The Temple of Sibyl

Lately I've been getting interested in local history. Not necessarily local to me; at least not at first; but I began to get fascinated because I recently found a place to live in Birmingham, where I will be moving inside of two months.

Now that I know where I'm going to live in Birmingham, the specific address, I took a whole new look at that attractions map that UAB sent me in the mail almost a month ago. I found where my condo's going to be, and I circled it in red sharpie. Right under the circle I made, I noticed a very tiny drawing printed in the map labeled "Temple of Sibyl", and after looking it up on Google Maps, I found out it's only about a mile south of my room. It looked really interesting to me, even though there wasn't another word on the informative map about it. Who the heck was "Sibyl", anyhow?

After doing a lot of research I learned that the structure was built in 1929 by an great and eccentric ex-mayor of Birmingham named George Ward, on his estate on which he had built a huge circular home after an ancient temple in Tivoli, Italy (near Roam), originally built to the goddess of home and hearth, Vesta. So he named his home Vestavia, and it was so prominent in the landscape, that the entire area around his mansion became known as Vestavia Hills, and to this day, that's the name of the town. On the crest of a tall hill, like the crown of his estate, Ward built what he called Sibyl Temple, which was a beautiful gazebo that matched his home's roman architecture. A sibyl is a prophetess, and the particular one honored by this structure's inspiring building was the Tiburtine Sibyl, who prophesied in the temple next to Vesta's, but Vesta's temple is known for both Vesta and the Sibyl.

However, the structure wasn't just a gazebo. George Ward fully intended it to be his memorial headstone. He even built a crypt for himself in a cave underneath the hill of the structure, but he would never lay to rest there because of a change in the law. He was buried in a regular cemetery, and I bet his vengeful spirit is none too happy about it! But wait, it gets better.

After his death, George Ward's estate fell into disrepair, and the land was bought up. The entire house was demolished to make way for Vestavia Hills Baptists Church, a church named after a town named after the building they destroyed to make their church. In their infinite generosity and historical reverence, however, the church donated the gazebo to the town instead of destroying it too. The Temple of Sibyl was moved in the 1970's to it's current location, one mile south of my condo. Now it's a historical landmark and one of the town's most precious and important structures. It's the last remaining piece of George Ward's marvelous Vestavia.

You can't make this stuff up!

If you ever get a chance, I encourage you to google your home town. Knowing your local history makes your town so much richer to live in. I researched Fuquay--even little Fuquay-Varina!--and found some pretty amazing stuff. The internet makes it so easy, and the payoff is huge. I lived in Fuquay for most of my life, and I never took the time to read about it until now.