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North Alabama

National Scenic Byways

The Natchez Trace Parkway
length: 445 miles through Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee

The Natchez Trace Parkway tells the story of people on the move, the story of the age-old need to get from one place to another. It is a story of Natchez, Chickasaw, and Choctaw Indians following traditional ways of life, of French and Spanish people venturing into a new world, and of people building a new nation.

The parklands along the Trace preserve important examples of our nation’s natural and cultural heritage. Since the late 1930’s, the National Park Service has been constructing a modern parkway that closely follows the course of the original trace. Today, the parkway gives travelers an unhurried route from Natchez to Nashville. Motorists and bicyclists alike enjoy the scenery, from the rock-studded hills of Tennessee, past the cotton fields of Alabama, to the flat and meandering southern lands shaded by trees.

The Alabama segment of the Natchez Trace Parkway is the middle leg of a byway that covers the full length of the Natchez Trace. The Old Trace is still closely followed by the byway, which is preserved and administered today by the National Park Service. The byway offers early pioneer history at well-maintained historic sites like Colbert Ferry Park, Freedom Hills, and Buzzard Roast Springs. Views are particularly stunning while crossing the Tennessee River midway through Alabama.

The Talladega Scenic Byway
length: 26 miles over Cheaha Mountain, at 2407’ in elevation, the highest peak in Alabama
Visitors to the Talladega Scenic Drive can get a bird’s-eye view of scenic mountains, rock outcroppings, small rural settlements, and a changing landscape along the way. The 26-mile drive is part of the Talladega National Forest, and it travels the backbone of Horseblock and Cheaha Mountains, the southern most extension of the Appalachian mountain range, to Alabama’s highest peak at 2,407 feet elevation. Southern hospitality abounds in the land surrounding the Drive, and many southern natural attractions await your arrival.

The view from the Scenic Drive is a haven for photographers. During the summer months, you’ll notice a bluish veil of haze that hangs in the air, standing out against the mountain backdrop. The lush conditions of the trees releasing condensation into the warm air is believed to cause the smoky appearance. Springtime comes first to the valleys, unfolding slowly upward to higher grounds. Majestic pines and the delicate yellow-green of new leaves provide a backdrop for the spring blossoms of fruit trees, dogwoods, redbuds, and flowering shrubs. Spring color is usually at its peak in late April. Come fall, nature has her fling when red, gold, crimson, brown, and yellow blend in a carpet of color as the gums, oaks, maples, sycamore, dogwood, hickories, and persimmon don their fall dress. The fall season varies, but it is usually best from mid-October to November.

 

State Scenic Byways

Appalachian Highlands Scenic Byway

Roadway Classification: Alabama Highway 35, Alabama Highway 273, Alabama Highway 68, U.S. Highway 411, Alabama Highway 9

Start/End Points: Interstate 59 at Fort Payne to Interstate 20 at Heflin

Roadway Length:

Existing Designations: State Scenic Byway (Legislative resolution)

Intrinsic Qualities: Scenic, historic, cultural, natural, recreational, and archaeological

Description: The Appalachian Highlands Scenic Byway encompasses all the intrinsic qualities described above. Its route takes one from Lookout Mountain in the north to the highest peak in Alabama at Cheaha Mountain. Along the route one will find Little River Canyon, Weiss Lake, Cornwall Furnace, the Chief Ladiga Trail, The Talladega Scenic Byway and Cheaha State Park. The byway trasverses an area of diverse beauty from the deepest canyon east of the Mississippi to the highest point in the state. Furthermore, it will serve as a natural corridor between I-59 and I-20.




Alabama’s Stagecoach Route Through Leeds
Road, River, and Cultures Connect Three Alabama Counties at Leeds
Where Alabama’s Appalachian Experience Displays State Treasures
Central Alabama’s longest-lived stagecoach route passes through Leeds as it curves and slopes alongside the Little Cahaba River and nestles between Appalachian foothills. The historic quality of the farms, neighborhoods and the small city is one that promises tourists an authentic view of rich Appalachian Alabama heritage. The Leeds Scenic Byway Steering Committee is delighted to say that Jefferson, Shelby, and St. Clair Counties' officials have joined Leeds and area planning and development boards to support a Scenic Byway designation for Leeds' 119/411 corridor. The route connects these three counties. With an entry onto 119 at Highway 280, the historic scenic corridor through Leeds begins at the Grants Mill Road intersection and travels north until it reaches Highway 411 in St. Clair County. The historic quality of the "farms, neighborhoods, and [city]” surrounded by mountain ridges prompts our committee to ask for designation in an historic category.

Alabama’s Stagecoach Route Through Leeds began as an Indian trail traversing a vast watershed. As a trail, it served as a staging ground for three emerging Alabama cultures. Early Christian Cherokees along with European circuit riders used it to plant Methodist churches. The Christian Indian culture arrived from North Carolina before 1812. Andrew Jackson's scouts (1812-13) widened the trail as they sought roadways for supply wagons. When Europeans, largely veterans of the Creek Indian War, entered the valley in Leeds (1820), the widened trail became a stagecoach route that lay in its original bed when the first black settlers arrived in the late 1880's. Studies by John Garst place the legendary John Henry in Leeds at the Oak Tunnel of the C&W Railroad in the 1880's, and descendants of original Black-American settlers concur with Garst’s conclusion–the Leeds, Alabama, claim that Henry was a real person and that he performed his famous contest with the steam drill in Leeds. Local folklore holds these claims as fact. Subsequent to these early events, the Stagecoach Route in Leeds has changed little and still bears the landmarks of these early cultures. The Leeds Historical Society marked the stagecoach route through Leeds in 1998.

Lookout Mountain Parkway
(Click here to learn more about Lookout Mountain Parkway)

Roadway Classification: Etowah County Road 89, Cherokee County Road 3, Alabama Highway 176, DeKalb County Road 89

Start/End Point: Noccalula Falls to Mentone, AL

Roadway Length: 50 miles

Existing Designations: State Byway (Legislative Resolution)

Intrinsic Qualities: Scenic and natural

Description: Heavily wooded, scenic, and well-protected.

 

Alabama Scenic Byways | info@alabamabyways.org
c/o Alabama Association of Regional Councils
5900 Carmichael Road| Montgomery, AL 36117| 334.277.2221