Lawrence County, Alabama
Lawrence County, AL, is a hotspot for nature enthusiasts and people who love to walk among significant American and prehistoric cultural history. Home to an astounding number of waterfalls, Lawrence County has attracted residents and visitors for thousands of years, starting with Native Americans whose enigmatic mounds still dot the landscape today.
Visit Lawrence County!
Outdoor Attractions
Sitting on the edge of Guntersville Lake on the Tennessee RiverLine, Lawrence County is an outdoor recreationist’s dream. The lake itself is known for tremendous fishing, and it boasts a strong reputation for its bass populations, as well as blue, channel, and flathead catfish. Several 80+ pound catfish have been bagged on these waters, and it also has notable seasonal populations of bream, walleye, and sauger.
Tons of creeks and ponds can also be found around Lawrence County, meaning anglers can reach the perfect spot no matter what scale and body of water they like to fish.
Lawrence County is known for its waterfalls, and there may be no better place in the region to seek them out than Sipsey Wilderness in Bankhead National Forest. Visitors have more than a dozen cascades to find among its 30+ miles of hiking trails, and the national forest (which stretches across Lawrence, Winston, and Franklin Counties) as a whole features almost 100 miles of trails, and even more waterfalls.
Its hiking trails offer variety in terms of difficulty and formations, from rocky, 10+ mile tracks around and through canyons, to simpler trails less than a mile long through relatively flat lands. Its geologic diversity and history brings with it tons of biodiversity, and the park is popular for birders and plant enthusiasts in search of rare Southeastern finds.
Wilderness areas are known to be extra primitive (or pristine depending on your point of view), so veterans of Sipsey often recommend careful planning in conjunction with up-to-date information. Tornadoes swept through the region in 2011, and some paths have since been difficult to navigate or identify, but park management has steadily improved conditions in the past decade. Primitive campsites dot the landscape for those who are planning multi-day trips.
Closer to the Tennessee River, Lawrence County shares Joe Wheeler State Park with Lauderdale County. Right on the banks of the water, the park has no shortage of places to dock watercraft and make for the land after a long journey or day relaxing on the RiverLine.
It offers lodging of all kinds, from campsites with full hookups, to rooms in the lodge, to cabins to rent out for the weekend. Daniella’s Restaurant overlooks the river, and its upscale vibe makes the most of the glamorous real estate it takes up. Prime rib and seafood buffet nights there are great for a special occasion. There is a convention center on site as well, making the park property ready for any large events.
Relaxing activities are Joe Wheeler specialties, as golf and disc golf courses are present on site, and fishing is, of course, another popular activity to relax and enjoy on the river. Deer Run Golf Course in Moulton is another great spot to hit the links in Lawrence County.
Attractions
Many of Lawrence County’s most notable attractions celebrate its rich history and individuals who have had a tremendous impact.
The Oakville Indian Mounds Education Center in William Bankhead National Forest celebrates the earliest history of the area. It features artifacts dating back to 10,000 B.C., and it provides a timeline which starts at the beginning of settlement in the area about 14,000 years ago. The center’s location was selected for its proximity to several ancient man-made mounds within the park, including the largest Woodland Indian mound in Alabama.
Moving up the timeline, the Courtland Heritage Museum is the place to be for anyone interested in the last 200 years of Lawrence County history. It makes for a worthwhile stop for Civil War history buffs, as it details a nearby 1862 skirmish where Confederate forces overwhelmed famous Union leader Don Carlos Buell’s forces at Courtland Bridge.
Courtland is also home to more than 100 homes on the National Register of Historic Places, and it features over 100 years of different domestic architectural styles. The city’s unusually high concentration of historic homes is thanks to its growth as a trade center in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and there’s so much history that even the town plan itself is listed on the National Register.
One such home stands above the rest for cultural significance, Pond Spring – The General Joe Wheeler Home. Featuring three buildings on site, an 1818 cabin, an 1830 federal-style home, and the 1870s homestead of famous General Joseph Wheeler. The homestead features significant artifacts from Wheeler’s military history, including pieces from the Civil War and Spanish-American War.
He is not the only famous American figure to have once called Lawrence County home, as track icon Jesse Owens was born there in 1913. Owens’ icon status goes beyond sport thanks to his record-setting Olympic victories in the presence of Adolf Hitler in Berlin, Germany in 1936. Before the games, Hitler had asserted that members of the Aryan race would demonstrate racial superiority with runaway successes, which raised the tension and stakes of the event, and made Owens’ victories an even more important cultural moment on the world’s stage.
Jesse Owens Memorial Park commemorates its namesake’s life and accomplishments, featuring an impressive bronze statue of his likeness, as well as informational kiosks, a recreation of the home he was born into, a replica of the 1936 Olympic torch, a broad jump pit, fields for playing sports, memorabilia from Owens’ life, and a museum with a gift shop. Visitors can also catch viewings of a rare documentary narrated by Owens revisiting Berlin’s Olympic stadium.
Lawrence County makes for a worthwhile stop on the Tennessee RiverLine for anyone who is hoping to get away from busy, day-to-day life and enjoy some fishing, hiking, history, or a relaxing afternoon listening to one of the area’s many waterfalls.