When I saw this photo of a miniature village, I was immediately intrigued and curious. Who built this and how did it come to be in Cullman, Alabama?
Ave Maria Grotto is also known as “The Scenic Shrine of the South.” Brother Joseph Zoettel, from Bavaria, was recruited by an American priest to come and study at Saint Bernard Abbey in Cullman in 1892. Brother Joe, as he was called, became a Benedictine monk and lived at the Abbey for 70 years.
Brother Joe enjoyed working with his hands and around 1918 he started making miniature structures with left over items from the monastery’s buildings. He made biblical structures, but also well known structures from around the world. Over 40 years, he built 125 miniature buildings. At 80 years old, in 1958, Brother Joe built his last building, the “Lourdes Basilica Church, based on the church in Lourdes, France.” Ave Maria Grotto is listed on the National Register of Historic places. The shrine’s park is more than three acres and attracts over 20,000 visitors every year.
As I was reading and investigating, I found out that Colonel Johann Gottfried Cullmann (1823-1895), a Bavarian native, founded the city of Cullman in 1873. His goal was to create a German community and he slowly encouraged settlers to move to Cullman. It is said that he brought 100,000 settlers to the South.
The Encyclopedia of Alabama tells the entire story of how the city of Cullman was founded, click here, and to learn more about Brother Joe’s life, you can click here.
Certainly Brother Joe created a magnificent shrine for everyone to enjoy!
Photos: Taken by Carol M. Highsmith located on the Library of Congress website.
If you watched the Chicago Cubs play against the Cleveland Indians in the World Series tonight, I am sure you’d agree that it was a VERY exciting game! And I don’t normally watch much baseball, but this game had us on pins and needles the entire time. FANTASTIC! They deserved the win!
Maura — You were always a jokester in College. I can see you dressing up and stopping by my place, honking the horn, and saying, “Let’s get this party started! It’s MY birthday!”
HELLO Chicago — Are we excited! For those of you who do not know much about baseball, the Cubs are a Chicago baseball team. We have not won the World Series since 1908, which was 108 years ago. That’s a long time! So, you can imagine the excitement in Chicago right now.
Have you heard the news? Florence, Italy is coming to the big screen this month. Dan Brown’s book, “Inferno“ has been turned into a movie. My mother was born and raised in Florence, so I was pleasantly surprised when I turned on the Today Show (October 20, 2016) and was just in time to see this clip, “
If you’d like to learn more about Florence, you can visit The Florentine 
Back in 2013, Pastry Chef Dominique Ansel introduced the first “Cronut®” in New York. Now 2016, he’s opening his first European Bakery in London. You’ll enjoy this YouTube video from the “
Being the popular book that it is, the bookstore was out of Sun Tzu’s, “The Art of War;” however, they had a business version called, “
If you love old cars, you have to hurry! Nashville is having a fantastic auto show called, 
This tour of 19 Italian built automobiles is post-World War II era. They are designed by Alfa Romeo, Ducati, Bizzarrini, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Lancia and Maserati. You’ll see Italian coachbuilt cars, concept cars and motorcycles from the economic revival period known as “
Brilliant Viewpoint 