7 Most Eccentric Towns in Alabama
The Deep South is deeply eccentric, and Alabama is no exception. From its northern highlands to southern shores to western plains to eastern woods, Alabama abounds with wonderfully quirky towns. Many of their oddities, like bioluminescent dismalites and the Wetumpka Impact Crater, are natural, but they are complemented by manmade marvels such as the Tinglewood Carvings and Bamahenge. While "most eccentric towns in Alabama" is subjective, the following seven settlements merge natural and cultural wonders into a supremely satiating smorg of 'Bama strangeness.
Montevallo
In otherwise unassuming Montevallo, you can escape to a realm where trees have faces. Dubbed Orr Park, these 40-acre woods smile, frown, mock, and gawk at visitors, who come by the thousands for such treatment. The trees first became personified following a storm in 1993. Residents were shocked to find faces on the fallen cedars. New faces continued to appear with no explanation. Finally, the perpetrator was caught. Tim Tingle, a coal miner and self-taught carver, expected to be jailed for his unauthorized woodworking. Instead, he was given free rein for further artistry.
Over 30 years later, the Tinglewood Carvings number nearly 100 and comprise not just faces, but fantastical figures like a wizard, dragon, and unicorn. Tingle, still active, is annually honored at the Tinglewood Festival, whose activities include a chainsaw carving exhibition and a whittling contest.
Enterprise
Enterprise is another Alabama city that countered nature's forces with eccentricity. Back in 1915, a bug called the boll weevil ravaged the cotton crops around Enterprise. To avoid economic ruin, farmers switched to other crops, particularly peanuts. By 1919, with weevils still decimating the South, Enterprise prospered off peanuts. That same year, townsfolk erected a monument to their success. Credited on the plaque, however, are not farmers or peanuts or even Lady Luck. It is the boll weevil.
"In profound appreciation of the Boll Weevil and what it has done as the Herald of Prosperity . . . " begins the plaque in front of the Boll Weevil Monument, which depicts a Grecian woman hoisting a giant weevil. Though that is said to be the world's only monument to an agricultural pest, Enterprise has dozens more along Weevil Way. The Way's wackiest weevil statue is Ronald McWeevil, whose six legs and long proboscis horrify McDonald's customers.
Phil Campbell
In name alone, Phil Campbell is one of the most eccentric towns in Alabama. Add hundreds of bioluminescent worms, and Phil Campbell is one of the most eccentric towns in America. Just west of town sits Dismals Canyon, a National Natural Landmark that, come nightfall, glows blue with larval flies called "dismalites." Known by scientists as Orfelia fultoni, they are the only bioluminescent insects of their kind discovered in North America, and Dismals Canyon has the largest population. Guests can take guided night tours to see the bugs or opt for self-guided day tours to hike the spectacular canyon floor.
If visiting the canyon in June, head to Phil Campbell proper afterward for the Phil Campbell Festival, a fairly standard small-town fair that was once the anything-but-standard Phil Campbell Convention. Begun by a Brooklyn writer named Phil Campbell, the convention drew Phil Campbells from across America and even overseas. Though the succeeding festival is for people of all names, you might see a few Phil Campbells kicking around.
Millbrook
In the early 2000s, Tim Burton, the sultan of cinematic quirkiness, built a fake town for his upcoming movie Big Fish. He did it on Jackson Lake Island just south of Millbrook, AL. The "town," called Spectre, was supposed to be dismantled after filming. But the island's owners decided to keep it. And so it has stood for more than two decades as a delightfully quirky attraction.
Besides exploring Spectre, tourists to Jackson Lake Island can camp, kayak, swim, fish, and frolic with free-roaming goats. Moreover, they can see other Big Fish filming locations in nearby Wetumpka, which is famous for the Wetumpka Impact Crater. Though it does not appear in the film, the 4.7-mile-wide, 85-million-year-old crater is odd enough for Tim Burton to appreciate.
Daphne
Daphne is nicknamed "The Jubilee City." But "jubilee," in this case, does not mean an anniversary celebration. It means a natural phenomenon where a large array of sea creatures, from crabs to shrimp to flounder, leave their deepwater sanctuaries to swarm the shallows in search of oxygen. This happens during summer due to a rare clash of climatic conditions and is almost exclusive to the eastern shore of Mobile Bay, on which Daphne sits. Mobile Bay Jubilees make townsfolk jubilant, as they too swarm the shallows for a veritable seafood buffet. They then celebrate at the Jubilee Festival in October.
Another jubilee city is Fairhope, located south of Daphne along the Bay. But even quirkier than a self-delivered seafood market is Fairhope's status as one of the last two Georgist Single Tax colonies in America (the other is the Ardens in Delaware). The colony, now a corporation, owns a minority share of Fairhope's land. The City of Fairhope acquired virtually all of the park and beach space, including Fairhope Pier, from the colony in the 1930s.
Evergreen
When you think of Bigfoot's environment, your mind probably wanders to California or the Pacific Northwest. Yet Evergreen, in south-central Alabama, claims to be a Squatch hotspot—so much so that it calls itself the "Bigfoot Capital of Alabama." That was coined in 2017 after Don McDonald from Killing Bigfoot visited Evergreen and spoke about sightings in the area. McDonald spoke during the Evergreen Collard Green Festival, which celebrates Evergreen's other title: "Collard Green Capital of Alabama." More unique food is celebrated during the Conecuh Sausage Festival courtesy of the locally operated Conecuh Sausage Company. If Bigfoot, collard greens, and spicy sausages are not an eclectic mix, we don't know what is.
Elberta
Elberta also has a sausage festival, the Elberta German Sausage Festival, but it is far from the strangest sight in the region. That title belongs to Barber Marina, situated between Wolf Bay and Bay La Launch near the Gulf of Mexico. Owned by wealthy eccentric George W. Barber, the marina's 3,000 acres abound with odd installations, both on the water and off. On the water sits the Lady in the Lake, a 50-foot fiberglass sculpture of a partially submerged woman, while off the water roam everything from knights to dinosaurs to Neptunian seahorses to a giant spider. But Barber's top terrestrial attraction is Bamahenge, a full-scale fiberglass replica of England's Stonehenge.
An honorable mention for Elberta-area weirdness is the postal route in Magnolia Springs. From a small boat, postmasters deliver mail to riverfront residents on what is reportedly the only year-round residential USPS river route in America.
No matter where you go in Alabama, you are bound to find eccentric communities. Yet Montevallo, Enterprise, Phil Campbell, Millbrook, Daphne, Evergreen, and Elberta stand out above the rest. They do so with natural wonders like Dismals Canyon, Mobile Bay Jubilees, and Jackson Lake Island's free-roaming goats, plus artificial attractions like the Boll Weevil Monument and the Lady in the Lake. See those oddities for yourself during a small-town Alabama vacation.
