Alabama

Top 10 Places

(Pictures and places in bold are places I have been to.)

10. University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa – home of the “Crimson Tide” and Moundville Archaeological Park

9. Dismals Canyon (National Natural Landmark) (including bioluminescence, six natural bridges, and two waterfalls)

8. Russell Cave National Monument

7. Winston County – Home of the official State Musical Drama, “The Incident at Looney’s Tavern”

6. Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area, including Rock Spring Nature Trail along the Natchez Trace Parkway, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Rosenbaum House Museum, and the W.C. Handy Home Museum and Library in Florence, plus Ivy Green – Helen Keller’s Birthplace in Tuscumbia (The official State Outdoor Drama, “The Miracle Worker” is performed here each summer from the end of June through July)

5. Little River Canyon National Preserve and DeSoto State Park

4. Talladega National Forest and Cheaha State Park

3. U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville

2. Mobile

      • Gulf coast
      • USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park
      • Fort Condé (Fort Charlotte – Fort of Colonial Mobile) and the Condé-Charlotte Musuem
      • Bienville Square and Saenger Theatre
      • Mobile Carnival Museum and Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception
First Baptist Church, Selma - Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail
First Baptist Church, Selma – Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail

1. Civil Rights Movement Sites

Birmingham: 16th Street Baptist Church (site of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing) and Bethel Baptist Church (Civil Rights Era headquarters for the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights) – World Heritage Tentative List, plus the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument (including the A.G. Gaston Motel)

Montgomery: Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church in Montgomery – World Heritage Tentative List, plus Rosa Parks Library and Museum and the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail and Selma to Montgomery March Byway All-American Road

Tuskegee: Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site and Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site

Selma: Brown Chapel African American Methodist Episcopal Church, First Baptist Church, Edmund Pettus Bridge (site of “Bloody Sunday”), and the National Voting Rights Museum and Institute, plus the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail and Selma to Montgomery March Byway All-American Road

Anniston: Freedom Riders National Monument

State Info

A) State Nicknames+

      • Heart of Dixie
      • The Cotton Plantation State
      • The Cotton State
      • The Yellowhammer State
      • “Sweet Home Alabama”

B) Honorable Mention

      • Horseshoe Bend National Military Park (last battle of the Creek War)

C) Just for Fun

      • The Boll Weevil Monument in downtown Enterprise

D) Iconic Foods

      • Chicken and White Barbecue Sauce
      • Shrimp and Grits
      • Cheese Grits
      • Pimento Cheese
      • Skillet Cornbread
      • Fried Green Tomatoes
      • Fried Okra
      • Lane Cake
      • Pecan Pie
      • Banana Pudding