Florence Alabama

Alabama’s Renaissance City

 

Florence Alabama is the county seat of Lauderdale County, and has a population of 39,319.

Florence is the largest and principal city of the Metropolitan Statistical Area known as “The Shoals” (which includes Muscle Shoals, Sheffield, and Tuscumbia metropolitan areas in Colbert and Lauderdale counties).

Florence is the merger point for two major U.S. Highways, as well as several Alabama Highways. Both U.S. Highway 43 and U.S. Highway 72 merge just east of the city limits in Killen, Alabama, and are co-signed their entire length through the city.

Highway 43, running north and south, helps connect the city to Lawrenceburg and Columbia to the north in Tennessee, as well as Tuscaloosa and Mobile to the south. Highway 72 helps connect the city to Huntsville and Chattanooga, Tennessee to the east and Memphis, Tennessee to the west.

Interstate 65 is accessible about forty-five minutes east on Highway 72. Both of these roads cross the Tenneessee River on O’Neal Bridge, connecting Florence to Sheffield.

Things To Do In Florence Alabama

Florence Alabama Museums:

Kennedy Douglass Center for the Arts

Indian Mound and Museum

See thousands of relics and artifacts in the Florence Indian Mound & Museum — a rare touch with the past.

Pope’s Tavern

Pope’s Tavern filled with heavy hearts during the Civil War. Andrew Jackson kicked the mud off his boots there. Homesick soldiers died in hospital beds there. Sweaty horses, stagecoaches, travelers who’d fought underbrush, pock-marked roads, and fear of assault pulled in for a night’s rest there.

W.C. Handy Home and Museum

Feel the blues down to your toes standing next to the very piano that shook with St. Louis Blues for the first time; see his hand-written sheets of music-originals of many of his tunes. You can take a virtual tour of the W.C. Handy Home and Museum right here.
Admission Charged
Open Tuesday-Saturday-10 AM-4 PM
 

Rosenbaum House

Architecture critic Peter Blake wrote in 1960 that “during the 1930s, Wright built four structures of a beauty unexcelled in America before or since.” Three of those are Fallingwater, the Johnson Wax Administrative Building, and Taliesin West. The fourth was the Rosenbaum House.

 

Children’s Museum of the Shoals
The Children’s Museum Shoals is the only museum in Northwest Alabama that provides children with a hands-on, interactive experience designed especially for them. The Children’s Museum Shoals’ venues and programs offer children the opportunity to explore, learn and create in a variety of attractions. Many of the venues are influenced and inspired by the wonderful history and heritage of the region – from Native American Culture to the rock-n- soul roots of the Shoals Sound!

Forks of Cypress

The Forks of Cypress was a cotton plantation and Greek Revival plantation house near Florence in Lauderdale County, Alabama. It was designed by architect William Nichols for James Jackson and his wife, Sally Moore Jackson. Construction was completed in 1830.

Shoals Gold Record Room

The Shoals Gold Record Room at 201 S. Court Street in Florence is a dynamic, upscale salute to the Muscle Shoals Music scene and the Alabama Music Hall of Fame.  The room features 60 gold records, a giant mural of iconic music photos, a baby grand player piano loaded with Muscle Shoals tunes, costumes from AMHOF, guitar displays, vintage records autographed by local recording artists, a state-of-the-art sound system and a juke box vending machine. The custom designed flooring is inlaid with guitars and a large gold record. 
The room is open to the public from 8-5, Monday through Friday and is also available for private events and as a performance venue. For information call 256-767-0740, ext. 221.

Florence Alabama Parks:

Cox Creek Park

Deibert Park

Forence Sportsplex

Martin Park

McFarland Park

River Heritage Park

Veterans Memorial Park

Wildwood Park

Wilson Park

Florence Alabama Recreation:

Blackberrty Trail Golf Course

Broadway Recreation Center

Florence Harbor

Handy Recreation Center

Royal Avenue Recreation Center

Florence Alabama Weblinks