“Architecture and landscape design…can give a community clarity, coherence, and order, as well as beauty and delight, and can help define a community’s identity and values. We can celebrate places that nurture our living together.”
Author Alice Meriwether Bowsher, Community in Alabama
“Good design, smart planning, creative place-making are all pillars of progressive growth that occurs as part of creative problem solving, taking advantage of opportunities and having an elevated vision for the present and future.”
Al Head, retired Executive Director of the Alabama State Council on the Arts and Alabama Native
Standard Deluxe is both a graphic design shop that promotes music and a music promoter that prints graphic designs. Founded in Waverly by Alabama native Scott Peek, Standard Deluxe blends the aesthetics of rural Southern culture, contemporary serigraphy and 21st century Southern rock music. Working out of a cluster of historic buildings, Peek’s print work combines retro iconography with pop art printing techniques. Peek also hosts musical events, including the “Old 280 Boogie” held every fall and spring. The National Trust for Historic Preservation calls Standard Deluxe and Old 280 Boogie reminders “of how positive and expansive preservation can be.”
Photo Credit: Standard Deluxe
Though Silicon Valley may be the epicenter of tech companies today, one of the earliest developers of hardware and software got its start in Huntsville. Intergraph Corporation was founded in 1969 by former IBM employees who worked with NASA and the Army to develop systems to apply digital computing to missile guidance. By 2000, Intergraph was focusing exclusively on software and by 2008 was one of the world’s largest software companies. The company was acquired in 2010 by Hexagon AB, a global technology group based in Sweden.
Photo Credit: Intergraph
Alabama is home to the remains of one of the country’s largest prehistoric Native American settlements. Located along the Black Warrior River just south of Tuscaloosa, the site was once a flourishing ceremonial and political hub of Mississippian culture and occupied over three centuries until it was abandoned in the 16th century. Today, the Moundville Archeological Park contains the original site with its large earthen mounds arranged in an open plaza. Also part of the park is the Jones Archaeological Museum that displays over 200 artifacts. The park and museum are operated by the University of Alabama.
Photo Credit: Lewis Kennedy
There’s plenty to do and see along Mobile’s Eastern Shore Trail. Beginning at the U.S.S. Alabama Battleship Memorial Park and traveling south to Weeks Bay, the urban trail is a 32-mile, hiking and biking trail which runs through Spanish Fort, Daphne, Fairhope and Point Clear. It provides a combination of sidewalks and paved trail sections that offer sweeping views of Mobile Bay. Tour the U.S.S. Alabama, a World War II battleship, as well as a nearby hangar that displays historic aircraft. In Daphne, the half-mile Gator Alley Boardwalk offers sightings of alligators, turtles and seabirds. The section through downtown Fairhope is a special treat, as it’s one of Alabama’s premier destinations.
Photo Credit: Internet
The longest hiking trail in Alabama and Georgia is the Pinhoti National Recreation Trail, which stretches 171 miles across Alabama and another 166 miles in Georgia. Pinhoti Trail starts at Flagg Mountain near Weogufka, cuts through the Talladega National Forest and ends in Northeast Georgia at the Benton MacKaye Trail where it connects to the Appalachian Trail. This network provides a trail corridor from Alabama to Maine. Pinhoti Trail is also part of the 5,400 mile Eastern Continental Trail from Florida to Newfoundland, and the 1,800 mile Great Eastern Trail that runs west of the Appalachian Trail from Alabama to New York. “Pinhoti” derives from the Creek Indian word meaning “turkey home.”
Photo Credit: 1moremiletogo.wordpress.com
According to Guinness World Records, the nonprofit Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum in Birmingham contains the world’s largest collection of motorcycles. The museum is part of the Barber Motorsports Park, which also includes a racetrack that hosts motorcycle and car racing events. The grounds of the 740-acre park are a sight to see, with a quirky collection of giant sculptures in the infield of the track, such as spiders, Bigfoot and a woman in a pond with just her head and knees poking out of the water. Pedestrian bridges over the racetrack are also part of a recent expansion. Barber Motorsports Park was listed among CNN’s 2016 “16 intriguing things to see and do in the United States.”
Photo Credit: Wikipedia and Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum
“This is the workshop full of love, information and learning to help build our community,” said a participant of Your Town Alabama, a program that leverages a town’s assets – economic, historic/cultural and natural resources – to revitalize and invigorate the town. The first workshop was in 1998, adapted from a National Trust for Historic Preservation program. Alabama was the first state to implement the program and more than 1,000 citizen-leaders have participated in the 2 ½-day workshop. Partners include the Alabama Historical Commission, the Alabama State Council on the Arts, DesignAlabama, CAWACO RC&D, University of Alabama’s Center for Economic Development and Auburn University’s Rural Studio.
