Every Lake
Alabama
The last ridge of the Appalachians runs out here, and the Black Belt curves under it.
Alabama in relief
The land itself, cut in six steps of birch from the lowlands to the high ground — the cities starred, the summit and rise on the title block. No counties, no roads: just the shape of Alabama.
About Alabama
Alabama is a rectangle with the Gulf reaching up to it. Surveyed lines rule the north and east, the Chattahoochee bends down the lower east side, and at the bottom the state narrows to a corridor down to Mobile Bay — land the young state fought to keep so it would have a port. The southern tail of the Appalachians ends at Cheaha Mountain, 2,413 feet, in the northeast; the Tennessee River valley cuts across the top; and the Black Belt, a crescent of dark prairie soil, curves through the middle. Sixty-seven counties.
Alabama entered on December 14, 1819 as the 22nd state. Montgomery became the capital in 1846, moved from Tuscaloosa to a bluff above the Alabama River at the head of steamboat navigation and the center of the cotton country. The board holds a great deal of American history in a small space — the march route from Selma to Montgomery along US-80, the rocket works at Huntsville — and its highways, I-65 running from Mobile to the Tennessee line and I-20 and I-59 meeting at Birmingham.
- Six layers of birch — the land in elevation steps
- The summit and total rise on the title block
- The major cities, starred and named
- Title block with the admission date and capital
- A double rule engraved around the edge
- Every county line and the state border
- The interstates with their shields — 13 on this board
- The major cities, starred and named
- Title block with the admission date and capital
- A mile ruler engraved around the frame
