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TIME
Central Standard Time


STATE
Alabama

REGION
Southern States

Taking Birmingham Home

Visitors can find a very good selection of Birmingham and Alabama souvenirs if they know where to look. Gift shops around the city have special souvenirs to remind travelers of their visits to "Sweet Birmingham".

The largest selection of Birmingham items can be found at The Birmingham Shop, located in the main office of the Greater Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau at 2200 Ninth Avenue North.

The gift shop at Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark is one of Birmingham’s most interesting. Along with postcards and t-shirts bearing the likeness of this great industrial facility, the Sloss shop carries hand-wrought works of metal art by local blacksmiths.

The gift shop at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens has an upscale line of souvenirs and garden-related gifts and across the street at the Birmingham Zoo there is a good selection of souvenirs in a good range of prices.

A small souvenir shop at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute offers a growing selection of merchandise.

Birmingham rides the rich wooded foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, a city blessed with geographical good fortune, with its stock of year round entertainment, and especially its irresistible Southernness.

Birmingham is filled with stories from the history of African-American citizens here. Its prominent part in America’s Civil Rights Movement is the story most often told. The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute is a comprehensive look at the nation’s journey toward equal rights for all citizens and includes galleries highlighting Birmingham’s momentous role in the movement.

The centerpiece of the Birmingham’s Civil Rights District, the Institute faces historic Kelly Ingram Park and is across the street from the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, site of the infamous race-related bombing in 1963. The nearby Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame resides in the historic Carver Theater and honors jazz greats with ties to Alabama.

VisionLand, Alabama’s first amusement park, is one of only a few genuine “theme-parks,” with an industrial-themed water park, a nod to Birmingham’s early steel industry. At McWane Center, science becomes an adventure.

At the Birmingham Zoo a collection of nearly a thousand animals, many rare and unusual, entertains all the family. Across the street the Birmingham Botanical Gardens blanket 80 acres with 24 different gardens including the Japanese Garden with ceremonial teahouse.

Appropriately situated near the Birmingham International Airport, the Southern Museum of Flight preserves equipment and information from the Southeast’s aviation history.

Sports fans enjoy exploring the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame Museum. The Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum and road racing track has a banked raceway that winds and climbs through the middle of the 700-acre property.
Some of the best golf in the region can be found on public courses in the area, including the handsome Oxmoor Valley courses, Birmingham’s link in the state’s Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail.

The annual Birmingham International Festival is the world’s oldest and largest continuing arts celebration. Each year the festival salutes a different country through presentations of customs and culture in the form of dance performances, musical tributes, lectures, art exhibits and a street fair.

City Stages is Birmingham’s enormously popular annual music and folklife festival. Birmingham’s extensive musical roots are also celebrated at the annual Birmingham Heritage Festival, the largest ethnic festival in Alabama.

Birmingham’s multifaceted arts community stages a year round schedule of entertainment. The State of Alabama Ballet, based in Birmingham, is a full-time professional dance company. The city has more than a half dozen professional theatrical companies. The Alabama Symphony Orchestra, a professional opera company and contemporary dance ensemble add to the Birmingham arts scene. The Birmingham Museum of Art is the largest municipal art museum in the Southeast.

For visitors who live to shop, the Riverchase Galleria, one of the country’s largest shopping malls, offers an upscale assortment of shopping adventures. The Galleria has the world’s longest skylight spanning huge anchor stores along with 200 specialty shops and eateries.

Visitors to the area can explore historical and natural attractions just minutes from Birmingham. Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park, about 25 minutes from Birmingham, is a reflection of Alabama life in the 1800s. On the grounds are 19th century pioneer homes, farm buildings, crafts cabins and an operating grist mill.

About 20 minutes from downtown Birmingham, Oak Mountain State Park borders a magnificent lake for swimming, fishing and canoeing. Golf, tennis and mountain bike trails also lure visitors for recreation at Oak Mountain.

GREATER BIRMINGHAM HOTELS


Photo courtesy Greater Birmingham CVB

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