Fast Facts
- Population
- 200,603 (2020 census)
- Became Alabama's Capital
- 1846
- First Confederate Capital
- Feb–May 1861
- National Memorial for Peace and Justice Opened
- 2018
- All-American Road
- Selma to Montgomery March Byway, 54 miles
What to Know Before You Arrive
Montgomery, Alabama's capital since 1846, had a population of 200,603 at the 2020 census. The current Alabama State Capitol, completed in 1851 in the Greek Revival style, briefly served as the first capitol of the Confederate States of America in 1861, before the Confederate government moved to Richmond, Virginia. The Alabama Legislature no longer meets in the building, which today houses the governor's office and functions as a museum.
In the mid-20th century, Montgomery became a center of the Civil Rights Movement. Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, steps from the Capitol, was pastored by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. from 1954 to 1960, and it was from his basement office there that he helped organize the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott. The church, renamed Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church in 1978, was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1974. On March 25, 1965, the third Selma to Montgomery march ended with 25,000 protesters gathered at the foot of the Capitol's steps. The Rosa Parks Museum, on the Troy University Montgomery campus, exhibits artifacts and a recreation related to the boycott that followed Rosa Parks's 1955 refusal to give up her bus seat.
The National Memorial for Peace and Justice and the adjoining Legacy Museum, both opened by the nonprofit Equal Justice Initiative on April 26, 2018, are among Montgomery's most-visited sites. The memorial's six-acre site holds a memorial square of more than 800 suspended steel columns, one for each U.S. county with a documented lynching, along with sculptures and a reflection space; the Legacy Museum traces the history of slavery, segregation and mass incarceration in America. Learn more about that history at the Equal Justice Initiative's own site.
The Road Trip Stop
The Alabama State Capitol, completed in 1851 on Goat Hill, has been a National Historic Landmark since 1960 and briefly served as the Confederacy's first capitol building in 1861. Its front steps were the endpoint of the third Selma to Montgomery march in 1965, and the building today functions largely as a museum, since the legislature meets elsewhere.
Budget the time
- The Capitol's five-acre grounds hold monuments, statues and gardens; the Alabama Historical Commission lists the interior as open Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and closed on weekends and state holidays.
- Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church is a short walk from the Capitol steps.
- The Legacy Museum and National Memorial for Peace and Justice are a short drive from downtown and are commonly visited together.
- The Equal Justice Initiative lists one general admission ticket at $5* covering all four Legacy Sites, which are open Wednesday to Monday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and closed Tuesdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day; from November 1 to February 28 the sites close at 5 p.m.
*Fees subject to change, please check legacysites.eji.org for updated information.
Neighborhoods
Downtown & the Capitol complex
The Alabama State Capitol, Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church and the Dexter Parsonage Museum sit within a short walk of each other here.
The Legacy Sites district
Home to the Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, on a six-acre site the Equal Justice Initiative developed downtown.
Old Cloverdale
A historic residential neighborhood near downtown, known for early-20th-century houses.
The Alabama River waterfront
Riverfront parkland along the Alabama River, near the city's original 1819 townsite.
The Food Stop
Downtown Montgomery, near the Capitol and the Legacy Sites, holds a mix of restaurants within walking distance of both.
The riverfront area, along the Alabama River, offers additional dining near the city's original 1819 townsite.
Been here a while
Places that have been serving a long time. All were still trading when we last checked. Each name links to its source.
- 1917Chris' Hot DogsDowntown hot dog stand opened by Greek immigrant Chris Katechis; reported patrons include Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks
One brewery within 10 miles of Montgomery, though our source does not record a room you can sit in.
See all 1
- Common Bond Brewers424 Bibb Street Suite 150, Montgomeryproduction site*
*Check before you go. This list says what the source records as open and where it is — nothing more. Opening hours, whether a kitchen is serving, and whether anywhere suits your family are not in this data and change without notice. A production site may have no public room at all. Please confirm with the venue.
Brewpub locations from Open Brewery DB (MIT)
The Home Teams
Montgomery Biscuits
MiLB (Double-A), Southern LeagueThe Biscuits are the Double-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays, playing at Dabos Park (formerly Riverwalk Stadium), a 7,000-seat downtown ballpark built for the team when it moved to Montgomery in 2004.
