Birmingham Sights and Landmarks Guide, Alabama

There are many sights to see in Birmingham, and the city is the home of numerous museums.  The biggest of these is The Birmingham Art Museum, which is the biggest in the entire southeast of the United States.  There are also history museums in the city too, which include the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, which is the home of an emotionally-charged and detailed narrative that exhibits the history of the city.  There are even more museums of history, which include the Bessemer Hall of History, Arlington Home, Alabama Museum of Health Sciences, Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark, and Southern Museum of Flight.

Birmingham also has a science center, known as The McWane Science Center, which is the science museum of the region with temporary exhibitions, IMAX dome theater, and science exhibits that you can interact with.  This center is also home to a major fossil specimen collection for researchers' use.  There are more unique museums in the area that include the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum, which has the biggest collection in the world of motorcycles; the Iron and Steel Museum of Alabama; the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame; the Talladega Superspeedway International Mortosports Hall of Fame; and the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.

Besides museums, Birmingham is the home of many cultural festivals, which feature regional heritage, films, and music.  A music festival that is world renowned is the City Stages, which occurs in Linn Park during Father's Day weekend.  This event offers music of all types for 3 days on 11 different stages.  The Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival is another popular event to take part in, which attracts filmmakers from various places around the world into the city for their film to be judged after it is viewed.  The festival is normally scheduled during the last weekend of September in 8 downtown venues.

The Taste of 4th Avenue Jazz Festival is another music festival that is presented at the end of September every year and is concurrent with the film festival.  This festival lasts for a whole day, featuring local and national jazz acts.  The Southern Heritage Festival got its start in the 1960s to be an entertainment, arts, and music festival for the community of African-Americans in order to bring in  mainly younger demographic to Birmingham.  There is also a yearly pet parade, called Do Dah Day.  There are many other festivals held in Birmingham as well.

If museums and festivals are not what you are looking for in Birmingham, then maybe you will enjoy the Kelly Ingram Park, which is a site notable of civil rights protests, as well as being located adjacent to the 16th Street Baptist Church, which is a very historical Birmingham spot.  The Oak Mountain State Park is a very enjoyable place to go around 10 miles south of the city and is one of the more southern wrinkles of the Appalachians, as well as a scenic route to drive.  The drive to the mountain top provides reminiscent views of the further north Great Smoky Mountains.

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