Alabama Essentials

Alabama’s landscape preserves the history of the American South, from the Mississippian culture at Moundville Archaeological Site to the state's role in the 20th-century space race at the Redstone Test Stand. In Montgomery and Birmingham, sites like the 16th Street Baptist Church and the Civil Rights Memorial Center document the struggle for equality. Coastal history is represented by the masonry fortifications of Fort Morgan and Fort Gaines, while Mobile Bay hosts the WWII-era USS Alabama battleship and the 65-acre Bellingrath Gardens.