Montgomery has no major-league team; the Biscuits are its only home team.
Day Trips
| Destination | Time | Distance | How we got it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Selma | 1 hr | 50 mi | routed |
| The starting point of the 1965 Selma to Montgomery march, west along the route. | |||
| Tuskegee | 48 min | 41 mi | routed |
| Home to Tuskegee University and the Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site. | |||
| Auburn | 1 hr 5 min | 54 mi | routed |
| Home to Auburn University, east of Montgomery. | |||
| Prattville | 22 min | 14 mi | routed |
| A neighboring city just northwest of Montgomery. | |||
Routed figures are computed over map data at free-flowing speeds, between map points rather than street addresses, so a real drive runs longer.
Distances routed by OSRM and places geocoded by Nominatim, over map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL)
Worth a Weekend
5 more Highway Heads places lie within about 180 miles of Montgomery in a straight line — far enough that most are a night away rather than an afternoon.
- BirminghamAlabamaabout 85 mi
- AtlantaGeorgiaabout 150 mi
- MobileAlabamaabout 150 mi
- HuntsvilleAlabamaabout 160 mi
- TallahasseeFloridaabout 180 mi
Lakes Nearby
1 lake we have checked near here. These are the ones from our research that we could check against an official page — not every lake there is.
Lake Martin
- Fishingyes - largemouth, Alabama, striped and white bass, crappie, catfish
- Boatingyes, motorized (wakeboarding, waterskiing)
- Rentals & marinayes - many private marinas; public access sites also
Run by Alabama Power
*Check before you go. Every lake here links to the official page we checked it against. Fees, seasons, water levels, algal advisories and ramp closures change without notice and belong to the agency that runs the water. A blank is something we did not confirm, not something the lake lacks.
Distilleries Nearby
1 producer we have checked near here. These are the ones from our research we could check against their own site — not every producer there is.
John Emerald Distilling Company
Downtown Opelika distillery with a cocktail bar.
- Toursyes; distiller-led tours, prior registration required
- Reservationsrequired
- Phone(334) 737-5353
706 North Railroad Avenue, Opelika, AL 36801
*Check before you go. Every producer here links to its own site, which is where we read these details on the date we checked. Opening hours, tour times, tasting fees and who may come in change without notice and belong to the producer. A blank is something we did not confirm, not something they lack. None of these say anything about children, so do not plan around it without asking them.
Zoos and Aviaries Nearby
Within 60 miles of Montgomery, nearest first.
Montgomery ZooMontgomery
- Hours
- Daily 9:30am-4:30pm; last admission 3:30pm
- Season
- year-round; Christmas Lights Festival nightly through Dec 27
Entry construction: enter/park at Mann Museum
Auburn University Raptor CenterAuburn
- Admission
- The center gives pricing by phone at 844-6943
- Reservations
- Required
No walk-up visits: open to the public only for scheduled presentations. Football, Fans and Feathers tickets are on sale for the 2026 season.
This is a list of what is near you, not a recommendation of any of it. None of these carry an accreditation we were able to confirm, which is not the same as none being accredited — we check against one register, and plenty of good municipal, state and university places are in no register at all. Opening times, prices and seasons change without notice, so check the operator’s own site — every name above links to it.
Venues and Annual Events Nearby
Within 60 miles of Montgomery, nearest first.
Where to see something
Hank Williams Museum — some details below are unconfirmedstudio-museumMontgomery
- Hours
- Mon-Fri 9am-4pm; Sat 10am-4pm; Sun 1-4pm
- Address
- 118 Commerce St, Montgomery, AL 36104
- Phone
- 334-262-3600
Displays Hank Williams's 1952 Cadillac and stage outfits.
* We could not confirm: Cadillac note from reference. Check their site before you go.
What is on, and when
Alabama National Fair — some details below are unconfirmedfairMontgomery
- Usually
- October, over several days
- Held at
- Garrett Coliseum
* We could not confirm: the details beyond the month it usually runs. Check their site before you go.
