Visiting the United States? There are 50 states to see. Alabama is where the civil rights movement began. It’s also a center of Southern culture — and food! And if you’re a space buff, you have to see what’s waiting for you in the Yellowhammer State.
Alabama is where Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white man, and where Martin Luther King first came to national prominence as a civil rights champion. Visit Montgomery’s Civil Rights Memorial, designed by Maya Lin. It’s just around the corner from the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, where King served as pastor and where he organized the Montgomery bus boycott that desegregated the city’s public transportation.
If music’s your thing, head to Muscle Shoals. It’s a small town, but large in music history. Aretha Franklin, the Rolling Stones and Otis Redding were among the many artists who recorded at Muscle Shoals studios. Some studios still offer tours.
If your interests run to outer space, Huntsville, Alabama, is where rocket scientists designed the Saturn V rocket, which launched the Apollo astronauts to the moon. Today, it’s home to the world’s largest space museum — the U.S. Space & Rocket Center — where you can see a Saturn V, or even sign up for Space Camp!
Read more about Alabama and check out the other 49 states. If you need a visa to visit, here’s how to get one.
Bring your sneakers …
Called the “Grand Canyon of the East,” the ironically named Little River is the nation’s longest mountaintop river.
… and your appetite
Alabamians don’t grow the most pecans, but they sure love pecan pie.
Step back in time
Among Alabama’s most popular landmarks are its stately antebellum mansions, which evoke the Deep South of the 1800s. Many of these historic houses are open for tours.
Point and click
Photos around Martin Lake make it the most “Instagrammed” place in the state. This man-made lake provides hydroelectric power for the surrounding area.
Reach for the moon
The Saturn V rockets that propelled Apollo spacecraft to the moon were designed in Huntsville, Alabama.
