Ave Maria Grotto - What a Lucky Find
Channel: RVing with the Moracas
Date: 2019-04-14

Ave Maria Grotto http://www.avemariagrotto.com/

Leaving Rickwood Caverns State Park we were driving north and found Ave Maria Grotto on Google Maps at just about half way to our next campground.  It looked interesting so we decided to stop there.  We were both very glad we did it is a one of a kind place.

Ave Maria Grotto is on the grounds of St Bernard Abbey.  Brother Joseph Zoetl was a monk at this abbey for almost 70 years. He had a full time job shoveling coal for the power plant - during his spare time he started building replicas in 1912 and continued for 46 years.  

The Ave Maria Grotto consists of 125 small stone and cement structures adorned with donated materials like broken tiles or plates and shells. The site was opened to the public in 1935 - it was well worth the six dollars we paid to visit there.

While we spent less than 2 hours here it was one of the highlights of our Alabama trip.  You don't have to be religious to enjoy results of the devotion and imagination that Brother Joseph used to make this artwork.  Most of the work was done only using pictures as he had never visited most of the places he modeled.