• McFarland Park
    Florence, AL
  • Hidden Spaces
    Russellville, AL
  • Oka Kapassa
    Tuscumbia, AL
  • 1818 Farms
    Mooresville
  • League of Outdoor Women
    New (socially distant appropriate) events coming soon
  • Hidden Spaces
    Mooresville
  • Florence Indian Mound Museum
    New Young Learners digital series coming soon
  • WC Handy Fest
    Harvey Thompson Trio
River Heritage

River Heritage

The Tennessee River has shaped history & culture in northwest Alabama for centuries.

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Native Heritage

Native Heritage

Native Americans came to northwest Alabama for the Tennessee River’s food, water & transportation.

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Music Heritage

Music Heritage

Music inspires & shapes northwest Alabama. Native Americans called the Tennessee River “Singing River.

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EXPLORE. Preserve. Share. Protect.

Experience our cultural, natural, historical, and scenic resources.
Wonderful music, beautiful rivers and great hiking trails are yours to explore!


Grants available for digital learning

With physical visits/field trips limited during the COVID-19 pandemic, the MSNHA wants to help teachers and destination-sites connect in innovative & meaningful ways. We're opening a special education-series grant focused on developing site-specific lessons in partnership with teachers to achieve educational outreach goals. In addition, even if class field trips & site visits return, developing digital educational content helps engage with new audiences. Click the button for guidelines and an application.
Education series grant


Need help talking about black history?

Left, the digital archive at https://shoalsblackhistory.omeka.net/ is one of several resources on the African American experience.
Ever since Congress approved the National Heritage Area program in 1984, NHAs have documented and preserved local stories of America’s history. This mission is part of NHAs’ mandate to encourage heritage tourism and economic development, but understanding the past also is essential to understanding the present. Today we all are being challenged to engage in difficult conversations about race and how our work can embody spaces of diversity and inclusion. MSNHA graduate student Tori Shaw collected a list of resources that will help with those conversations. It includes links to articles, websites, videos, handbooks & other valuable materials.
Download the list


Video of the Week

Travis Wammack on writing for & touring with Little Richard
FAME guitarist Travis Wammack was Little Richard's bandleader from 1984 to 1995. He also co-wrote "Greenwood, Mississippi," which Little Richard recorded at FAME in 1970. This video snippet from Wammack's Roots of American Music Trail video interview captures him talking about his time with Little Richard, who died May 9.
See more on YouTube


Shop MSNHA exclusives

Print, left, by Wendy Barske, commissioned & sold exclusively by the MSNHA
Visit our online UNA Marketplace for books by local authors about the history & heritage of northwest Alabama as well as limited-edition CDs, artwork, stationery, T-shirts & other MSNHA items you can't find anywhere else. Proceeds benefit MSNHA community programs & projects. You also can donate to the MSNHA & register for MSNHA-hosted workshops & conferences.
MSNHA Marketplace



Our Music Makes Us Special --

-- and we love to share. Explore the "The Hitmaking Capital of the World" through our Roots of American Music Trail, a self-guided cell-phone tour of music locations that changed the world. Planning a musical visit? Your first stop is RAMT's website, musictrail.una.edu. There you can watch exclusive oral-history interviews with our legendary music makers. You also can learn how the American Indian presence along the Tennessee River influenced our nation's music, find live local performances & subscribe to our YouTube channel. And when you're here, keep your eyes open. We're still producing hits so you never know who's in town to record the next Grammy-winner.
Roots of American Music Trail website


The Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area is full of talented photographers. Featured on our pages are images taken by Abraham Rowe, Christi Britten, Brian Corrigan, Mary Carton, Shannon Wells & others--images that focus on the natural beauty, history & innovation that the MSNHA is known for. Browse through the gallery below & watch for an announcement about our annual photo contest--your photo could end up here, too!


River Heritage

Music Heritage

Native Heritage

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