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Photo: AuburnPilot, Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
The gardens are worth visiting for anyone with a horticultural flair. Displays are not limited to Southern offerings but also pay tribute to other parts of the world.
The Birmingham Botanical Gardens is 67.5-acre (27.3 ha) of botanical gardens located adjacent to Lane Park at the southern foot of Red Mountain in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. The gardens are home to over 12,000 different types of plants, 25 unique gardens, more than 30 works of original outdoor sculpture, and several miles of walking paths. With more than 350,000 annual visitors, the Birmingham Botanical Gardens qualify as one of Alabama's top free-admittance tourist attractions. The Birmingham Botanical Gardens is also a part of the American Public Gardens Association.
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More than 750 animals, including cheetahs, cobras, lions and anteaters.
Offers Broadway type productions in an intimate setting throughout the year.
What better way to pay homage to the mighty steel industry of early-20th century Birmingham than with an enormous statue of the Roman god of fire and metalsmithing? The world's largest cast iron statue at a height of , Vulcan was forged in 1903 as Birmingham's contribution to the St. Louis World's Fair, then spent a few decades welcoming visitors at the state fairgrounds in West Birmingham before being re-erected and rededicated in 1936 at the summit of Red Mountain by the Works Progress Administration. Vulcan now stands atop a sandstone pedestal with an observation deck near the top that provides a panoramic view of Birmingham and vicinity. Nearby is a small museum with exhibits on local industrial history.
The Sloss Iron and Steel Company was one of the first industrial concerns to set up shop in the then-brand new city of Birmingham. It eventually grew into one of the largest manufacturers of pig iron in the world (it should be said, largely on the backs of African-American convict labor — a form of legal slavery common in the Jim Crow era whereby local blacks would be rounded up and arrested on trumped-up charges and then leased out to private companies like Sloss for use as unpaid workers). Abandoned in 1972, their Furnace No. 1 was deemed an eyesore and slated for demolition, but saved at the last minute by historic preservationists and opened to the public as... well, it's hard to say exactly what this place is nowadays. Strolling around the old ovens, smokestacks, conveyor belts, and other abandoned equipment, you almost get the feeling of being in a giant art exhibit (the modern-day metal sculptures peppered around the site certainly don't do anything to discourage that sentiment). There is also a visitors' center with museum-style exhibits relating Birmingham's industrial history, and a full calendar of concerts and events at this one-of-a-kind venue.
This is a place where kids can explore science. Some of the highlights are the World of Water with fish and other aquatic life and the Alabama Collections Center with fossils and pre-Columbian artifacts.