Van King. Learn how projectile points, arrowheads and tools are made from chert.
Plant Identification 101 with Summer McCreless. Learn how to identify, harvest respectfully, and use plants. Learn how plants were used in the past for medicine and in foods.
Blacksmith Demonstration with the Athens Forge, Alabama Forge Council. Watch a demonstration about how blacksmiths create metal tools.
Children’s Art Activity with Erin Dailey. Create a make and take art activity based around archaeology.

This will be a FREE and FUN event for the entire family! Florence Arts and Museums will be facilitating this event along with volunteers from the Archaeology at Pope’s Tavern project. Pope’s Tavern is located at 203 Hermitage Drive, Florence, AL and is open, Tuesday - Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Call 256-760-6379 for more information.

05/29/2026

Contractor Spotlight: Chandler Painting Co.
The workers from Chandler Painting Co. were on site at the F.L.W. Rosenbaum House in April. It took them several days to complete the task as well as approximately ten gallons of stain. This is part of FAM's efforts to maintain and protect the Frank Lloyd Wright designed house for present and future generations. The workers onsite are as proud of the house as we are and are dedicated to keeping it protected and looking its best.

05/27/2026

Did you see our post last week about our recently completed archaeological excavation at Pope’s Tavern Museum? Our site is one of the few in our region that hosts a public archaeology program. But why do we practice archaeology at this museum site in the first place?
To answer this question, our spring intern, Hunter Teague, made this short video looking at archaeology at Pope’s Tavern.

Want to learn more? Visit Pope’s Tavern Museum to see more of the thousands of artifacts uncovered from this site. Read our APT newsletter to learn more about the practice of public archaeology at Pope’s Tavern Museum. https://www.florencealmuseums.com/home/popes-tavern

And get involved! Mark your calendar for Archaeology Day at Pope’s Tavern Museum on Saturday June 13. You can join Friends of FAM to support our work, including our annual Junior Archaeology Camp.
See you at the museum!

05/26/2026

Open Mic Night tonight!

Join us for a night of poetry at Florence Art & Museums’ Open Mic Night, happening on Tuesday, May 26th, 6:30 pm at Southall House, 209 E. Tuscaloosa St., Florence. Featured guest, Bonnie Roberts, will be sharing original poetry. This month, poets are invited to share their original works that relate to the prompt: Skyline.

Roberts is a widely published poet and retired creative writing and English teacher. She has had the pleasure of teaching students of all ages and education levels. Roberts has three traditionally published collections of poetry Her non-fiction book, Every Speck: The Mythology of a Southern Poet, memoirs in both poetry and prose, was released in September 2025.

This program is free and is sponsored by Florence Arts & Museums. The Kennedy-Douglass Center for the Arts is located at 217 E Tuscaloosa Street, Florence, AL, and is open Monday - Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and Sundays from 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. The event will be held at Southall House, just next to the Art Center office, at 209 E. Tuscaloosa St. Call 256-760-6379 for more information.

05/23/2026

The staff at the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Rosenbaum House was happy to host McBride Elementary’s Third Grade learners in architecture! They took a guided tour of the inside of the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Rosenbaum House, and an outdoor nature walk of the Japanese style garden and pond.

Together they named things that they had learned about in the classroom and connected them to their on-site learning experience. They did this on the tour, reviewing vocabulary they had learned, with their teacher, museum staff, and parents. They discussed words such as, asymmetric, arch, board and batten, cantilever, and organic architecture. They concluded their tour by naming the shapes that they saw in nature with the shapes they saw inside and outside of the famous home and also taking the time to pose for group pictures!

We are thankful for the longstanding relationship with McBride Elementary’s third grade class and their teacher, Mrs. O’Steen. We look forward to learning with them each school year!
To learn more about field trip opportunities and group tours, visit www.florencealmuseums.com or email us at [email protected] .

05/22/2026

Well! That’s a wrap!
Our excavation of the brick feature we uncovered by surprise back in February concluded last week. We isolated the feature, measured it, photographed it, and gathered as much data as we could. A special thanks to our spring intern, Noah Jones, and museum support staff, Dena Guzman, and all our volunteers for helping to carry this project through to completion. It’s been a fascinating journey, and the work of interpreting and analyzing our findings has just begun.

But we are excited to move forward with our plans for the space! As summer is heating up, our educational garden project is taking shape. Thanks to our director, Brian Murphy, who built our raised beds, and our in-house botanist, Rhinannon Clark, this space is quickly becoming a living exhibit, where we can explore various plants and their historical uses.

A special thanks to the garden club of Florence for your generous support in helping our educational garden take root and blossom. We also want to thank the City of Florence Urban Forestry Department for helping fill up raised beds with dirt. If you would also like to support our botanical work, or any of the work we do at FAM, consider joining Friends of FAM. Your support makes projects like these possible!

Stop by Pope’s Tavern Museum to see our garden project taking shape. And follow for more exciting developments for the outdoors spaces at Pope’s Tavern Museum. We can’t wait to show you what’s coming up!

05/21/2026

Florence Arts and Museums locations will be closed Monday, May 25th for Memorial Day. Enjoy the long weekend!