Alabama

While the city has mandatory tourist stops (the famed Bellingrath Gardens, the battleship USS Alabama, and the new-and-spectacular GulfQuest museum), to understand the city, you must visit its neighborhoods.

Dolester Miles grew up in Bessemer, Alabama, making Southern layer cakes with her mother and aunt using only a hand mixer. Today, Miles is one of America's best bakers.

Forget Yelp reviews, travel guides, or tracking down that random colleague’s Instagram post. We have your notes right here—on where to go and what to order when traveling—from some of the South’s most acclaimed chefs, unlocking the secrets of their hometowns.

As much as we love the South's quintessential clapboard churches and stately mansions, our appreciation of Southern architecture extends beyond the classics. We‘ve combed the region for noteworthy structures, from historical masterpieces like Thomas Jefferson‘s Palladian Monticello to modern marvels like the breezy, zero-energy McDonald‘s Florida flagship (yes, McDonald’s).

Beating the heat in the Gulf has never been sweeter. Here are five are some of our favorite sweets shops in the Gulf.

 CABBAGE KEYPineland, FloridaAccessible only by boat, this eighty-acre, palm-lined island is home to an irresistible 1930s open-air tavern. Enjoy peeling fresh shrimp and cracking stone crab claws as gopher tortoises mosey past. Don’t miss...

The Gulf is something of a mecca for anglers, who reel in a bounty of grouper, trout, and tuna, to name a few. There’s pier fishing, inshore charters, and deep-sea expeditions from which to choose, and plenty of pros ready to share a story or tip.

Louretta Wimberly was one of thousands who marched on the Edmund Pettus Bridge on March 7, 1965. She walks us through Selma, Alabama, on the fiftieth anniversary of Bloody Sunday.

Check in at one of these full-service establishments, among the most storied in the Gulf, from the Beau Rivage Resort and Casino in Biloxi to the legendary Loews Don CeSar (aka: the Pink Palace).

The president and CEO of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute shares how she would spend an ideal 24 hours in her hometown.