Photo Credit: Your Town Alabama
Vintage architectural treasures – Edison bulbs, ceiling fans and decorative tile to fireplace mantels, ironwork and antique doors and windows – can be found at Southern Architectural in Cullman. In 1969, Garlan Gudger began salvaging architectural remnants from Cullman buildings set for demolition. Objects were stored in his two-car garage, then a small shop which grew into Southern Architectural where rescued architectural salvage is restored. Southern Accents is now owned and operated by his son Garland Gudger Jr. and his wife Heather. Gudger Sr. was ahead of his time. Back in 1969, not as many people appreciated architectural salvage as they do today.
Photo Credit: Alabama Retail Association
The largest limestone spring in North Alabama is Big Spring, located at Big Spring Park in downtown Huntsville that once served as Huntsville’s original water source. Today, the park might be better known for displaying gifts to the city from faraway countries: a light beacon and fog bell from Norway, a red bridge and cherry trees from Japan, a bench from the United Kingdom and a sundial from Germany. The park is also popular for its abundance of ducks and geese. Construction on the park began in 1898 and it is the site of many festivals and events each year.
Photo Credit: Internet
“Everyone in his own way is affected by his environment. The chords that are struck in people are not necessarily the ones which the architect anticipates. It seems to me the better the building, the more variety of chords that are struck.”
Paul Rudolph, Architect of the Tuskegee Chapel
Alabama’s thriving brewery scene gets creative with logos found on everything from beer bottle labels and taps to menus and signs. Back Forty in Gadsden has a different logo for each beer. Its Naked Pig Pale Ale logo depicts a smiling pig and its Truck Stop Honey Brown Ale’s logo is an open-24-hours truck stop sign. Back Forty’s Paw Paw’s Wheat Ale logo is a peach. Goat Island Brewing in Cullman uses a goat for its logo set against a black background with gold lettering. The logo for Straight to Ale in Huntsville is a stylized suggestion of a devil outlined in red. Beer logos offer the opportunity to be creative and a little outrageous.
Photo Credit: Good People Brewing Company/ Back Forty Beer Company
When Montgomery-based Kershaw Manufacturing Company Inc. was incorporated in 1944, it was responding to the need for efficient vegetation control equipment for utility companies and railroads, and as a result became a pioneer in early vegetation control. Kershaw is now a subsidiary of Progress Rail Services Corporation, a leading integrated and diversified supplier of railroad and transit system products and services worldwide. In 2006, Progress Rail was acquired by Caterpillar Inc., a foremost global manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines and diesel-electric locomotives.
Photo Credit: Kershaw/ Progress Rail
The federally owned Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) was created in 1933 to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing and economic development to the Tennessee Valley. It would also strengthen economic development and modernize its areas of service, which includes most of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi and Kentucky, and small sections of Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia. TVA’s service area in Alabama covers about 8,979 square miles, about 10 percent of TVA’s territory. TVA operates two solar facilities in Alabama – a 23-kilowatt site at the Huntsville Botanical Gardens and a 25-kilowatt site at the Florence wastewater treatment facility. In 2017, TVA sold over 17.4 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity to 17 municipal and eight cooperatively owned utilities that distribute TVA power in Alabama.
Photo Credit: Tennessee Valley Authority
An example of Googie architecture – the whimsical, futuristic design movement that brought the Space Age aesthetic into everyday life – is the 1957 clubhouse at the Isle Dauphine Club on Dauphin Island. The mid-20th century building was designed by T. Howard Ellis, Arch Winter and Carl Burmeister and features a two-story tiered cylindrical form with a smaller stucco cylindrical tower. The walls are a floor-to-ceiling metal, and a glass gridded curtain wall allows for expansive views of the island and golf course while flooding the space with natural light. A terrace roof is also part of the design that provides additional space for viewing.
Photo Credit: Lewis Kennedy
A long-vacant Sears department store in Birmingham was transformed into the headquarters for Innovation Depot, a non-profit business incubator for start-up companies. Williams Blackstock Architects turned the dilapidated structure into 120,000 square feet of office space, 20,000 square feet of laboratories, a copy center, conference rooms, café and bakery, training facilities, rooftop terrace and landscaped courtyards. The project also helped revitalize a blighted two-block area of downtown Birmingham. This adaptive reuse project won several awards, including the 2009 Preservation Award from the Birmingham Historical Society and the 2007 Honor Award, Renovation/Restoration from the Alabama Council, AIA.
