Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area

09/09/2026

Ready for today's clue?

In the 1870s, this town began when former plantation property was divided into smaller tracts. Several German immigrants then bought the tracts & named their new town for the patron saint of firefighters and parts of what is now Austria.

Post your best guesses in the comments below and come back later this week for the whole story. (Photo by Abraham Rowe Photography)

09/09/2026

Carrie Crawford, University of North Alabama assistant professor & former MSNHA director, discusses the Tennessee RiverLine's development as someone who was there almost from the beginning.
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Dr. Carrie Crawford has been involved with the Tennessee RiverLine in various capacities since its very early days. She shares her reflections on how it has changed, why the Tennessee River is important, what is most memorable to her, and what she has learned along the way.

09/09/2026

Today in 1973 music columnist Dick Cooper reported Mac Davis’s plan to record his third album at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, a year after the sessions with producer Rick Hall that produced his No. 1 hit “Baby Don’t Get Hooked on Me.” Cooper also reported that the “Swampers” of rival had finished a new Canned Heat album, while the Wishbone Productions team of Terry Woodford & Clayton Ivey had spent the week in California “remixing material” for Motown Records. For more Shoals music history highlights, visit MSNHA's Roots of American Music Trail website at https://musictrail.una.edu. And check out MSNHA's YouTube channel for more exclusive video content!

09/08/2026

This Friday & Saturday!
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Save the date!

09/08/2026

A great opportunity to explore one of northwest Alabama's favorite outdoor spaces.
National Park Service Alliance of National Heritage Areas University of North Alabama Visit North Alabama Visit The Shoals Colbert Tourism Sweet Home Alabama

09/08/2026

Wow! Thanks for sharing, Oakville Indian Mounds Park & Museum.
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🦅 Excuse us while we completely lose our minds over this Oakville visitor. 🦅

A magnificent Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) spotted at the water’s edge. We hope this majestic patron was pleased with the fishing today.

📸 Phenomenal capture by Nicole Patterson

09/07/2026

Just a reminder that the MSNHA administrative office is closed today for Labor Day. But the six-county MSNHA never closes! Check out our website at https://msnha.una.edu/ for things to do & places to go.

National parks preserve more than mountains, forests, and historic buildings. They also preserve the stories of working people who helped shape America.

At Lowell National Historical Park, visitors can explore the lives of the “mill girls” who powered the textile industry. At Pullman National Historical Park, the stories of workers, the 1894 Pullman Strike, and the fight for workers’ rights come together. At Keweenaw National Historical Park, mining shaped communities and generations of workers, while Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historical Park tells the story of the millions who worked to keep the nation’s wartime economy moving. And those are just a few of the places across the National Park System where the history of labor can be explored.

This Labor Day, take a moment to explore the places that tell the story of how Americans worked, what they built, what they fought for, and how work helped shape the nation we know today at: https://www.nps.gov/subjects/labor/visit.htm

NPS Photo: Machinery inside mills at Lowell National Historical Park, MA

09/06/2026

This week in 1972, FAME Studios hitmaker and former Atlantic Records artist Clarence Carter signed a contract with Rick Hall’s Fame Records label. Two years earlier, Carter had recorded the No. 1 single “Patches” at FAME, which also produced Etta James’s hit Carter cover “Tell Mama.” Hall hoped to replicate that success with “a new release for the star.” Meanwhile Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in nearby Sheffield “enjoyed a very busy eight-day week,” with sessions for Ry Cooder and Garnet Mimms “running as late as two or three in the morning.” For more on FAME and Muscle Shoals Sound, visit MSNHA's Roots of American Music Trail website at https://musictrail.una.edu. And check out MSNHA's YouTube channel for more exclusive video content!
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