Inbound Insider Magazine: What's New in Alabama
Miles of idyllic beachscapes and 21 state parks provide visitors with a myriad of outdoor recreation opportunities. Music festivals showcase the rhythmic beats of the South, while colorful Mardi Gras festivities deliver one-of-a-kind experiences. From authentic flavors to exceptional experiences, visitors won’t soon forget The Heart of the South.
NEWEST ATTRACTIONS: ALABAMA’S UNIQUE QUESTS FOR ADVENTURE
Freedom Monument Sculpture Park, overlooking the Alabama River, honors the lives and memories of 10 million Black people who were enslaved in America and celebrates their courage and resilience. The 17-acre site opened to the public on March 26, 2024. Holt Street Baptist Church is another must-visit Alabama attraction.
What was once the first meeting spot for the Montgomery Improvement Association, and where Martin Luther King Jr. was voted as President of the MIA in 1951, is now a museum and the newest addition to the Alabama Civil Rights Trail. Opened in July 2023, Whitewater Park is Montgomery’s $90 million dollar attraction. Located along the Alabama River, the park delivers perfect views for its 800-seat restaurant. While dining, glimpse the whitewater rafting and zipline courses, rock-climbing wall or the beer gardens.
VIBRANT CULTURE: MUSIC AND MARDI GRAS CELEBRATIONS
Just two hours from New Orleans, Mobile celebrated its first Mardi Gras in 1703, 15 years before New Orleans was founded. Dauphin Street’s wrought-iron railings and pastel facades give it a similar architecture and ambiance to New Orleans. If you’re not there for Fat Tuesday, the Carnival Museum has a collection of fun floats, glittering crowns and gowns.
Celebrate the sounds of the south in Huntsville, Alabama, during the 20th-year festivities of the world’s longest-running Cigar Box Guitar Music Festival. The multi-day event is free and raises funds for music education in Madison County, Alabama, and takes place May 31 – June 2, 2024, at Lowe Mill Arts and Entertainment.
DELICIOUS CUISINE: THE YEAR OF ALABAMA FOOD
The state has named 2024 the “Year of Alabama Food”, so what’s the recipe for the perfect trip in 2024? Try a food and travel break, following the BBQ trail on Alabama’s smartphone app, which features everything from the Original Alabama White Sauce invented at Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q in Decatur to the special house slaw at Brooks Barbeque in Muscle Shoals.
Visit Brenda’s Bar-B-Q Pit in West Montgomery for history and authentic fare. Brenda’s namesake and founder secretly tutored neighborhood residents to pass the literacy test, which was required for them to register to vote. Ask about the photo of her on the front lines of the Selma to Montgomery March. Check out Chris’ Famous Hotdogs in Montgomery, whose customers have included everyone from Elvis and Hank Williams to Clark Gable and Franklin D. Roosevelt. And don’t forget the award-winning restaurants in Birmingham, better known as the “Dinner Table of the South”, and home to Alabama’s oldest restaurant, The Bright Star in Bessemer. For tasty libations, take the Craft Beer Trail, being sure to stop at Straight to Ale in Huntsville, which produces Monkeynaut, a delicious IPA.
Or visit the six wineries on the North Alabama Wine Trail, including Southern Oak Wines, which makes sparkling muscadine, as well as strawberry, peach, blueberry and blackberry wines. Tourists are encouraged to bring a hearty appetite and let the 100 Dishes to Eat in Alabama be a guide. Whether it’s delicious goat cheese, fresh-from-the-Gulf seafood, home-grown collards and sweet potatoes, or mouth-watering barbecue, foodies can discover new personal favorites in this collection of Alabama’s most interesting places to eat.
BACK TO NATURE: GULF COAST BEACHES AND NATIONAL WILDLIFE AREAS CAPTIVATE VISITORS
As more of us seek different places to experience the big outdoors, Alabama has the perfect offering: 32 miles of white sand Gulf Coast beaches, lakes that are perfect for fishing or kayaking, and nature’s own obstacle course in the foothills of the Appalachians. Explore Gulf State Park’s 28 miles of trails by biking, hiking or even Segway, and be on the lookout for some of the 325 species of birds as well as alligators, bobcats and nesting sea turtles. Dubbed the Red Snapper Capital of the World, Orange Beach is the place to go to land a fish, including grouper and amberjack.
If you catch a big one, many of the local restaurants will cook it for your dinner. Get an eagle-eye view over the treetops while ziplining through Lake Guntersville State Park, home to 39 miles of trails as well as Alabama’s largest lake. Go kayaking in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta, dubbed North America’s Amazon thanks to its plethora of wildlife, or canoe to see the endangered Cahaba lily in the Cahaba River National Wildlife Refuge near Birmingham. Alabama has 21 state parks to stay active, camp or stay in cabins and lodges between getting active in the foothills of the Appalachians and the long-distance Pinhoti trail as well as vast forests and towering waterfalls.