Sweet Home Alabama

Alabama is probably one of the least touristy states in the US. Known for their love of American football and their Southern hospitality, you may be wondering how on earth I found myself in Alabama, and why I consider it my second home.

The simple answer is I have family and friends living there, I have visited 13 times and every time I go, I discover something new and quirky, it has some of the most interesting places I've ever been to and no one even knows these places exist!

Here are some of the unique places I visited on my recent trip to Alabama;

Little River Canyon National Preserve

Alabama's Little River carves its way through the mountains and canyons surrounding the town of Mentone. Parts of the canyon are 550ft deep which makes them the deepest canyons in the Eastern United States! The Little River originates in the heart of the Lookout Mountain and has plenty of waterfalls that visitors can see, such as Little River Falls, Desoto Falls and Grace High Falls. The deep valley carved by this not-so-little canyon provides for some amazing views from various angles from the 10 viewpoints dotted along the western rim of the canyon.

Desoto Caverns

Desoto Caverns was the first officially recorded cave in the United States and it is certainly impressive! It was originally used as a shelter for the native Indians over 2,000 years ago and a gunpowder mine during the Civil War. The caverns have been used for so long that archaeologists in the 1960s uncovered the bones of a 7-foot man who was alive at the same time as Jesus!

If its history isn't impressive enough for you then the size surely will be. The main 'room' of the cavern is 12 stories high and is as large as a football field! 

As the tour guide brought us into the cavern, the lights were dim and didn't show the full size of it, until we had watched an informative video explaining the formation of the caverns. Then all of a sudden, the lights all turn on to reveal the giant cavern above! It is almost intimidating how big the cavern and no photo could possibly show its beauty and size!

Mount Chehah

Standing at 2,407ft high, Mount Chehah is the highest mountain in the state of Alabama. There are many ways to climb it; mountain biking, hiking, or even four-wheel driving! At the top of the mountain there is an old fire station which provides a fantastic viewpoint where you can see for miles into the distance! 

We chose to do the four-wheel driving which was insanely fun yet scary at the same time. Me being terrified of heights found it unnerving how close the cars got to the edge of the road, as the verge was pretty much a vertical drop to the bottom but with all of the bouncing around, it was still a fun and exciting experience.

Sloss Furnace

The city of Birmingham in Alabama (not the UK one!) thrived on its ability to produce steel from coal and ore, with Sloss Furnace being one of the biggest factories in the state. It isn't used for industrial purposes anymore, instead, it is open for visitors to explore!

The dark history of Sloss Furnace is what rakes in thousands of visitors every year! Even Ghost Hunters did a documentary on the haunted history of it. Over 47 workers died at Sloss Furnace working the 'graveyard shift' and working for James “Slag” Wormwood. He was harsh and put his workers through extremely dangerous activities to increase production, which often resulted in gruesome deaths until the workers revolted and dropped James into the biggest blast furnace, full of molten iron. Many visitors and ghost hunters have claimed to see and hear the ghosts of both the workers and James Wormwood himself. Sloss Furnace is labelled as Alabama's most haunted place!