# Hank's Lost Highway *US 31 from Montgomery to the Bay* Hank's Lost Highway is a ~170-mile back-roads route from Montgomery to Mobile on US 31, driven in 1 day, that stays off I-65 through the Deep South. - **Drive:** Montgomery → Mobile - **Distance:** ~170 mi - **Days:** 1 - **Highways:** US 31 - **Avoids:** I-65 - **Region:** Deep South - **Themes:** Music & Juke Joints, Eats & Institutions, Oddities & Roadside Wonders, Small Towns US 31 runs in I-65's literal shadow, which means it carries everything the interstate threw away: pecan stands, courthouse towns, and the boyhood geography of Hank Williams, who learned guitar from a Black street musician in Georgiana and died at 29 in the back of a baby-blue Cadillac. Play the records in order as you drive; the road wrote them. Markers: Alabama's Hank Williams Trail markers run the corridor; Butler County lays them on proudly. ## The drive, segment by segment ### Hank's Home Country *Montgomery → Georgiana · ~60 mi* From the museum with the death Cadillac, past Priester's pecans, to the boyhood home where Tee Tot taught the boy who taught everybody else. Stops: - **Hank Williams Museum** (Montgomery) · Music & Juke Joints — The 1952 baby-blue Cadillac he died in on New Year's Day 1953, age 29. His grave (and Audrey's) is up at Oakwood Annex — fans leave guitar picks and miniature bottles; the statue downtown gets serenaded at 2 a.m. - **Chris' Hot Dogs** (Montgomery) · Eats & Institutions — Since 1917: Hank's regular stool, sauce-soaked dogs, governors at the counter. Order two with sauerkraut and consider history. - **Priester's Pecans** (Fort Deposit) · Eats & Institutions — Pecan log rolls and roadside candy since 1935 — the classic lower-Alabama pit stop, watching the candy kitchen work. ### The Lonesome Stretch *Georgiana → Brewton · ~55 mi* Conecuh County: sausage smoke, Bigfoot proclamations, and the long pine miles that put the lonesome in the whippoorwill. Stops: - **Hank's Boyhood Home** (Georgiana) · Music & Juke Joints — The clapboard house where young Hiram Williams shined shoes and learned guitar from Rufus 'Tee Tot' Payne, the Black street musician he credited his whole life. Festival each June; the volunteers' stories are the exhibit. - **Bigfoot Capital of Alabama** (Evergreen) · Oddities & Roadside Wonders — Self-proclaimed by official 2019 proclamation after a run of sightings; the water tower leans in. Also the gateway to Conecuh sausage — buy a cooler's worth. ### Down to the Bay *Brewton → Mobile · ~55 mi* Old timber towns easing down to the Tensaw delta and Mobile — where this route hands off to the Old Spanish Trail. Stops: - **Brewton** (Brewton) · Small Towns — Old timber-baron mansions on 'millionaires' row' and a blueberry festival each June — the prettiest courthouse town on the corridor. ## Tips and best time to go - This is a one-day drive; stretch it with the Spectre and Monroeville detours. - Queue: Lost Highway, I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry, Lovesick Blues, I Saw the Light — in that order, trust the sequence. - Hands off the phone through Lowndes and Butler counties; the speed traps are part of the heritage. ## Worth a detour - **Spectre (Big Fish set)** — North of Montgomery on Jackson Lake Island: the abandoned, sweetly decaying town Tim Burton built for Big Fish (2003) — resident goats included. Small fee, big mood. - **Monroeville** — Forty minutes west: Harper Lee's and Truman Capote's hometown — the To Kill a Mockingbird courthouse stages the play every spring. - **Boll Weevil Monument** — Enterprise, 70 miles east: the only monument on Earth thanking an agricultural pest — the weevil forced the pivot to peanuts, and prosperity followed. ## Frequently asked questions ### How long is Hank's Lost Highway and how many days does it take? Hank's Lost Highway is about 170 miles and takes 1 day at a back-roads pace. ### Where does Hank's Lost Highway start and end? It runs from Montgomery to Mobile. ### Which highways does Hank's Lost Highway follow? It follows US 31. ### Which interstate does Hank's Lost Highway replace? It avoids I-65, using US 31 instead. ### How many stops are on Hank's Lost Highway, and what are the highlights? 6 stops are mapped, including Hank Williams Museum, Chris' Hot Dogs, Priester's Pecans, Hank's Boyhood Home and Bigfoot Capital of Alabama. ### Which ready-made itineraries include Hank's Lost Highway? The Deep South Grand Circle (14 days) and The Long Way to the Opry (21 days). ## Ready-made itineraries using this route - [The Deep South Grand Circle](https://dixieroadtrip.com/trips/deep-south-circle) — 14 days, ~1700 mi - [The Long Way to the Opry](https://dixieroadtrip.com/trips/music-epic) — 21 days, ~3000 mi ## Connects with - [Alabama's Coastal Connection](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/coastal-connection) — Dauphin Island → Pensacola - [The Old Federal Road](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/old-federal-road) — Columbus, GA → Fort Mims - [The Black Belt & Gee's Bend](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/black-belt-gees-bend) — Tuscaloosa → Selma --- Canonical URL: https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/lost-highway Publisher: Dixie Media (Dixie Road Trip, https://dixieroadtrip.com/) Last updated: 2026-10-05