Vaughan-Smitherman Museum

Built in 1847 by the Selma Masonic Order to serve as a university, the building served as a hospital for Confederate soldiers during the Civil War and later as the Vaughan Memorial Hospital, the county courthouse and as a military school. The building also houses the Art Lewis collection of historical documents including many documents pertaining to the Civil War such as money, pardons, information on the Independent Blues as well as many others. There is also a collection of artifacts taken from the Alabama River that were manufactured at the Confederate Naval Foundry and thrown into the river when General Wilson captured Fort Selma at the end of the Civil War.