Discover 11 hidden attractions, cool sights, and unusual things to do in Florence (United States). Don't miss out on these must-see attractions: Rosenbaum House, Old Florence Water Tower, and Shoals Community Theatre. Also, be sure to include Wilson Dam in your itinerary.
Below, you can find the list of the most amazing places you should visit in Florence (Alabama).
Table of Contents
Rosenbaum House
Building. The Rosenbaum House is a single-family house designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright and built for Stanley and Mildred Rosenbaum in Florence, Alabama. A noted example of his Usonian house concept, it is the only Wright building in Alabama, and is one of only 26 pre-World War II Usonian houses. Wright scholar John Sergeant called it "the purest example of the Usonian."[1]
Address: 601 Riverview Dr, 35630-6026 Florence
Old Florence Water Tower
Park in Florence, Alabama. The Old Florence Water Tower is a historic water tower in Florence, Alabama. It was built in 1889 by the Jeter and Boardman Gas and Water Association to increase water capacity in the town, which was undergoing a boom in population. The tower has a masonry base that is 70 feet high, 30 feet in diameter, with supports tapering from 10 to 5 feet thick. The wrought iron tank is 40 feet in diameter, and is composed of six 5 feet bands, giving a capacity of 282,000 US gallons. It was replaced with a new tower in 1935. The tower was listed on the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage in 1979 and the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.[2]
Shoals Community Theatre
Concerts and shows, Non-profit, Music venue, Theater
Address: Seminary Street, 35630 Florence
Wilson Dam
Wilson Dam is a dam spanning the Tennessee River between Lauderdale County and Colbert County in the U.S. state of Alabama. Completed in 1924 by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, it impounds Wilson Lake, and is one of nine Tennessee Valley Authority dams on the Tennessee River. The dam was declared a National Historic Landmark on November 13, 1966, for its role as the first dam to come under the TVA's administration. The dam is named for former President of the United States Woodrow Wilson.[3]
Wesleyan Hall
Public university in Florence, Alabama. Wesleyan Hall, constructed in 1856, is one of the oldest structures on the University of North Alabama campus, located in Florence, Alabama.[4]
Wilson Park
The Wilson Park Houses are a group of three historic homes in Florence, Alabama. Built as upper-class residences between 1890 and 1918, the houses are adjacent to Wilson Park, laid out as a public space upon the city's founding and later renamed for President Woodrow Wilson. Two of the houses came to be owned by Hiram Kennedy Douglass, who upon his death in 1975 willed the houses to an organization willing to maintain them for the public. The houses are now owned by the city and contain the Kennedy-Douglass Center for the Arts. The houses were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.[5]
Southall Drugs
Southall Drugs is a historic commercial building in Florence, Alabama. It was built in 1900 to house the pharmacy of Charles Morton Southall. The pharmacy operated until 1979, and was renovated in 1982 to have loft apartments on the second floor and retail on the ground floor.
The Italianate building sits at the corner of Court and Mobile Streets in the Downtown Florence Historic District. The Rogers Department Store building sits across Mobile Street. The building has a distinctive rounded corner, with a raised parapet containing arched letters "SOUTHALL" mimicking a corner turret. The storefront has a heavy metal cornice supported by four round, fluted columns. Four large display windows and the recessed entry are covered by canvas awnings. The side of the building on the first floor has eight arched windows, the first five of which are shorter and higher to clear the display racks inside. The second floor features arched one-over-one sash windows, one in each bay over the storefront and in every other bay along the side. The bays are separated by brick pilasters, resting on limestone plinths and capped with stamped metal Corinthian capitals. The pilasters support a projecting course of brick, with corbels between the pilasters.
The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.[6]
First Fridays Downtown Florence
Concerts and shows, City hall
Address: Court Street, 35630 Florence
George Coulter House
Museum in Florence, Alabama. The George Coulter House is a historic house located at 420 South Pine Street in Florence, Alabama.[7]
Address: 420 South Pine Street, Florence
James Martin House
The James Martin House is a historic residence in Florence, Alabama. Martin was a leading Florence industrialist of the Antebellum era, who owned a cotton spinning mill along Cypress Creek. He had come to Florence from Jefferson County, Kentucky, and established his mill in 1839. A fire destroyed the complex in 1844, but was rebuilt and reopened in 1850. The mill was destroyed during the Civil War, but not rebuilt before Martin's death in 1869. Martin's sons operated the mill until 1873, and owned the house until 1879. It was purchased in 1886 by John Bounds, and remained in his family until 1974.
The original block of the house is five bays wide, with a small pedimented porch covering the double front door, which is surrounded by a transom and sidelights. A pair of nine-over-six sash windows flank the porch on either side. An addition was built on the left side of the façade in the mid-19th century, adding a hallway and two rooms to the center-hall plan layout. A wing to the rear of the house was originally attached via an open breezeway which was later enclosed. The entire house has Federal-style woodwork with some Greek Revival details, such as fluted Doric columns and pilasters on the front porch.
The house was listed on the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage in 1979 and the National Register of Historic Places in 1981.[8]
Norton Auditorium
Concerts and shows, Concert hall, Theater