Photo Credit: Wiliams Blackstock
B.L. Harbert International, a construction company that builds U.S. embassies worldwide, built its new International Group Headquarters on a 12-acre campus in Birmingham. Designed by GA Studio, the headquarters consists of two buildings divided by Little Shades Creek and connected by a footbridge – a 38,000-square-foot, two-story office building and a building for logistics and quality control of equal size. The complex was constructed with many sustainability elements such as LED and sensory lighting, low-flow fixtures and water-conscious irrigation. Flags fly in front of the headquarters that represent the countries where the company is currently working.
Photo Credit : GA Studio
Dining at Spring House Restaurant in Russell Crossroads isn’t just about the expertly prepared food. It’s also about the idyllic setting and award-winning building designed by Jeffrey Dungan Architects. The restaurant suggests shutter porches, wood sheds, dog-trots and other farmhouse vernacular characteristics. Tall windows and exterior dining spaces provide views of the surrounding pastures, pine and hardwood forests, and in the distance, Lake Martin. Spring House received the 2011 AIA Birmingham chapter Commercial Merit Award and the 2013 Alabama Council AIA Honor Award.
Photo Credit: Spring House
Community-led revitalization is challenging work and Main Street Alabama makes it easier by offering towns the resources, technical services and educational offerings to help navigate downtown and commercial district management. Main Street Alabama was incorporated in 2010 and before that time the Alabama Historical Commission served as the state Main Street coordinating program, providing guidance, support, services and certification to communities. Main Street Alabama follows the nationwide Main Street model that has been successful in many states by using its proven method of leveraging local assets to create sustainable and comprehensive revitalization plans.
Photo credit: Main Street Alabama
Alabama is fortunate to have many organizations working to improve the quality of life in communities. Alabama Communities of Excellence (ACE) is one of these organizations. Founded in 2002, the nonprofit ACE partners with the private and public sectors as well as universities to help communities with a population of 2,000-18,000 achieve their goals in three phases. Phase 1 is assessment; Phase 2 involves leadership development and strategic planning; and Phase 3 implementation and comprehensive planning. After completion, communities get an ACE designation and are recognized by the Alabama League of Municipalities.
Photo credit: Alabama Communities of Excellence
Nineteen acres of unused spaced along the railroad tracks between downtown Birmingham and UAB were transformed into Rail Road Park, a popular site for many activities – from walking the Rail Trail that extends the length of the park to ice skating in winter. Walls and seating areas are constructed from bricks and objects unearthed on the site, including hand-cast bricks and original cobblestone. The park comprises 30 percent water with a lake, a rain curtain, a bio-filtration wetlands area and numerous ponds and streams. Rail Road Park won the 2012 Urban Land Institute’s Urban Open Space Award, beating out such parks as New York City’s exceedingly popular High Line.
Photo credit: MackNally Land Design
A pioneer in the plastics recycling industry, Troy-based KW Plastics was founded in 1981 to process used automotive battery casings into polypropylene resin – a durable and versatile material much in demand for making quality recycled products. In 1998, KW entered the packaging industry with its all-plastic, one-gallon can that’s injection molded and 100 percent recycled and recyclable. Today, KW Container is the leading global supplier with these all-plastic, one-gallon paint containers to the paint and coatings industry. KW also supplies recycled resin to many industries including automotive, agriculture and construction.
Photo credit: KW Container
Revitalizing towns should involve the entire community, and what better way to do so than provide a “snapshot” of the master plan in poster form that can be distributed to every household and displayed throughout town? Posters were part of Auburn University’s Urban Studio Small Town Design Initiative which provided master planning and design expertise to small towns and communities throughout Alabama. The posters were designed to be folded for mailing and used as a tool for recruiting, promotion and partnership building. Another plus is that the folded posters can easily be tucked into grant proposals that seek additional funding sources for projects included in the plan.
Photo credit: Cheryl Morgan
The 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery March was a pivotal moment in the nation’s progress toward racial justice. The Edmund Pettus Bridge, which marchers crossed on their way to Montgomery, is among the most sacred places in civil rights history. Law enforcement officers attacked marchers with tear gas and nightsticks on March 7, 1965, a day that came to be known as “Bloody Sunday.” The attention the march generated helped persuade Congress to adopt the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Built in 1940, the bridge is considered a significant engineering improvement over the old bridge that had to be opened by hand.
