The wealth that cotton brought to towns such as Eufaula gave Southeast Alabama stately mansions set against the backdrop of azaleas and dogwoods.

Many of Eufaula’s homes have been restored and now offer visitors tours and with them a look at what life was like in Alabama when cotton was king.

This part of the state also offers two of the more unusual monuments found in Alabama. Both salute members of the animal kingdom. In Eufaula, visitors find Tom Mann’s Fish World, where fishing lures -- some of the finest ever to cast a come-hither wiggle in a bass’s direction, according to the folks at the plant -- are made.

At one time, all the of the lures were personally approved by Leroy Brown, Mann’s “pet” bass. Though Leroy has gone to the big bait shop in the sky, a monument to him sits on the grounds of Mann’s Fish World to remind everyone of what it takes to reel in the big one.

Landmark Park, the living history museum, has a working farmstead with a farmhouse, a barnyard, a blacksmith shop and a corn crib. The white clapboard Headland Presbyterian Church has been moved to the park as well. The park also has a boardwalk that winds though the woods, over beaver dams and across streams. To walk this trail at twilight is to forget the cares of the day and simply enjoy nature.

The Visitors Center at Farley Nuclear Plant has hands-on exhibits and computer games that explain such topics as fission and nuclear energy.

If Christmas is one’s favorite holiday, this portion of the state is a must to visit. Christmas City, in the town of Ariton, has grown from a small celebration in lights to a days-long, sparkling salute to everything that makes the holiday wonderful.

Southeast Alabama also has birthed at least a couple of famous Alabamians. Governor George Wallace was born in Clio, southwest of Eufaula. The boyhood home of Hank Williams Sr. in Georgiana now is a museum honoring the singer’s talent and his life.