Alabama State Parks

Nature and history collide in these parks—each one offering trails, ruins, and quiet pockets of wonder.

Brierfield Ironworks: The Confederate Forge That Armed a War

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Ruins of the main brick furnace at Brierfield Ironworks

Alabama Road Trip #2 There’s something about ruins that pull you in—the way time folds itself around stone and iron, how silence can still hum with memory. We hadn’t planned on finding Brierfield. It was one of those “Murph detours” that started with a roadside sign for the Absalom Pratt House and ended with Dusty … Read more

Tannehill Historic State Park: Alabama’s Iron Furnace of War & Memory

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Tannehill Historic State Park entrance sign in Alabama

We hadn’t planned this stop. With Sloss Furnaces closed and a little time to kill after visiting The Old Grist Mill, Dusty and I pointed the truck toward Tannehill Historic State Park, not really knowing what we’d find. Honestly, I thought it might just be a quiet patch of Alabama nature—a picnic spot, maybe a … Read more