Southern Trails

Photo courtesy Kentucky Dept. of Travel

Kentucky
Civil War Heritage Trail
The Kentucky Civil War 
Heritage Trail provides a comprehensive look at how the war affected the Bluegrass State and the nation.

The 54 sites along the trail were chosen because of their significance to the war. Among them are the Camp Nelson Civil War Heritage Park, Perryville Battlefield State Historic Site, Columbus-Belmont State Park and the birthplaces of President Abraham Lincoln and Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

The trail website provides a listing of events and a map showing the locations of trail sites.

www.kentuckycivilwartrails.org

Alabama
Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail
The 54-mile Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail traces the events leading up to the Voting Rights Act of 1965, including a five-day march to the Alabama state Capitol by thousands of civil rights advocates, led by 
Martin Luther King Jr., following a bloody confrontation with police on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma.

The National Park Service Selma Interpretative Center, which opened last March, and the Lowndes County Interpretative Center offer films and information about the march.

www.nps.gov/semo

Virginia
Crooked Road
The Crooked Road is Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail, a 
driving route through the Appalachian Mountains from the Blue Ridge to the coalfields region, following U.S. 58. The trail connects major heritage music venues in the region such as the Blue Ridge Institute and Museum near Rocky Mount, the Birthplace of 
Country Music Alliance in Bristol, the Carter Family Fold in Hiltons and the Ralph Stanley Museum and Mountain Music Center in Clintwood.

Festivals, weekly concerts, live radio shows and informal jam sessions abound throughout the region.

www.thecrookedroad.org

Tennessee
Ring of Fire Trail
Travelers can explore a mix of big cities and small towns, preserved homes and museums and historic places 
commemorating the American Civil War along the 334 miles of the Ring of Fire Trail, which extends from Nashville across the Cumberland Plateau.

The trail features 113 tourism sites from the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum to the Dale Hollow National Fish Hatchery.

The trail is the 10th of 16 self-guided driving tours in the Discover 
Tennessee Trails and Byways program.

www.tntrailsandbyways.com