Northern Alabama and the Tennessee River
- April 19, 2019
Things to Know:
- Many interesting sites and places to visit. Most require no admission fee.
- Very scenic areas on and around the Tennessee River, with especially nice river overlooks near Scottsboro, Alabama.
- A great area to explore over a long weekend or an entire week.
- Most parks and other attractions we visited were partially or entirely dog friendly.
Vew of the Tennessee River and Scottsboro, Alabama
We’d visited north Georgia quite a number of times, but had never really spent much time in the northern portion of Alabama. We decided to be adventurous and give it a go, so we set our sites on an out-of-the-way rental cabin located right on the Tennessee River, just south of Scottsboro Alabama. The view above is actually the backyard of the cabin we rented. Quite impressive!
We were in the area for only a couple of days, and most of the time we simply got out early each day and went exploring. One of the most impressive and enjoyable sites we found was Pisgah Gorge Falls, which you can find out more about in our Pisgah Gorge Falls article.
One of our first discoveries was the small town of Somerville. Somerville was incorporated in 1819, the same year Alabama became a state. It was the county seat of Morgan County until 1891. The historic Somerville Courthouse was constructed in 1837, and is the oldest original standing courthouse in Alabama.
Also in Somerville, we found the historic Judge Green Pryor Rice House, shown below. It was constructed in 1830, and we found this house especially interesting because in 1837 the home was purchased by Green Pryor Rice, one of Joe’s ancestors. Mr. Rice was a judge and state senator, and two of his grandsons who became political figures were born in the house. The structure is currently listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and guess what? As of April 2019, it’s for sale!
Near Florence, we discovered the Old Railroad Bridge. In 1858, the original two-level bridge was constructed. Trains used the upper level, while horses, wagons and pedestrians used the lower tier. In 1892, the upper level collapsed under the weight of a passing train, but was later rebuilt.
Today, the upper portion of the bridge is closed, but the lower section is restored and open to pedestrians. Visitors can take a truly historic stroll over nearly the entire width of the Tennessee River. The bridge is part of a local historical park that includes scenic hiking and jogging trails, which wind their way along the river, and up and down adjacent pine and oak forest hills.
Upper level of the bridge 
Lower section restored for pedestrian use 
Photo credit: Brent Moore
Russell Cave National Monument is located 4 miles northwest of Mr. Carmel, Alabama, just below the Tennessee state line. The surrounding park offers a visitor’s center and a number of fairly easy interpretive trails that take hikers to the cave’s entrance. The cave contains some of the most complete records of prehistoric cultures in the southeast U.S..
No trip to north Alabama would be complete without a visit to the famous Unclaimed Baggage store in Scottsboro. Unclaimed Baggage is the only store in America that buys and resells unclaimed items from airlines. The store is a whopping 40,000 square feet and resells everything from moose antlers to Versace gowns to suits of armor. We kept a low profile and bought sunglasses.
A funny thing happened late one afternoon just before we headed home. We were driving around Scottsboro looking for a place to eat dinner when we spied a historical marker. Being historical marker geeks, we pulled over to check it out and found a parking lot next to a steep path leading to the graves of the Scott family settlers who founded the town. We were climbing back into our car to leave when two gentlemen pulled into the lot. Believe it or not, they were Scott brothers, descendants of the original founding family. It turns out they’d recently funded and overseen the restoration of the entire area, including the parking lot, signage and pathway. They just happened to be driving by and were thrilled to see visitors. They were quite friendly and more than gladly agreed to have their pictures taken with the bald guy in the middle……..
Recommendation: You can probably tell that we had a wonderful time exploring the northern section of Alabama. We really only hit a few of the many things there are to see and do. Among the sights we did not see was the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, which we’ll definitely keep on our list of to-dos for future trips.
If you enjoy interesting local, regional, and national historical sites, there are plenty to partake of in this part of the world. It’s also a very scenic region. The area is not as mountainous as north Georgia, but there are enough nice vistas and tranquil forest trails to please any outdoor enthusiast.
As you can see, the cliffs overlooking the Tennessee River provide wonderfully sweeping views of the surrounding countryside, and many homes and cabins with such views are available for rent.
One could easily spend a long weekend or an entire week touring the northern portion of Alabama. We highly recommend it!
