Fort Payne Area
Located in the valley of Big Wills Creek in the I-59 corridor, Fort Payne is a town that can be considered as a mountain town in the Cumberland Plateau ridges of northeast Alabama. Fort Payne is widely known as the basecamp for a variety of hiking opportunities both to the east and west of town. In the early 1800s, what is now Fort Payne was, at the time, an important Cherokee Indian village called Willstown. After the Indians were relocated to Oklahoma, the town and the area around it were home to few inhabitants and did not grow for a long time. Upon the completion of a railroad between Birmingham and Chattanooga in the mid to late 1800s, Fort Payne gradually started to become larger, as it became an important post on the railroad. Afterwards, the town continued growing even more rapidly as in the 1880s iron and coal deposits were discovered in the area and workers from the North moved here. A lot of the historic buildings seen presently in downtown Fort Payne date back to this time. However, all too soon, the coal and iron deposits turned out to be a lot smaller than expected, and by the early 1900s, the town gradually declined. In 1907, a hosiery mill was opened in Fort Payne, and the economic decline was halted. To this day, Fort Payne is the county seat and the largest town in DeKalb County.
Recreational opportunities are aplenty in the Fort Payne area. The single most popular recreational location near Fort Payne is Little River Canyon National Park, perched on top of Lookout Mountain just to the east of town. The Little River is the nation's longest mountaintop river, cutting a gorge through the top of Lookout Mountain. The Little River Canyon Parkway follows the western rim of the canyon with outstanding vistas. Just to the north, Desoto State Park is another public access area along the Little River, where the canyon is not so deep and the river is narrower. Desoto State Park has an assortment of hiking trails that crisscross this flat section of Lookout Mountain, as well as the long-distance Desoto Scout Trail that follows the banks of the Little River south to Little River Canyon National Park. To the west of Fort Payne, closer to the towns of Guntersville and Albertsville, two state parks provide their own hiking opportunities. Lake Guntersville State Park boasts of a myriad of hiking trails on hills near the shores of Lake Guntersville. Bucks Pocket State Park protects Bucks Pocket, a rugged gorge where Sauty Creek travels through extensive boulder fields before emptying itself into Lake Guntersville at Morgan Cove.
Recreational opportunities are aplenty in the Fort Payne area. The single most popular recreational location near Fort Payne is Little River Canyon National Park, perched on top of Lookout Mountain just to the east of town. The Little River is the nation's longest mountaintop river, cutting a gorge through the top of Lookout Mountain. The Little River Canyon Parkway follows the western rim of the canyon with outstanding vistas. Just to the north, Desoto State Park is another public access area along the Little River, where the canyon is not so deep and the river is narrower. Desoto State Park has an assortment of hiking trails that crisscross this flat section of Lookout Mountain, as well as the long-distance Desoto Scout Trail that follows the banks of the Little River south to Little River Canyon National Park. To the west of Fort Payne, closer to the towns of Guntersville and Albertsville, two state parks provide their own hiking opportunities. Lake Guntersville State Park boasts of a myriad of hiking trails on hills near the shores of Lake Guntersville. Bucks Pocket State Park protects Bucks Pocket, a rugged gorge where Sauty Creek travels through extensive boulder fields before emptying itself into Lake Guntersville at Morgan Cove.