Tuscaloosa

The University of Alabama is situated on 1000 acres beside the Black Warrior River in Tuscaloosa; the city and its environs are home to a population of 125,000, including 18,775 university students. The mountains of northern Alabama, the beaches of the Gulf Coast, the New South cities of Atlanta and Birmingham, are all within a few hours' drive, and the Southern Crescent passenger train runs from Washington through Atlanta and Tuscaloosa to Old World New Orleans. The state of Alabama is rife with waterways, dense with forests of pine, and drenched in a subtropical climate that makes for a nearly year-round display of flowering plants and trees. Ancient indigenous cultures have left their imprint on the land as well as the map: it's a twenty minute drive from Tuscaloosa to the Mississippian-era earthworks in Moundville, and other sites of archeological interest abound throughout the state.

Tuscaloosa County is home to artists of many stripes—potters, blues & jazz musicians, woodworkers, blacksmiths, college bands, painters, photographers, glassblowers, sculptors in fabric and steel. Each year in mid-October, the city of Northport, across the river, hosts the invitational Kentuck Festival, one of the first—and most influential—venues for the display and sale of so-called "outsider" art. You can hear great music there too, as you can in any of The Strip's lively bars. The Bama Theatre in downtown Tuscaloosa, recently refurbished, shows classic films beneath the twinkling stars of its cathedral ceiling, and the acoustics in UA's Moody Music Auditorium are world-class. Too, there's that grand ol' gridiron tradition, and a host of other intercollegiate sports: UA's rec center and natatorium are both accessible and well-equipped. Local cuisine is distinguished—particularly the BBQ and venerable Meat+3—with the recent addition of Indian, Thai, Vietnamese, and Korean fare. The Tuscaloosa Community Agriculture Project provides its members with organic vegetables, including such regional favorites as pink-eyed purple-hulled peas.

Web sites of interest:

Tuscaloosa

Stillman College

Northport

Moundville

Kentuck

Roadside Alabama

Birmingham

Selma

Montgomery

Huntsville

Gulf Shores

Atlanta

New Orleans

Walton County, Florida

Memphis

Graceland

Oxford, Mississippi

Photos of Janine Miller portraying Minerva in the UA Centennial Pageant in 1931 and of Big Bill Little, legendary UA football player, portraying himself circa 1892, courtesy of Hoole Special Collections.

UA is an equal opportunity institution/employer.

Although the authors of this web site have made every reasonable effort to be factually accurate, no responsibility is assumed for editorial or clerical errors or error occasioned by honest mistake. All information contained on this web site is subject to change by the appropriate officials of the University of Alabama without prior notice. Material on this web site does not serve as a contract between The University of Alabama and any other party.

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