Photo credit: Art Meripol
“I love every nook and cranny of the building, and during the restoration I was here every single day in a hard hat with the contractors,” recalls the Alabama native. “I could envision what it could be. I didn’t want to break land and create something new. I wanted old bones.”
Heidi Elnora, fashion designer and Alabama Native
Spirituality and symbolism are foremost in church design, and that was Krumdieck A+1 Design’s approach for a faith-based camp in Sterret. The chapel is open yet protected by an outstretched roof plane that cradles the space below. Water, a symbol of life, culminates at the foot of a wooden cross that dominates the chapel. An entry sequence begins along a path through the woods, and ascends with steps leading to the base of a cistern where rainwater is collected. Water flows through a trough passing under the stone floor, which steps down in three places and is revealed again in seven squares. The project won the 2009 AIA Birmingham chapter Honor Award.
Photo credit: Krumdieck A+1
In the tiny hamlet of Pittsview – an unincorporated community in Russell County – are two exceptional examples Carpenter-Gothic churches that stand side-by-side on a scenic wooded street. One is the United Methodist built in 1893 and the other is the Pittsview Baptist Church built in 1897. Both are thought to be constructed by master carpenter and Pittsview resident William Marshall Burt. Both churches are white painted wood-frame with pointed arches over the windows and graceful steeples above the bell towers. Today, shared services are offered on alternating Sundays to help sustain church attendance.
Photo credit: unknown
Alabama is home to the remains of one of the country’s largest prehistoric Native American settlements. Located along the Black Warrior River just south of Tuscaloosa, the site was once a flourishing ceremonial and political hub of Mississippian culture and occupied over three centuries until it was abandoned in the 16th century. Today, the Moundville Archeological Park contains the original site with its large earthen mounds arranged in an open plaza. Also part of the park is the Jones Archaeological Museum that displays over 200 artifacts. The park and museum are operated by the University of Alabama.
Photo credit: Lewis Kennedy
Part of the historic Old Cloverdale neighborhood in Montgomery, the central campus of Huntingdon College features buildings of Collegiate-Gothic architecture that surround a pleasing park-like setting known as the Green. The Huntingdon College Campus Historic District contains 13 contributing buildings, built in the Gothic-Revival and Tudor-Revival styles. The landscape design for the campus was created by Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. Huntingdon is private liberal arts college founded in 1854 and is affiliated with the United Methodist Church.
Photo credit: Alabama Historical Commission
Mobile’s historic urban squares may not be as well known as Savannah’s, but they are equally beautiful with their majestic live oaks, graceful fountains and surrounding antebellum architecture. At the heart of Oakleigh Garden Historic District in Mobile is Washington Square, among the city’s most beloved parks and one that serves as a social and cultural hub. On the National Register of Historic Places, Oakleigh Garden Historic District is centered on Washington Square and contains 288 contributing buildings that range in age from the 1820s to the 1940s.
Photo credit: unknown
A convergence of five streets sounds like a traffic nightmare, but in Birmingham’s historic Southside neighborhood it is an entertainment district showplace. Five Points South was settled in 1887 and by 1893 had developed into a streetcar subdivision. A public square marks the intersection of the five converging streets, the focus being the 1909 Highlands United Methodist Church and its fountain. The church is joined by a mix of new and old buildings, including sensitively restored structures such as the 1930 Mill Building and the 1926 Spanish Stores. A strong neighborhood organization, the Five Points Alliance (FPA), keeps the square vital and attractive; bustling with activity day and night.
Photo credit: Lewis Kennedy
Public libraries should inspire and inform, and the Linn-Henley Research Library in Birmingham does just that. In the main reading room of the circa 1927 library designed by Miller & Martin Architects are murals depicting mythology from cultures around the world. Murals in the children’s section represent children’s literature from 16 countries, and include images of Lancelot, Pocahontas, Krishna, Don Quixote, Goldilocks and Confucius. Later renovations by KPS Group brought the building to current codes and interior elements were restored.
Photo credit: KPS
The adjective “stately” is often used, and even overused, to describe buildings of substance. Yet it’s an apt description of Founders Hall on the Athens State University campus. Built during 1842-1844, the Greek Revival-style building is distinguished by a spacious recessed portico with monumental iconic columns and flanking piers. Additions over the years have tripled the dimensions of the original building, which included adding a third floor. Founders Hall was built by the Tennessee Conference of the Methodist Church on five acres of donated land and houses the university president’s office.
