Last weekend, we went to Montgomery, but part of the trip took us through Wetumpka, which is pretty well known for its impact crater.
The “impact structure” – or astrobleme – or crater (I don’t know which is most correct) in Wetumpka was formed when a iron asteroid or meteorite hit 80-83 million years ago back when that part of Alabama was under water. I’ve read that the asteroid was something like the size of Jordan-Hare stadium, hitting the earth at a speed of 10-20 miles/second, and that the displacement could have been shot all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. I couldn’t really find a great picture to take of the crater, but below are some of the other pics we shot in Wetumpka:
Bank Clock in downtown
Theater, built in the 1930’s
Elmore County courthouse
The eight columns are made from Missouri marble.