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There's a lot to love about Sweet Home Alabama, from its antebellum homes and historic neighborhoods to its powdery white sand shores. History suffuses every corner of the state – visitors can explore Mississippian mound cities or walk in the footsteps of some of the greatest leaders of the American Civil Rights movement – while modern Alabama might surprise you with its sophisticated art, food and culture. We asked a panel of Alabama travel writers and photographers to nominate their favorite attractions in the state, and for the past four weeks, 10Best readers have been voting for their favorites.
The top 10 winners in the category Best Alabama Attraction are as follows:
- Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum - Birmingham
- USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park - Mobile
- Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail
- Bellingrath Gardens & Home - Theodore
- Alabama Shakespeare Festival - Montgomery
- Dexter Parsonage Museum - Montgomery
- Little River Canyon National Preserve - Fort Payne
- U.S. Space & Rocket Center - Huntsville
- Alabama's Gulf Coast
- Vulcan Park & Museum - Birmingham
A panel of experts partnered with 10Best editors to picked the initial 20 nominees, and the top 10 winners were determined by popular vote. Experts Larry Bleiberg (LarryBleiberg.com), Lynn Grisard Fullman, Cory Lee (CurbFreeWithCoryLee.com), Art Meripol and Connie Pearson (www.theregoesconnie.com) were chosen based on their knowledge and experience of travel in Alabama.
Congratulations to all these winning attractions.
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The Experts
Larry Bleiberg
Larry Bleiberg, a veteran journalist with... Read More
Larry Bleiberg, a veteran journalist with magazine, newspaper and web experience and a member of the Society of American Travel Writers, has spent much of his career living in, and writing about, the South. The Virginia native is former travel editor of the Dallas Morning News and Coastal Living magazine and founder of CivilRightsTravel.com. He served on a Pulitzer Prize team, is a seven-time Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Award winner, and was honored for producing the best newspaper travel section in North America. Learn more at LarryBleiberg.com or facebook.com/larry.bleiberg.
Larry Bleiberg
Larry Bleiberg, a veteran journalist with magazine, newspaper and web experience and a member of the Society of American Travel Writers, has spent much of his career living in, and writing about, the South. The Virginia native is former travel editor of the Dallas Morning News and Coastal Living magazine and founder of CivilRightsTravel.com. He served on a Pulitzer Prize team, is a seven-time Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Award winner, and was honored for producing the best newspaper travel section in North America. Learn more at LarryBleiberg.com or facebook.com/larry.bleiberg.
Lynn Grisard Fullman
An award-winning writer, Lynn Grisard Fullman has... Read More
An award-winning writer, Lynn Grisard Fullman has contributed to newspapers, magazines and blogs. Among her half dozen books are several on travel in Alabama. Twice she received the Alabama Tourism Department’s Tourism Advocate Award: Media and once, the Southeast Tourism Society’s Travel Writer of the Year award. A native of Chattanooga, Tenn., she moved to Alabama as soon as she could, graduating from Samford University and thereafter making her home in Birmingham. Follow her on Twitter.
Lynn Grisard Fullman
An award-winning writer, Lynn Grisard Fullman has contributed to newspapers, magazines and blogs. Among her half dozen books are several on travel in Alabama. Twice she received the Alabama Tourism Department’s Tourism Advocate Award: Media and once, the Southeast Tourism Society’s Travel Writer of the Year award. A native of Chattanooga, Tenn., she moved to Alabama as soon as she could, graduating from Samford University and thereafter making her home in Birmingham. Follow her on Twitter.
Cory Lee
Cory Lee was diagnosed with Spinal Muscular... Read More
Cory Lee was diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy at the age of two, but that certainly has not diminished his desire to travel – wheelchair and all. He has traversed six continents and blogs about his accessible (and sometimes not so accessible) travel adventures on CurbFreeWithCoryLee.com. From trekking through the Amazon Rainforest to hot air ballooning over the deserts of Israel and everything in between, Cory shows that anything is possible with enough determination. Since starting his blog in 2013, he has gained more than 50,000 followers across social media, won the 2017 Lowell Thomas Award for Best Travel Blog, and is a proud member of the Society of American Travel Writers. Cory hopes to inspire others to break out of their comfort zones and start rolling around the world.
Cory Lee
Cory Lee was diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy at the age of two, but that certainly has not diminished his desire to travel – wheelchair and all. He has traversed six continents and blogs about his accessible (and sometimes not so accessible) travel adventures on CurbFreeWithCoryLee.com. From trekking through the Amazon Rainforest to hot air ballooning over the deserts of Israel and everything in between, Cory shows that anything is possible with enough determination. Since starting his blog in 2013, he has gained more than 50,000 followers across social media, won the 2017 Lowell Thomas Award for Best Travel Blog, and is a proud member of the Society of American Travel Writers. Cory hopes to inspire others to break out of their comfort zones and start rolling around the world.
Art Meripol
Art Meripol is a Birmingham-based freelance... Read More
Art Meripol is a Birmingham-based freelance photographer where he worked at Southern Living as Senior Travel Photographer for almost 25 years photographing the best of the South. Two recent projects included the tasty book Alabama Barbecue-Delicious Road Trips and a National Addy award winning book What Happened Here Changed the World. That book, documenting historic civil rights sites across the South, was recently presented to the board of UNESCO with the aim of gaining World Heritage Site designation. Art also just completed additional photography for the new U. S. Civil Rights Trail that officially launches in 2018. He is a member of the Society of American Travel Writers.
Art Meripol
Art Meripol is a Birmingham-based freelance photographer where he worked at Southern Living as Senior Travel Photographer for almost 25 years photographing the best of the South. Two recent projects included the tasty book Alabama Barbecue-Delicious Road Trips and a National Addy award winning book What Happened Here Changed the World. That book, documenting historic civil rights sites across the South, was recently presented to the board of UNESCO with the aim of gaining World Heritage Site designation. Art also just completed additional photography for the new U. S. Civil Rights Trail that officially launches in 2018. He is a member of the Society of American Travel Writers.
Connie Pearson
Connie Pearson is a native Alabamian, a former... Read More
Connie Pearson is a native Alabamian, a former music teacher in North Alabama and a Baptist missionary in Ecuador. Currently, she is a grandmother of 13 and a food/travel writer living in Hartselle, Ala. Connie is a regular contributor to numerous print and online publications in addition to her own blog www.theregoesconnie.com. You can follow her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.
Connie Pearson
Connie Pearson is a native Alabamian, a former music teacher in North Alabama and a Baptist missionary in Ecuador. Currently, she is a grandmother of 13 and a food/travel writer living in Hartselle, Ala. Connie is a regular contributor to numerous print and online publications in addition to her own blog www.theregoesconnie.com. You can follow her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.
