Alabama

Understand

Alabama, along with the South in general, has a reputation for "Southern hospitality." The people of this state are generally genial and helpful and often go out of their way to help a stranger.

The state is named after the Alabama tribe, a Native American group who used to live at the confluence of the Coosa and Tallapoosa Rivers.

Known primarily for its status as the original capital of the Confederacy (in Montgomery) and the birthplace of the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, Alabama can be a study in contrasts.

The sport of American football is taken extremely seriously in Alabama. In addition to significant regional devotion to high-school football teams the entire state, in terms of college football, is divided into two factions: Auburn University fans and University of Alabama fans. The rivalry is so bitter, in fact, that it took an act by the Alabama State Legislature in the late 1940s to force the two colleges to play one another (the two had stopped playing each other in the first years of the 20th century over an officiating dispute).

Even then, the two schools would not agree to play at opposing sites so the State of Alabama used taxpayer funds to build Legion Field in Birmingham as a neutral site. It was only in 1989 that the Crimson Tide finally visited Auburn and 2000 that the Tigers visited Alabama. This can also be a point of concern for tourists, as the rivalry is so serious that tourists are best not to mention it at all.

Alabama is also noted for having the lengthiest constitution in the world. At nearly 300,000 words, the constitution is made up of nearly 946 amendments, and because of this, the state has numerous constitutional officers/administrators. Some aspects of the constitution are so complex that ordinary residents of the state can't accurately make out what certain statements in the constitution mean.

Climate

Due to its location in the Deep South, Alabama has a humid subtropical/continental climate. Summers are hot and humid, winters are cool to cold, and fall and spring offer pleasant temperatures.

Tourist information

• Alabama Tourism website

Regions

Cities

• Montgomery — state capital and first capital of the Confederacy
• Auburn — home of Auburn University
• Birmingham — Alabama's largest city
• Decatur
• Dothan
• Huntsville — home of Marshall Space Flight Center
• Mobile — Alabama's only major port and largest city near the Gulf
• Tuscaloosa — home of the University of Alabama
• Tuscumbia — Helen Keller's home

Other destinations

• Gulf Shores & Orange Beach — 32 miles of beautiful sugar white sands on the prettiest beaches on the Gulf of Mexico. A visit to Gulf Shores and Orange Beach offers the perfect balance of non-stop activity and lay-around-doing-nothing time. Putter around a bit on one of the championship golf courses. Cast your line for deep-sea adventure on one of the Orange Beach fishing charters. Travel back in history with a visit to Fort Morgan, the site of the Civil War Battle of Mobile Bay. Commune with Mother Nature as you hike wildlife trails gazing at shorebirds.
• Horseshoe Bend National Military Park — In the spring of 1814, General Andrew Jackson and an army of 3,300 men attacked 1,000 Upper Creek warriors on the Tallapoosa River. Over 800 Upper Creeks died defending their homeland.
• Little River Canyon National Preserve — Little River is unique because it flows for most of its length atop Lookout Mountain in northeast Alabama
• Natchez Trace Parkway — The 444-mile Natchez Trace Parkway commemorates an ancient trail that connected southern portions of the Mississippi River, through Alabama, to salt licks in today's central Tennessee
• Russell Cave National Monument — For more than 10,000 years, Russell Cave was home to prehistoric peoples. Russell Cave provides clues to the daily lifeways of early North American inhabitants dating from 6500 BC to 1650 AD.
• Selma To Montgomery National Historic Trail — The Selma to Montgomery National Voting Rights Trail was established by Congress in 1996 to commemorate the events, people, and route of the 1965 Voting Rights March in Alabama
• Trail Of Tears National Historic Trail — Come on a journey to remember and commemorate the survival of the Cherokee people despite their forced removal from their homelands in the Southeastern United States in the 1840s
• Tuskegee
• Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site — In the 1940s Tuskegee, Alabama became home to a "military experiment" to train America's first African-American military pilots. In time the "experiment" became known as the Tuskegee Experience and the participants as the Tuskegee Airmen
• Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site — Nestled on the campus of historic Tuskegee University, the site includes the George W. Carver Museum and The Oaks, home of Booker T. Washington
• Desoto Caverns — A cavern and small family attraction in Childersburg, Alabama.

Get in

By car

Alabama is accessible by five interstate highways: Interstate 10 (I-10) crosses the state from east to west near Mobile in the south; I-20 enters Alabama from the east, traverses Birmingham, and joins I-59 as it traverses Tuscaloosa and exits the state in a southwesterly direction; I-59 enters northeastern Alabama, continues southwest through Birmingham, and exits the state toward the southwest; I-22 enters Alabama from the northwest and ends in Birmingham; I-65 enters Alabama from the north, traverses Birmingham, and ends in Mobile; I-85 enters the state in the east and ends in Montgomery.

By bus

Greyhound Lines offers bus transportation to cities and towns throughout Alabama. Greyhound bus stops are found in Anniston, Athens, Birmingham, Dothan, Evergreen, Gadsden, Huntsville, Mobile, Montgomery, Opelika, Selma, Troy, Tuscaloosa, and Tuskegee.

By train

There is one daily Amtrak route serving Alabama, the Crescent. Trains 19 (southbound) and 20 (northbound) run from New Orleans to Washington, D.C. and New York City. There are three stations in Alabama: Anniston, Birmingham and Tuscaloosa. Coach and sleeper service is available, with checked baggage, a restaurant car, a café and a lounge.

By plane

The largest airport in Alabama is the Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport BHM. Airlines servicing this airport offer direct flights from Atlanta, Baltimore, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Fort Lauderdale, Houston, Las Vegas, Miami, Minneapolis, New York City, Orlando, Philadelphia, Tampa, and Washington, D.C..

Commercial flights are also available at Dothan International Airport (DHN); the Huntsville International Airport HSV; the Mobile Regional Airport MOB; the Montgomery Regional Airport MGM; and the Northwest Alabama Regional Airport MSL.

Get around

Car is no doubt the best method, and the most scenic. Interstates converge on Montgomery, Birmingham, and Mobile, and make quick transportation between those cities and ones in other states. They also connect to Anniston, Tuscaloosa, and Huntsville. Elsewhere though, travel can be slower in more rural areas.

By bus

Information on transit can be found here.

Go next

• Mississippi - Alabama's neighbor to the west has Civil War battlefields, scenic parkways, and antebellum charm.
• Tennessee - North of Alabama, Tennessee offers the cities of Memphis, Nashville, Knoxville, & Chattanooga, plus the beautiful Great Smoky Mountains.
• Georgia - On Alabama's eastern border, Georgia has the major metropolis of Atlanta, with many attractions, and the charming cities of Macon & Savannah.
• Florida - Bordering the southern part of the state is Florida, with a lot more gulf coast than Alabama, including fabulous beaches, the big tourist area of Orlando, and the cities of Tampa, Jacksonville, and Miami