Mention the word ‘Montgomery’ and people immediately associate Alabama’s capital city with the civil rights struggles of the sixties. Rightfully so. But the town continues to fly under most people’s radar when it comes to tourism. That makes it prime territory – reasonable rates, and lessened lines.
Fly nonstop to the heart of Dixie via Delta Connection from Atlanta, US Airways Express from Charlotte or American Eagle out of Dallas/Fort Worth. Then, rent a car and explore.
- Start off at the shrine of the Civil Rights Movement, at the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church. It’s from this pulpit, in this place, that the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. led the Montgomery Bus Boycott, an event that forever changed the face of our nation for the better.
- Follow up with a visit to the Hank Williams Museum. Rare memorabilia of the man who helped defined country music as we know it resides here – suits, hats and his 1952 Cadillac. Experience the man’s amazing performances via vintage videos.
- Take out a big, broad yellow highlighter and circle this one: the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. The surroundings are stunning and state-of-the-art, the repertoire varied. See scintillating performances of the Bard’s best works interspersed with contemporary classics such as The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.
- Montgomery is home to what’s billed as “the only museum dedicated to either” F. Scott or Zelda Fitzgerald. It’s the Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum, and it’s worth a see. This contentious couple defined the essence of the era in which they lived: the Roaring Twenties. Come listen to the echoes in the house the couple inhabited.
Aside from the Shakespeare Festival, Montgomery isn’t a city of bigger-than-life attractions. But the ones it treasures are forever fascinating.
(Image: Alabama Tourism Department)
