About a Week
6 days · ~700 miles · from Tuscaloosa
Alabama's Black Belt as holy ground: the quilting congregation of Gee's Bend, the churches that anchored the movement, and the old Federal Road's frontier missions — faith as the South's backbone.
This trip chains: The Black Belt & Gee's Bend · The Civil Rights Trail · The Old Federal Road
Moundville's ancient temple mounds, the Safe House museum in Greensboro, Auburn's Rural Studio at Newbern — then the ferry to Gee's Bend, where the quilters still sing. Overnight Camden.
Marion's Jimmie Lee Jackson sites, then Selma: Brown Chapel, the Voting Rights Museum, and the Edmund Pettus Bridge walked slowly. Overnight Selma.
US 80 and the Lowndes Interpretive Center, then Montgomery: Dexter Avenue Baptist, where King preached, and the Capitol steps where the march ended. Overnight Montgomery.
The Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice — a full, necessary day — with the Rosa Parks and Freedom Rides museums if there's time.
Tuskegee's Institute chapel and Moton Field, then the frontier trace: Fort Toulouse-Fort Jackson and Fort Mitchell, missions and forts of the Creek country. Overnight Wetumpka.
The old road south through Burnt Corn to Fort Mims, where the Creek War began in 1813 — the deep frontier past beneath all the faith that followed.