Best Places to Picnic in Alabama

Known as the Heart of Dixie, Alabama became the 22nd state in 1819. The name Alabama is derived from an Indian word meaning "thicket clearers." 

Alabama has been at the center of many American battles--between white settlers and American Indians, and between the North and South in the Civil War. The state also is home to the first of three Space Camps in the United States. These camps let kids experience what it would be like to be in outer space. 

The capital is Montgomery, and state flower is the camellia.

• Alabama State Parks

  1. Bladon Springs State Park

  2. Blakeley State Park

  3. Blue Springs State Park

  4. Buck's Pocket State Park, located in Grove Oak, Alabama

  5. Cathedral Caverns State Park, located in Grant

  6. Chattahoochee State Park

  7. Cheaha State Park

  8. Chewacla State Park

  9. Chickasaw State Park

  10. DeSoto State Park

  11. Florala State Park

  12. Frank Jackson State Park

  13. Gulf State Park

  14. Joe Wheeler Resort State Park

  15. Lake Guntersville State Park, located outside Guntersville

  16. Lake Lurleen State Park

  17. Lakepoint State Park

  18. Meaher State Park

  19. Monte Sano State Park, located in Huntsville

  20. Oak Mountain State Park

  21. Paul M. Grist State Park

  22. Rickwood Caverns State Park

  23. Roland Cooper State Park

  24. Wind Creek State Park

• National Forest Sites

  1. William B Bankhead National Forest
     The William B. Bankhead National Forest is Alabama's largest National Forest, with 181,230 acres, and is home of Alabama's only National Wild and Scenic River, the Sipsey Fork.

  2. Conecuh National Forest
     The Conecuh National Forest in southern Alabama covers 83,000 acres, along the Alabama - Florida line in Covington and Escambia counties.

  3. Talladega National Forest
     Central Alabama's Talladega National Forest covers 392,567 acres at the southern edge of the Appalachians.

  4. Tuskegee National Forest 
     The Tuskegee National Forest is a U.S. National Forest located in Macon County, Alabama, just north of Tuskegee and west of Auburn.

• National Park Sites

  1. Horseshoe Bend National Military Park

  2. Little River Canyon National Preserve

  3. Russell Cave National Monument

  4. Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site

  5. Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site