Deep South

States: Alabama

Start near: Montgomery (about 1 h 5 min to Selma) · Birmingham (about 1 h 15 min to Tuscaloosa)

The Black Belt & Gee's Bend

quilts, prairie and holy ground

The Black Belt & Gee's Bend is a ~165-mile back-roads route from Tuscaloosa to Selma on AL 69, AL 14, AL 5 and AL 28, driven in 2 days, that stays off I-65 (by 70 miles) through the Deep South.

Open the interactive map →

Drive

Tuscaloosa → Selma

Distance

~165 miles

Time

2 days

Highways

AL 69 · AL 14 · AL 5 · AL 28

Avoids

I-65 (by 70 miles)

Region

Deep South

The Black Belt's dark prairie soil built the cotton kingdom, and its people built the movement that broke that kingdom's heirs. This run crosses it: the mound metropolis at Moundville, the Greensboro safe house that hid Dr. King, Auburn's Rural Studio rewriting architecture in Newbern, Marion where Jimmie Lee Jackson's death lit the Selma march, and the ferry to Gee's Bend, whose quilts hang in the Met and whose ferry was cut in 1962 to keep Black voters from the courthouse.

📍 Civil rights trail markers run Perry and Dallas counties; Moundville and Old Cahawba carry the deeper layers.

The drive, segment by segment

Moundville to Hale County

Tuscaloosa → Newbern · ~60 mi

The mound city, then Greensboro and Newbern, where Rural Studio's students build the town they study in.

• 🏛️Moundville Archaeological Park — Moundville

  Twenty-nine mounds on the Black Warrior, one of the great Mississippian cities of North America at its 13th-century height.

• ✊Safe House Black History Museum — Greensboro

  The shotgun house where neighbors hid Dr. King from the Klan on a March night in 1968, weeks before Memphis. The woman who hid him built the museum.

• 🏛️Rural Studio — Newbern

  Auburn's design-build program has spent 30 years making Newbern's library, firehouse and $20K houses; an architecture pilgrimage in a town of 180.

Marion & the Martyrs

Newbern → Marion · ~20 mi

The night march, Mack's Café, and the death that made Selma inevitable.

• ✊Jimmie Lee Jackson sites — Marion

  A state trooper shot Jackson here in February 1965 as he shielded his mother; the Selma-to-Montgomery march began as his funeral procession's answer.

The Bend & Back

Marion → Selma · ~85 mi

Down AL 5 to Camden, the ferry across to Boykin, and the river road up to the Pettus Bridge.

• 🏛️Gee's Bend Quilters — Boykin

  The isolated bend whose quilts reached the Met and MoMA; the ferry was cut in 1962 to block Black voters and not restored until 2006. Ride it.

• 🏘️Black Belt Treasures — Camden

  A gallery of 400-plus regional makers: quilts, baskets, ironwork. The Black Belt's front porch, and the right place to buy.

Tips and best time to go

• Check the Gee's Bend ferry schedule the morning of; it holds few cars and keeps government hours.
• Call the quilters' collective ahead; visits are welcome but not drop-in reliable.

Frequently asked questions

How long is The Black Belt & Gee's Bend and how many days does it take?

The Black Belt & Gee's Bend is about 165 miles and takes 2 days at a back-roads pace.

Where does The Black Belt & Gee's Bend start and end?

It runs from Tuscaloosa to Selma.

Which highways does The Black Belt & Gee's Bend follow?

It follows AL 69, AL 14, AL 5 and AL 28.

Which interstate does The Black Belt & Gee's Bend replace?

It avoids I-65 (by 70 miles), using AL 69, AL 14, AL 5 and AL 28 instead.

How many stops are on The Black Belt & Gee's Bend, and what are the highlights?

6 stops are mapped, including Moundville Archaeological Park, Safe House Black History Museum, Rural Studio, Jimmie Lee Jackson sites and Gee's Bend Quilters.

Which ready-made itineraries include The Black Belt & Gee's Bend?

The Sacred South: Gospel & Sanctuary (6 days).

Worth a detour

• Perry Lakes Park — Cypress oxbows and a 100-foot birding tower built from a relocated fire tower, outside Marion.
• Old Cahawba — Alabama's first capital, now an archaeological ghost town where two rivers meet. Columns, cemeteries, silence.

Spurs & side-roads

• Gee's Bend ferry (from Camden landing)