9 Offbeat Alabama Towns To Visit In 2026

Beneath its Gulf Shores cliches, Alabama boasts a treasure trove of offbeat small towns. Only here will you find attractions like the World's Largest Office Chair and a "Bama-fied" replica of Stonehenge. Look even further beyond dinosaur sculptures and kitschy roadside draws. You'll uncover monuments built painstakingly by locals to honor families and state history. Funny, sentimental, or just plain quirky entries fill this list of Alabama's most offbeat small towns.

Anniston

Anyone looking to see the one-time Guinness World Record holder for "Largest Chair" will have to visit Anniston. Built in 1981, this 33-foot tall steel chair still stands in the lot next to Miller's Office Supply, as it did in the 1980s. The extra-large office chair also doubles as a shady parking spot for visitors. Anniston visitors can also enjoy the Anniston Museum, which features more than 1,000 19th-century bird dioramas, and the Berman Museum of World History, whose collections were assembled by a pair of world-traveling intelligence operatives.

Cullman

On the old quarry grounds of St. Bernard Abbey in Cullman, visitors can tour Ave Maria Grotto, where more than 125 miniature replicas of famous religious structures are presented on a hillside. Made of cement, stone, and other materials, replicas that can be viewed include St. Peter's Basilica. A two-block area features scenes from the Tower of Babel and ancient Jerusalem. This location is also on the National Register of Historic Places, making it a worthwhile visit for anyone in the area. Cullman is also home to the historic Clarkson Covered Bridge, built in 1904 and featuring restored pioneer structures along Crooked Creek, another notable tourist stop.

Elberta

Along the road to the Barber Marina in Elberta, visitors can enjoy the life-size fiberglass Dinosaurs in the Woods sculptures created by artist Mark Cline hidden among the trees. The dinosaurs depicted in the sculptures are Triceratops, Stegosaurus, Brontosaurus, and a T. Rex. Also created by Mark Cline, since 2012 tourists can visit "Bamahenge," the town's fiberglass replica of Stonehenge in England. These two attractions created by Cline are located on the same road, which means visitors can tour them at the same time. A little further up the road from these attractions, before the Marina, the Four Knights in the Woods statues can also be viewed. Elberta is certainly the place to go for anyone looking for unique sculptures.

Enterprise

Existing as a testament to the town's peanut industry and the cotton-destroying boll weevil's role in shaping it, Weevil Way features at least 25 boll weevil-inspired statues that reference local businesses. For example, visitors can see the Ronald McWeevil statue, which stands in reference to the local McDonald's, and the "Angel of Light" statue from a local funeral home, to name just a few. Also in Enterprise is The Depot Museum, which was built in 1903 and houses over a thousand period artifacts, including soldiers' uniforms and old medical tools. The original Boll Weevil Monument statue that was repeatedly damaged by vandals in 1998 and replaced with a replica is now found in the Pea River Historical and Genealogical Society's Gift Shop.

Florence

Architecture lovers may appreciate the Usonian-style Frank Lloyd Wright-Rosenbaum House in Florence, which Wright added onto in 1948. It is the only Frank Lloyd Wright home in Alabama. The Rosenbaum family owned this home until 1999, when they donated it to the City of Florence, and the home features a purposefully affordable L-shape design close to the natural beauty of the surrounding Tennessee River. Also in Florence is the country's largest unmortared stone wall, the Wichahpi Commemorative Stone Wall, which honors the great-great-grandmother of Tom Hendrix named Te-Lah-Nay. She was a Yuchi woman who was forced to leave Alabama for Oklahoma on the infamous Trail of Tears. The wall commemorates her five-year journey back to Alabama from the Oklahoma reservation.

Fairhope

Henry Stuart's home in Fairhope has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 2006. Built between 1923 and 1925 after Stuart moved south from Idaho in hopes of curing his "consumption" (tuberculosis), Stuart dubbed his creation "Tolstoy Park." The tiny hut is only 14 feet in diameter and was made from bricks and concrete, providing him with the simple life he craved and extending his life a further 22 years until his 1946 death at 88. Fairhope visitors can also see Sheldon Castle, Mosher Castle, and Boom Castle, a collection of private homes created by Craig Sheldon and his family after World War II. Sheldon Castle was built by Craig Sheldon, his daughter Pagan and her husband Dean Mosher created Mosher Castle next door, and Boom Castle was built separately by the Boom family, longtime friends of the Sheldons and Moshers.

Lanett

In Lanett, visitors can pay their respects at the bittersweet Dollhouse Grave of Nadine Earles, which was lovingly created by her father after she passed away one week before Christmas, the year she had asked him for a dollhouse. Located at the Oakwood Cemetery, Nadine's eternal dollhouse is a small brick bungalow that features a front porch and a mailbox. It has been kept up by the city since her parents' passing, and is decorated in the summer with flower boxes and in the winter with Christmas lights and a wreath. Nadine's parents filled the dollhouse with dolls and toys until their deaths, and are now buried alongside her in the same plot. This touching tribute from parents to daughter is a worthwhile visit for anyone looking for unique monuments and landmarks in Alabama.

Millbrook

Fans of Tim Burton may already know about this special tourist spot, but Millbrook was home to the fictional town of Spectre in Burton's movie "Big Fish," filmed on the town's Jackson Lake Island. Visitors to the town can tour the remnants of the famous movie set for a small admission fee. The set features cement trees, a chapel that became home to a herd of goats, and multiple house structures. Also located in Millbrook, tourists can enjoy more than 350 acres of forests, fields, streams, and more at the Alabama Nature Center. The Barber Berry Farm offers pesticide-free blueberries and blackberries to pick from late May to early July.

Seale

One of the quirkiest attractions in Alabama is folk artist Butch Anthony's Drive-Thru Museum of Wonder in Seale, which is literally as advertised. This drive-through museum is open 24/7 with free admission, allowing visitors to enjoy the attractions right from the comfort of their cars, as they are displayed mostly in shipping containers with windows. Tourists can also visit the original Museum of Wonder, Butch Anthony's First Cabin as well as his Studio, Home, and Gallery by booking an appointment. Other notable things to do in Seale include whitetail deer hunting at The Dudley Lakes and visiting the historic Old Russell County Courthouse, which was built in 1869 and has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1974.

The Unique World of Alabama

Alabama's offbeat spots span the state, with miniature religious replicas, heartfelt grave sites, and a drive-thru museum among them. Tourists can find quirky and unique sites in many different towns across the state, with several offering more than just one notable spot to see. The places on this list are well-suited to day trips and longer stays alike, with something for visitors looking to enjoy what Alabama has to offer beyond the standard tourist itinerary. Each town carries its own brand of memorable, whether the draw is folk art, fictional movie towns, or family monuments built over decades.