Top 10 Things to do in Montgomery, United States

Martin Luther King's residence from September 1954 to February 1960.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., used the pulpit of this unassuming red brick church to lead the 1955-56 Montgomery bus boycott, which ignited the civil rights movement. Steeped in history, this church, where Dr. King served as pastor from 1954 to 1960, was also the site of many civil rights meetings during that era.

The Alabama Shakespeare Festival, located in Montgomery - Alabama's state capital - is a fully professional regional theatre that produces around ten productions each season in association with Actors' Equity Association, The Stage Directors and Choreographers Society and United Scenic Artists union. Productions of Shakespeare are at the artistic core of the company. Broadway musicals, children's productions, American classics and world premieres round out the annual offerings at ASF.

The Civil Rights Memorial Center is sponsored by the Southern Poverty Law Center in downtown Montgomery. It includes a great deal of educational information about the Civil Rights Movement, a movie about the movement, and a memorial monument. $2.00 admission is charged.

The names of 40 people killed in the battle for civil rights between 1954, when the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed segregation, and 1968, the year of the assassination of Martin Luther King, are embedded forever in this round, flat, granite sculpture. Water flows gently over the surface of the inspiring memorial, designed by Maya Lin, who also created the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

The Alabama Department of Archives and History (ADAH) has been the home of Alabama history for more than a century. It is the nation's oldest state-funded, independent archival and historical agency. Located in downtown Montgomery across the street from the capitol, the ADAH is the official government records repository for the state, a private collections library and research facility, and also home to the Museum of Alabama, the state's history museum. The Museum of Alabama is the only destination where you can explore Alabama's past from prehistory to the present. Permanent exhibitions at the Museum of Alabama include The Land of Alabama, introducing the geology and natural resources that helped shape the state's history, and The First Alabamians, featuring artifacts, murals, and a diorama that tell the inspiring story of fourteen thousand years of Native American culture. An entirely new centerpiece exhibition called Alabama Voices opened in February 2014. This exhibition covers the dramatic unfolding of Alabama history from the dawn of the 1700s to the beginning of the 21st century. More than 800 artifacts, hundreds of images and documents, and twenty-two audiovisual programs tell the story of struggles over the land, the rise of a cotton economy, the Civil War, industrialization, world wars, civil rights, the race to the moon, and more. Voices taken from diaries, letters, speeches, songs, and other sources convey the experiences of Alabamians who lived through and shaped the history of these periods. The Museum of Alabama provides interactive educational resources for children and families in the Hands-On-Gallery and Grandma's Attic. Here, families and children can dress in period costumes, play with toys from bygone eras, make their own crafts, listen to stories, and much more. The Museum of Alabama is open Monday-Saturday, 8:30-4:30 and admission is always FREE! Visit our Research Room, open Tuesday-Friday and the second Saturday of each month from 8:30-4:30, to learn more about your family's contribution to Alabama's history. Get expert guidance from our staff, work with original records and online resources, and start building your family tree. Come find your story!

The mission of the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts is to collect, preserve, exhibit and interpret art of the highest quality for the enrichment, enlightenment, and enjoyment of its public.

This tribute to the "Mother of the Civil Rights Movement" honors Rosa Parks, the African-American woman who, in 1955, sparked the civil rights movement by refusing to give her bus seat to a white man. The museum helps visitors relive this tumultuous era with a video, artifacts, historical documents, a lifesize statue of Rosa Parks and a replica of the bus in which she sat that day.

This historic house honors novelist F. Scott, best known for "The Great Gatsby," and his wife, Zelda, artist and author. The museum operates out of the last surviving home they lived in during their lives together. The structure was saved from demolition in 1986.