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Alabama both is and is not the place you might expect. This is demonstrated by the fact that both country-music singer Hank Williams Sr. and the U.S. space program originated there.

On one hand, Alabama retains a rural and distinctly southern character. It embraces classic traits of the Deep South, including a love of country music, stock-car racing and antebellum history. The state's past is on display in everything from Native American burial mounds to sprawling mansions to museums and monuments that commemorate the struggles of the Civil Rights movement.

On the other hand, Alabama has several modern attractions that set it apart from some of its neighbors. Huntsville is home to the U.S. Space Camp and the U.S. Space and Rocket Center—both of which spring from the city's key role in NASA space explorations. And the renowned Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, a string of courses spanning the state, has made Alabama a must-play destination for golfers who love challenging holes and beautiful scenery.

Geography

History

The ancient Native Americans that inhabited Alabama created huge ceremonial mounds, many of which can still be seen today. The region was inhabited by several nations, including the Creek, Chickasaw, Cherokee and Choctaw. One smaller tribe, which was living along the tributaries of the river, was the Alabama, after which the state and the river were named. All nations were part of the Five Civilized Tribes—the European term for tribes with orderly towns similar to those of the Continent: Each town contained streets and a central square. The Native Americans didn't welcome the first Europeans to visit Alabama: In 1540, Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto and his men were lured into an ambush near present-day Mobile and barely escaped.

The Spanish were followed by other Europeans who battled the Native Americans—and each other—for control of the area. The land that would become Alabama changed hands several times—the Spanish, French and British all claimed it, but the British emerged triumphant in 1763. The U.S. gained control following the Revolutionary War (although the Spanish claimed areas along the Gulf Coast, including Mobile, as late as 1813). Settlers established large plantations and purchased slaves to work their fields.

Alabama became the 22nd state in 1819. It seceded to join the Confederacy in 1861 and, like its neighboring states, endured a long period of recovery following the Civil War. That recovery was aided by the development of the iron and steel mills in Birmingham. Until the mills shut down in the 1970s, Alabama was one of the South's most heavily industrialized states. And just as metals replaced cotton in the state's economy, the clean rooms of high-tech industries have replaced the fire and smoke of the mills. Alabama's industries, positioned in a fast-growing region, shows no signs of slowing down.

In 2004, Alabama's coastal areas received the brunt of Hurricane Ivan, whose devastation to homes and hotels took months to rebuild. A year later, the region was also in the path of Hurricane Katrina, but it was able to recover and accommodate visitors within a relatively short time.

Snapshot

Alabama's main attractions are antebellum homes, historical sites (relating to both the Confederacy and the Civil Rights movement), music (especially country and blues), Birmingham, Montgomery, southern cooking, natural wonders (caves and waterfalls), golf, NASCAR, Gulf Coast beaches, Muscle Shoals, college football, festivals and outdoor recreation.

Those travelers interested in the history and culture of the South or golf will find Alabama to be a good destination. Those who are looking for big cities and a wide range of cosmopolitan amusements, or those who are extremely uncomfortable in a hot, humid summer, may find the state less to their liking.

Potpourri

The official state horse of Alabama is the racking horse, which is famed for its naturally smooth gait: Only one of the horse's hooves strikes the ground at a time, making for a more comfortable ride. The Racking Horse World Celebration takes place in Decatur for nine days each September. The town hosts a similar four-day event in April.

Alabama can claim numerous Olympic gold medalists. One of the most famous is track-and-field legend Jesse Owens.

Photographer Walker Evans and author James Agee captured the beauty of Alabama's landscape and language in their classic 1941 book, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men.

Spanish moss, which is commonly seen hanging from large, old trees in Alabama, is in fact neither Spanish nor moss. Common from North Carolina to South America, the weblike vegetation is an epiphyte—a rootless plant that survives off moisture in the air and nutrients from the decaying trees it lives on.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird was set in a small southern Alabama town resembling Monroeville—author Harper Lee's hometown.

Try the fried green tomatoes at the Irondale Cafe in Birmingham. The cafe was the inspiration for Fannie Flagg's novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe and the subsequent movie.

From the days of slavery to the freedom marches on Montgomery and Selma, Alabama is associated with some of the greatest African-American leaders, among them Booker T. Washington, George Washington Carver and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

There are a number of covered bridges throughout the state, but no one knows why. One theory suggests that the covered bridges look like barns, so wary horses would cross them. A second theory is that the covers kept the wood on the bridges from rotting.

In the town of Enterprise, there's a surreal statue of a goddess raising a giant boll weevil over her head. Although the insect is normally thought of as a pest, Enterprise decided to honor it after a swarm of them destroyed the town's cotton crop in the early 20th century. The destruction forced residents to diversify the local economy, which brought prosperity. The monument went up soon thereafter.

Alabama has some creative place names. Our favorites include Bug Tussle, Burnt Corn, Old Texas, Smut Eye, Blues Old Stand, Gosport, Cuba, The Bottle, Rash and Coal Fire.