This is a list of what is near you, not a recommendation of any of it. Events are listed by the month they usually fall in, because that is what we hold — we do not publish dates, and a month is not a promise. Check the organiser before you plan around one. 2 entries are marked with an asterisk: we could not confirm part of what is listed, and the note under it says which part. Opening times, line-ups and ticketing change without notice, so check the venue’s or organiser’s own site — every name above links to it.
Practical Road Trip Info
A full day covers the Capitol, Dexter Avenue church and the Legacy Sites; splitting these across a morning downtown and an afternoon at the Legacy Sites gives more time at each.
The Legacy Museum and National Memorial for Peace and Justice are separate stops on the same six-acre site, commonly visited together.
Montgomery sits at the junction of I-65 and I-85, making it a convenient stop for road trips through central Alabama.
The last scheduled passenger rail service to Montgomery was discontinued in 1995, so a car remains the practical way to reach and move around the city.
One public campground within 25 miles of Montgomery, and it takes reservations. Public campgrounds run by federal agencies. State-park and private campgrounds are not included.
The Local Debate
Family-Friendly
The Rosa Parks Museum
Interactive exhibits and a re-creation that make the 1955 bus boycott concrete for visitors of a range of ages.
The Alabama State Capitol grounds
Free, walkable grounds around a National Historic Landmark building.
The Alabama River waterfront
Open riverfront space for a break between downtown stops.
Plan Your Visit
The Legacy Museum & National Memorial for Peace and Justice
- Address
- 400 N. Court St, Montgomery, AL 36104
- Hours
- Wednesday–Monday, 9 a.m.–6 p.m.
- Price
- Check the official site for current admission
We checked opening hours and fees on 2026-09-22. These change without notice — confirm with museumandmemorial.eji.org, ahc.alabama.gov and legacysites.eji.org the week you travel.
Sources — 17 claims, 16 checked against the source on 2026-09-22
| Claim | Source | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Montgomery is Alabama's capital, population 200,603 at the 2020 census; incorporated 1819; replaced Tuscaloosa as state capital in 1846; was the first capital of the Confederate States of America from February to May 1861 | Montgomery, Alabama — Wikipedia | Checked |
| Montgomery was a major center of Civil Rights Movement events including the Montgomery bus boycott and the Selma to Montgomery marches; the city sits at the junction of I-65 and I-85; the last passenger rail service to Montgomery was discontinued in 1995 | Montgomery, Alabama — Wikipedia | Checked |
| Alabama has had five political capitals (St. Stephens, Huntsville as the site of the 1819 organizing convention, Cahaba, Tuscaloosa, and Montgomery) and four purpose-built capitol buildings; the current Alabama State Capitol was completed in 1851 in Greek Revival style, declared a National Historic Landmark in 1960; the Alabama Legislature meets elsewhere, at the Alabama State House, while the Capitol houses the governor's office and functions as a museum; the building briefly served as the Confederacy's first capitol in 1861 | Alabama State Capitol — Wikipedia | Checked |
| On March 25, 1965, the third Selma to Montgomery march ended with 25,000 protesters at the foot of the Alabama State Capitol's steps, including Martin Luther King Jr., Ralph Abernathy, Coretta Scott King, John Lewis and others | Alabama State Capitol — Wikipedia | Checked |
| Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, organized in 1877, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1974 for its civil-rights history; renamed Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church in 1978; Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was pastor from 1954 to 1960 and organized the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott from his basement office there; the nearby Dexter Parsonage housed twelve church pastors between 1920 and 1992 and is now the Dexter Parsonage Museum | Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church — Wikipedia | Checked |
| The Rosa Parks Museum, on the Troy University Montgomery campus, exhibits artifacts and a re-creation related to the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott; the actual bus involved is on display at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan; the museum opened on December 1, the anniversary of Rosa Parks's refusal to give up her seat | Rosa Parks Museum — Wikipedia | Checked |
