If you haven’t found the time to explore Huntsville, Alabama, here is your invitation. And if it has been a while since your last visit to the Rocket City, there’s plenty new to explore. Everything from Southern charm to scientific discovery coexists beautifully in our north-Alabama home. So, whether you are looking for ample hiking trails, top-rated dining, a thriving arts and entertainment culture, rocket science, or a simple glass of Southern sweet tea, you’ll find it here.
We’ve reached the stars
America’s space program was forged here, which is why Huntsville is known as the “Rocket City.” Take a look at humanity’s journey into space and stand under the awe-inspiring Saturn V Rocket at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center (USSRC). Voted The South’s Best Museum 2022, the USSRC houses the most extensive collection of space artifacts in the world! Here, you can feel the anticipation Dr. Wernher von Braun and his team must have felt as they prepared to put the first man on the moon, and you can peer inside NASA’s most recent mission to the moon with ARTEMIS I. See a piece of the moon, catch an interactive presentation in the INTUITIVE Planetarium, or go all out and enroll in adult Space Camp.
We’ve got history
In downtown, step back to 1819 at the oldest house open to the public in Alabama at Weeden House Museum and Garden, which served as the living quarters for federal officers during the Civil War. Tag along with a local expert on a guided tour to learn about our storied past and see the largest concentration of antebellum homes in the state. Immerse yourself in the life of early-1800s Alabamians and see where the first state constitution was signed, at Alabama Constitution Hall Park. Plan a stop at the state’s oldest continuously operated hardware store, Harrison Brothers Hardware, and make your “American-made” purchase on a 1907 cash register. Check out the Huntsville Madison County Veterans Memorial and the grounds at the Historic Huntsville Depot, one of the oldest surviving railroad depots in the U.S. The U.S. Veterans Memorial Museum, one of the premier military museums in the country, has memorabilia, artifacts, and military equipment that range from the American Revolutionary War to the present. The museum is home to the first Jeep ever made, which still runs after 80 years!
