Alabama is packed with surprises, from record breaking museums to hidden natural wonders most visitors never expect. Here are 10 did you know facts that prove there's a lot more to the Yellowhammer State than meets the eye...

Huntsville Is Home to the World's Largest Space Museum

Nicknamed "The Rocket City," Huntsville is home to the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, the largest space museum on the planet. Come face to face with a full Saturn V rocket, explore real lunar modules, and even send the kids to Space Camp. Next door, NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center is where the rocket that took astronauts to the moon was actually built. Read more...

Mobile Threw America's First Mardi Gras, 15 Years Before New Orleans

Most people assume Mardi Gras belongs to New Orleans, but Mobile, Alabama got there first, celebrating back in 1703. Today Mobile still throws one of the biggest Mardi Gras parties in the country, complete with masks, floats and beads. Read more...

Birmingham Is Watched Over by the World's Largest Cast Iron Statue

Standing 56 feet tall on Red Mountain, Vulcan, the Roman god of fire and forge, has kept watch over Birmingham for more than a century. He's the largest cast iron statue on Earth and a nod to the city's iron and steel heritage. Read more...

Monroeville Is the Real Life Hometown of To Kill a Mockingbird

Harper Lee grew up in the small town of Monroeville, and the town has never forgotten it. The original courthouse is now a museum, and each year locals bring the novel to life with a theatrical performance staged inside the very courtroom that inspired it. Read more...

Alabama Has Its Own "Grand Canyon," and It's Stunning

Little River Canyon, cut into the top of Lookout Mountain, is one of the deepest gorges east of the Mississippi River. With dramatic overlooks, waterfalls and miles of trails, it's one of several sites in the eastern US nicknamed "The Grand Canyon of the East," and one of the most beautiful. Read more...

Birmingham Is Home the World's Largest Motorcycle Collection

Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum holds over 1,600 motorcycles, some more than 100 years old, and was officially named the largest motorcycle museum in the world by Guinness World Records. There's also a vintage car collection and a working motorsports park next door for petrol heads to enjoy. Read more...

This Alabama Store Sells Lost Airline Luggage, and It's a Treasure Hunt

Ever wonder what happens to bags that never make it home? At Unclaimed Baggage Centre in Scottsboro, up to 7,000 new items hit the shop floor every single day, from designer clothes to laptops and jewellery, often discounted by as much as 50%. Read more...

A Hidden Alabama Canyon Glows in the Dark

Dismals Canyon is a moss covered, waterfall filled canyon that's magical enough by day. But once night falls, it puts on a real show, as rare bioluminescent glowworms called "dismalites" light up the canyon floor like tiny stars. Read more...

Alabama's Wetlands Are Known as "America's Amazon"

The Mobile-Tensaw Delta, where the Mobile and Tensaw Rivers meet before draining into Mobile Bay, is one of the most biodiverse river deltas in the entire United States. Alabama born biologist E.O. Wilson gave it its famous nickname, and today visitors can kayak or take a boat tour through 250,000 acres of swamp, marsh and forest, home to alligators, black bears and species found nowhere else on the planet. Read more...

Muscle Shoals Is Known as "The Hit Recording Capital of the World"

Muscle Shoals is a small city on the Tennessee River, a few miles off the Natchez Trace Parkway, that has an outsized musical legacy. Legendary studios FAME and Muscle Shoals Sound Studio drew in stars like Aretha Franklin, The Rolling Stones and Wilson Pickett, backed by local session musicians nicknamed "The Swampers" (yes, the ones immortalised in Sweet Home Alabama). Music fans can still tour the original studios today. Read more...

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