Uptown Downtown
The Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex hosts live music concerts, meetings, exhibitions and sporting events. The complex includes the 45,000-seat Protective Stadium, the 9,380-seat Coca-Cola Amphitheater and Legacy Arena, which seats about 19,000.
Other facilities include the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame Museum, which celebrates sports legends with memorabilia dating back to its first inductees in 1969, and the Uptown Entertainment District, featuring a number of restaurants and bars.
Remembering the Past
Jefferson County’s largest city, Birmingham, was once an epicenter of the civil rights movement with memorable acts of protests for racial equality in the early 1960s.
Today, visitors to the city can see some of the most iconic buildings and spaces from that era at the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument. It features the fully restored A.G. Gaston Motel that served as the “war room” for civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King Jr.
Other sites within the National Monument are the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church and Bethel Baptist Church, which white supremacists bombed; Kelly Ingram Park, where protesters often gathered before their marches; parts of the 4th Avenue Business District; and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute.
The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute houses a massive collection of photos, documents, artifacts and nearly 500 oral histories from the civil rights movement in Birmingham. The exhibits include a replica of the Freedom Riders bus and the door to the jail cell of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., where he wrote his famous “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.”
Other spots in Jefferson County to remember the past include the Alabama Veterans Memorial Park. The 21-acre landscaped memorial honors the 11,000 Alabamians killed in action since 1900.
And the Birmingham Holocaust Education Center features exhibits and programs centered on remembering the horrors of the Holocaust during World War II.
Other historic highlights include the former pig iron plant Sloss Furnaces and Vulcan Park & Museum that celebrates the city’s industrial roots and where one can see the world’s largest cast-iron statue.
Muse on It
Jefferson County is home to a number of museums where young and old can explore art from around the world, science, technology and inventions that brought about the modern age.
One of the major galleries is The Birmingham Museum of Art, which houses more than 29,000 paintings, drawings, sculptures, prints and other exhibits.
On Birmingham’s east side is the Southern Museum of Flight where visitors can learn about the history of aviation, view more than 100 historic aircrafts and take to the skies – virtually that is – in the museum’s Simulator Lab.
But for motorcycle and race car enthusiasts, the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum in Leeds is the place to be. Visitors also can watch races at the Barber Motorsports Park next door.
Baseball fans can tour the historic Rickwood Field, the nation’s oldest professional baseball park. Rickwood Field once welcomed baseball legends from Jackie Robinson and Babe Ruth to Willie Mays in his Negro League days. The nearby Negro Southern League Museum preserves artifacts and stories of African Americans who played the game of baseball.
Onto the Fairway
Jefferson County offers numerous public and private courses, including two stops on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail — the 54-hole Oxmoor Valley complex just southwest of Birmingham and Ross Bridge Golf Resort and Spa, an 18-hole course that is one of the longest in the world.
Happy Trails
The Red Rock Trail System features 160 miles of trails, bike lanes and sidewalks and brings green space within a mile of nearly every resident in the county.
People in downtown Birmingham also can walk, jog or bike along the Rotary Trail or visit City Walk BHAM. The City Walk stretches for 10 blocks beneath the I-59/20 interstate, links Birmingham’s downtown area to the Civil Rights District and offering a skate park, stage and setting for festivals and events.
Farm Fresh
What was once a Dr Pepper bottling plant is a now a destination, Pepper Place. Pepper Place in Birmingham offers fine dining restaurants, locally owned shops and a Saturday farmer’s market open from 7 a.m. to noon Jan. 25 through Dec. 13.
Parks, Parks, Parks
Public parks and greenspaces are everywhere throughout Jefferson County’s 35 municipalities. Visitors to downtown Birmingham can jog or walk through Railroad Park.
Other Birmingham parks include Red Mountain Park and Ruffner Mountain Nature Preserve. And in the suburbs, visitors can check out Black Creek Park in Fultondale, DeBardeleben Park in Bessemer, Glen Oaks Park in Fairfield, Patriot Park in Homewood, and Moss Rock Preserve in Hoover. In Gardendale, in north Jefferson County, is the Bill Noble Athletic & Recreational Park featuring grass and turf facilities for baseball and softball, football, tennis and pickleball courts, and courts for beach volleyball and basketball and a state-of-the-art children’s playground.
Family Fun
Jefferson County offers plenty of fun attractions for kids and parents, too.
The McWane Science Center, a science museum in downtown Birmingham, features exhibits from aquariums and the Bubble Room to the IMAX theater and the Explore! Lab.
In July, Fun City Adventure Park opened with activities from rock climbing to a ninja course.
On the west side of the county, in Bessemer, is Alabama Adventure Amusement Park & Splash Adventure featuring rides, water slides, wave pool and lazy river.
Another kid-friendly destination is the Birmingham Zoo — home to hundreds of animals from around the world.
Gardens Galore
For those with green thumbs, visit the 67-acre Birmingham Botanical Gardens, and in Hoover, the 30-acre Aldridge Gardens.
Another garden to see is at the Arlington Antebellum Home and Gardens. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Arlington is Birmingham’s only surviving antebellum home.
In the Spotlight
The restored Lyric Theatre and Alabama Theatre both shine as historic venues in downtown Birmingham. Both now showcase live performances and more.
Looking for a few laughs? Drop in at the Stardome Comedy Club in Hoover for acts by famous and up-and-coming comedians as well as a restaurant and bar.
This article appears in the October 2025 issue of Business Alabama.
