[England Dan]

I`ve always liked America but am curious about your state. What are the best and worst parts of Alabama? The South to me seems like the original US, not too much of a melting pot and honest hard-working people, similar to Brits and Irish.

[cpg35223]

Originally Posted by England Dan

I`ve always liked America but am curious about your state. What are the best and worst parts of Alabama? The South to me seems like the original US, not too much of a melting pot and honest hard-working people, similar to Brits and Irish.

Gosh. You'll get a million different opinions on this one, each reflecting the biases and experiences of the poster. That being said, a lot of the 'best' and 'worst' question really depends on what's important to you. For example, I would offer that Alabama does not neatly fit into any particular caricature you might have heard, but rather has a wide array of different cultures.

For example, you'll have Birmingham, which is a varied mix of old industrial, finance, distribution, healthcare and tech.

On the other end of the state, you'll have Mobile, which is very old South in terms of economy, with more in common with Louisiana than the rest of Alabama.

Then, there's Montgomery, which is the state capital.

Finally, Huntsville, which is high tech and defense with lots of transplants from the rest of the country.

As for the rest of the state, you'll have a smattering of smaller industrial towns and agricultural towns.

Geographically, there's a lot of diversity as well, from the coastline to the mountains and the heavily agricultural Black Belt. And, of course, there's a universe of demographics among both whites and blacks. The permutations are really endless, as are the contrasts.

Economically, the South in general was depressed for generations but has really advanced over the past four decades. Alabama has not been on the forefront of that change, yet has made a lot of positive changes in just about every category. But we have a long way to go.

All that being said, each region of the state has things it does well and things where it's not so great. Birmingham, for example, seems to be going through a nice revival, but others will point out that it has a great deal of disparity in terms of wealth. Mobile has a great deal of charm and color to it, but others will point out that it's very much run by the community elites. Huntsville is an up-and-coming tech center in the country, but lacks a really cohesive center to it.

Mind you, this is where everybody else will stand up on their chairs and tell me I'm wrong. And that's kind of my point. There are people on this forum who see a great deal of potential for growth in this state, and those people who have thrown up their hands and left. I tend to be in the first camp.

[Reactionary]

The State of Alabama is larger (area) than England.

[England Dan]

and Wales?

[England Dan]

Thanks CPG for that reply, when I drove in Florida I was amazed how long it took to drive from Orlando to Daytona. On the map it looked like a country drive..how wrong.
We forget how big the US is. In the UK you have so much dramatic landscape/history in such a small drive.

[England Dan]

General Lee would be ashamed

[Reactionary]

Looks like some of your thread didn't get moved with the rest (I say this more to explain the disjointed comment about General Lee - there used to be context).

Back OT - not including Wales. England = 50,346 sq miles; Alabama = 52,419 sq miles.

The States of Alabama and Mississippi owe their founding to Great Britain. By providing arms to the Creek Indians and inciting them to war, Great Britain provoked the Creek War (our regional part of the War of 1812) which caused the US to call out militia in support of US Army troops. The Tennessee militia, or Tennessee Volunteers (a name still honored in Tennessee, id est by the University of Tennessee sports teams), was led by General (later President) Andrew Jackson. Jackson's victories propelled him into the White House.

The French colonized the coastal areas such as Mobile (site of the earliest Mardi Gras in America - 1703) and Dauphin Island. Many of the early settlers of Alabama were English or Scotch-Irish (Ulster Scots) from Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia. After the Napoleonic War parts of Alabama were settled by displaced Bonapartists.

[AllenTrendin]

Yes I'm too curious, once in a while i like to visit Alabama.