| The National Memorial for Peace and Justice, created by the Equal Justice Initiative, opened in downtown Montgomery on April 26, 2018, on a six-acre site; it commemorates victims of documented lynchings in the United States with a memorial square of 805 suspended steel columns, one for each county where a lynching was documented, along with sculptures and a reflection space; it is connected to the Legacy Museum, which opened the same day | National Memorial for Peace and Justice — Wikipedia | Checked |
| The Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration, founded by the Equal Justice Initiative, opened April 26, 2018, and covers the history of slavery, lynching, segregation and racial bias in America; the museum reopened at an expanded location on October 1, 2021, roughly five times the size of the original, at a site where enslaved people were once warehoused; admission to both the museum and memorial was reduced to a single $5 ticket at that time | The Legacy Museum — Wikipedia | Checked |
| The Legacy Sites (the Legacy Museum and National Memorial for Peace and Justice) are located at 400 N. Court Street, Montgomery, and are open Wednesday through Monday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., according to the Equal Justice Initiative's own site | Legacy Sites — official site (Equal Justice Initiative) | Checked monitored · 2026-09-22 |
| Hank Williams began his professional music career in Montgomery in the late 1930s, playing local radio stations and venues; formed his backup band, the Drifting Cowboys; worked at radio station WSFA; his remains are interred at the Oakwood Annex cemetery in Montgomery | Hank Williams — Wikipedia | Checked |
| Montgomery has three public universities, including Alabama State University and Troy University's Montgomery campus, and cultural attractions including the Alabama Shakespeare Festival and the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts; the city has a large military presence due to Maxwell Air Force Base | Montgomery, Alabama — Wikipedia | Checked |
| The Montgomery Biscuits are a Double-A Minor League Baseball team, affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays, playing in the Southern League; the team moved from the Orlando area to Montgomery in 2004 and plays at Dabos Park, formerly known as Riverwalk Stadium, a 7,000-seat downtown ballpark built for the club | Montgomery Biscuits / Riverwalk Stadium — Wikipedia | Checked |
| Driving times from Montgomery to Selma, Tuskegee and Auburn, and the road distance from Montgomery to Prattville, could not be confirmed on official pages; Legacy Museum admission and Alabama State Capitol interior hours are now sourced in separate rows | No source accepted yet | Not confirmed |
| Prices shown in this guide from legacysites.eji.org: $5 | legacysites.eji.org — the page the prices are taken from | Checked monitored · 2026-10-13 |
| Alabama State Capitol: interior open Monday-Friday, 8:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m., closed Saturday, Sunday and state holidays; the five-acre grounds contain monuments, statues and gardens; areas open to the public include the House of Representatives, Senate Chamber, Old Supreme Court Chamber and Library, and Rotunda | Alabama State Capitol: Plan Your Visit — Alabama Historical Commission | Checked monitored · 2026-10-13 |
| Legacy Sites general admission is $5 for one e-ticket covering the Legacy Museum, National Memorial for Peace and Justice, Freedom Monument Sculpture Park and Montgomery Square, according to the Equal Justice Initiative's own site | Legacy Sites: Visit — official site (Equal Justice Initiative) | Checked monitored · 2026-10-13 |
| Designated an All-American Road by the U.S. Secretary of Transportation; 54 miles in AL; FHWA suggests: Take one hour to drive or one day to experience the byway. Distance from this stop to the route measured against the published byway centreline on the U.S. Department of Transportation map service (geo.dot.gov), which carries no stated licence and predates the 2021 designations; the measurement is ours, the line is theirs and is not reproduced here. 0.1 miles (checked 2026-10-29) | Federal Highway Administration: Selma to Montgomery March Byway | Checked |
Road Trippin’ with the Harts
The Highway Heads books turn the miles between stops into a game the whole car can play.
See the booksLive Conditions
Wildlife Spotted Nearby
Nearest Airports
Straight-line distance from Montgomery, not drive time.
- Montgomery Regional (Dannelly Field) (MGM) — 7 miles
- Troy Municipal Airport at N Kenneth Campbell Field (TOI) — 39 miles
- Columbus (CSG) — 80 miles
Explore the Full Road Trip
Return to the Highway Heads map and discover the next family-ready stop.
Explore the Map