Epes, Alabama

[DruidCity]

Not really a "city," but Epes is a small place 50 miles southwest of Tuscaloosa with some interesting terrain along the Tombigbee River, part of a river system that's navigable from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada and to the Mississippi River system.

Assorted Alabama "Black Belt" towns such as Demopolis and Selma also have the white chalk formations, but it is at Epes where the formations are perhaps most striking, rising as high as 75 feet. Unfortunately, most of West-Central Alabama is largely unknown within our own state, largely because of the complete neglect of everything in West-Central AL by our state government and its anemic tourism department. Here are some photos I found online of this one of West Alabama's hidden treasures :

I mentioned Demopolis earlier, which is a town of about 8,000 people 60 miles south of Tuscaloosa.

Here's a photo of the some of the smaller white sandy banks along the Tombigbee River in Demopolis, where a 1-mile Riverwalk is planned :

http://www.demopolislive.com/photopost/sho.../sort/1/cat/514

Here's a mural in downtown Demopolis, depicting that town's white banks :

[DruidCity]

Most people in Tuscaloosa don't know anything at all about that area, either, even though it's an hour's drive away.

It's interesting to think how it would look if there were a real city popping up out of that sort of terrain.

[Allan]

Nice pics. The cliffs remind me of Pictured Rocks in Michigan. Nobody in Michigan knows about Pictured Rocks either. It's amazing that some of these places are totally unknown, even by the people who live right by them.

[Chris-LA]

Beautiful pictures. I have some friends who are originally from Alabama, but lived in NYC and now LA. They said its a poor state, but always speak about how the state is loaded with natural beauty.

[Southron]

Beautiful, thanks DruidCity. I've lived in Alabama most of my life, went to college in Tuscaloosa, and I've never heard of these cliffs until now. I had no idea that Demopolis had white cliffs either.

[Jerseyman4]

Northeast Alabama is very beautiful by Chattanooga

[A2]

Northeast Alabama is very beautiful by Chattanooga

Especially the area around the Little River Canyon near Fort Payne.

A2

[Southron]

Demopolis, the "city of the people" has an interesting history. The Vine and Olive Colony was founded by French exiles, some of them senior military officers, after the final fall of Napoleon at Waterloo. Their plan to build a colony around grape and olive production didn't work out very well and most of them, Parisians unsuited for pioneer life, eventually left. However, some of the French stayed and intermarried with Americans, and the town went on to become a prosperous Black Belt cotton market town. Remaining olive trees in Demopolis still bear fruit.