Photo credit: Lewis Kennedy
Gee’s Bend’s “eye-poppingly gorgeous” quilts, wrote New York Times art critic Michael Kimmelman, “turn out to be some of the most miraculous works of modern art America has produced.” The quilts of Gee’s Bend are sewn by a group of women in this small town southwest of Selma, and they make some of the most important African-American contributions to art in the United States. Their style is described as bold and sophisticated, based on traditional American and African-American quilts, with a geometric simplicity reminiscent of Amish quilts and modern art. Without a doubt, Gee’s Bend quilters have made their mark, stitch by stitch, in the upper echelons of quilt-making.
Photo credit: alafricanamerican.com
No better place for the metal arts than Birmingham’s Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark, the site of pig iron production for nearly 100 years. Sloss Metal Arts at Sloss Furnaces promotes iron-casting and related arts. The program also offers open studios and casting services, workshops; houses resident artists and apprentices; and provides demonstrations at schools, museums and festivals. Sloss Metal Arts also accepts commissions for public art installations. Or try your hand at iron pouring on Bowl-O-Rama night and create your own iron bowl.
Photo credit: Lewis Kennedy
Alabama’s Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail is the largest golf course construction project ever attempted and the brainchild of David Bronner, CEO of the Retirement Systems of Alabama, who in the 1980s came up with the idea as a way to diversify the assets of the state’s pension fund and boost state tourism. Robert Trent Jones, Sr. was hired to design the courses because of his history designing top courses worldwide. Today, there are 26 golf courses on the trail on 11 sites across Alabama. The enormous trail project has been compared in complexity to the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge.
Photo credit: Alabama Tourism Department
Something is always blooming at Bellingrath Gardens in Mobile – 400 varieties of camellias in the winter, azaleas in the spring, roses, hydrangeas and tropical plants in the summer and the renowned “cascading chrysanthemums” in the fall. Bellingrath was established in the early days of the Great Depression, when Walter Bellingrath and his wife Bessie opened their gardens to the public. Along with year-round explosions of colorful blooms, the 65-acre Bellingrath Gardens and Home offers tours of the Bellingrath estate that is now a museum. Visitors can also walk along the bayou boardwalk while enjoying the great variety of flowering plants that change every season.
Photo credit: Tad Denson
Fun fact: A rocket built in Alabama burned more fuel in one second than Lindbergh used to cross the Atlantic. It was the powerful Saturn V, a multistage liquid-fuel expendable rocket used by NASA’s Apollo program in the 1960s and 1970s. The largest production model of the Saturn family of rockets, the Saturn V was designed under the direction of Wernher von Braun at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville. The Saturn V had 13 missions, the first 12 for the Apollo program and the 13th launching a Skylab space station into orbit. Two Saturn V rockets are on display at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville.
Photo credit: Chris Granger
Nestled in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in Sylacauga is Pursell Farms, a sprawling 3,200-acre resort that offers sweeping views of several counties. The bucolic, family-run Pursell Farms includes FarmLinks Golf Club, known as a “golfer’s golf course.” Alabama has first-rate golf courses, so when one stands out, that’s saying something. Among the resort’s many other amenities are the Orvis® Shooting Grounds, Hamilton Place wedding venue and The Inn, a recent addition designed by Birmingham-based ArchitectureWorks that includes 40 rooms, a restaurant, bar, meeting space and fitness center.
Photo credit: MackNally Land Design
The Alabama 4-H Center in Columbiana has a strong identity with its lakeside environmental education center. Davis Architects met the functional requirements needed for the 14,000 school children who visit yearly and achieved LEED® Gold Certification, a distinction only one other building in Alabama and no other 4-H facility in the nation at the time had achieved. The building combines natural stone and wood with steel and recycled materials. Environmental laboratories and display areas on the lower level support the 4-H Environmental Field School, while the upper level includes seminar rooms, multi-function space and a kitchen. Students can study nature from an observation deck at treetop level.
Photo credit: Davis Architects
Ballparks are for watching baseball, but at Regions Field in downtown Birmingham there’s plenty more to do. Participate in family fun games, picnic or enjoy the food and drink venues and take pleasure in the park’s other amenities. Home of the Birmingham Barons, Regions Field replaced the Hoover Metropolitan Stadium when it was decided to build a stadium downtown and bring baseball back to Birmingham. The park opened in 2013 and its sleek, modern stadium was a joint venture of HKS Inc. in Dallas, and Hoskins Architecture and GA Studio, both in Birmingham. The ballpark borrows elements from Birmingham’s Sloss Furnaces and Rickwood Field.
Photo credit: MackNally Land Design