Twickenham Historic District was the first historic district

Historic district (United States)

In the United States, a historic district is a group of buildings, properties, or sites that have been designated by one of several entities on different levels as historically or architecturally significant. Buildings, structures, objects and sites within a historic district are normally divided...

 designated in Huntsville, Alabama

Huntsville, Alabama

Huntsville is a city located primarily in Madison County in the central part of the far northern region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Huntsville is the county seat of Madison County. The city extends west into neighboring Limestone County. Huntsville's population was 180,105 as of the 2010 Census....

, USA. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

 on January 4, 1973. The name derives from an early name for the town of Huntsville, named after Twickenham

Twickenham

Twickenham is a large suburban town southwest of central London. It is the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and one of the locally important district centres identified in the London Plan...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, by LeRoy Pope

LeRoy Pope

LeRoy Pope was a prominent American planter, lawyer, and early settler of Madison County, Alabama. He purchased much of the land on which downtown Huntsville, Alabama now stands, and for his role in the establishment and early growth of that city, has been called the "Father of Huntsville." -Early...

. It features homes in the Federal

Federal architecture

Federal-style architecture is the name for the classicizing architecture built in the United States between c. 1780 and 1830, and particularly from 1785 to 1815. This style shares its name with its era, the Federal Period. The name Federal style is also used in association with furniture design...

 and Greek Revival architectural styles introduced to the city by Virginia-born architect

Architect

An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...

 George Steele about 1818, and contains the most dense concentration of antebellum homes in Alabama

Alabama

Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

. The 1819 Weeden House Museum, home of female artist and poet Maria Howard Weeden, is open to the public, as are several others in the district.

Notable structures

• Helion Lodge #1 — 409 Lincoln Street, original building erected 1820; current building started in 1911. Home of a Masonic
  Freemasonry
  Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
  
  group that is the oldest in the state.

External links

• American Memory's Built in America Collection which has drawings, photographs, and descriptions of old homes and buildings.
• Alabama Women's Hall of Fame: Maria Howard Weeden (1846-1905)
• Huntsville Pilgrimage Association, conducts annual tour of historic homes
• Helion Lodge #1