ALABAMA LIFESTYLE
Newcomers to Alabama will discover a world of dynamic metropolitan cities that serve as hubs for suburban communities and small rural towns, harmonizing with sweeping tracts of prime recreational land. The housing selection ranges from historic districts and cozy neighborhoods to lavish estates and country manors, exclusive golf-course communities, and handsome subdivisions. Master-planned communities offer a fine balance of commercial, recreational, and residential developments for the ultimate in convenience and comfort. Shopping opportunities are as diverse as the cities and towns, combining regional malls with historic and antique districts, factory outlet centers, and neighborhood plazas.
Exquisite attractions showcase the state’s legacy of natural beauty, including spectacular botanical gardens, lush state parks, nature centers, famous caverns, deep woodlands, rolling rivers, and grand lakes or reservoirs. Camping, hiking, biking, fishing, hunting, horseback riding, boating, canoeing, kayaking, swimming, and nature study can all be enjoyed in pristine environments. Wonderful golf courses, tennis courts, sports courts and fields, swimming pools, private sports clubs, and fitness centers are available to ensure quality leisure activities. For oceanfront recreation, discover the delights of the Mobile area in southern Alabama on the gulf shores near Pensacola, Florida.
Those who appreciate the arts will find a kaleidoscope of venues and performing groups in every metropolitan area. Birmingham offers wonderful theatres and performing art centers with a dazzling lineup of events as well as the Birmingham Museum of Art. Madison County proudly offers the Huntsville Museum of Art nestled in Big Spring Park as well as a number of permanent companies from symphony and chorus to ballet. Huntsville is also home to one of the oldest performance groups in the nation, the Broadway Theatre League. Families will appreciate such exceptional resources and entertainment centers as the McWane Science Center, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, Alabama Adventure Theme Park, and the Birmingham Zoo. In Tuscaloosa, the attractions include the Children’s Hands-On Museum of Tuscaloosa, the Murphy African-American Museum, the Alabama Museum of Natural History, the Paul Bryant Museum, and the Westervelt-Warner Museum of American Art. Throughout Alabama, historic preservation can be found in fine museums for history, art, culture, science, and special interest. Regardless of where you choose to settle in Alabama, the gracious hospitality of the South will have you feeling “at home” long before you will have time to explore the virtually endless list of attractions.