Auburn Rural Studio

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County: Hale | Attraction Types: Museum

Newbern, AL 36765

Headquarters for Rural Studio Architectural Designs in Alabama’s Black Belt. Established in 1993 by architects Samuel “Sambo” Mockbee and D. K. Ruth, the Rural Studio is a part of Auburn University’s School of Architecture. The Rural Studio is located in rural west Alabama in the small town of Newbern in Hale County. Rural Studio students work directly with poor communities in west Alabama to improve living conditions. This teaches the students the social responsibilities of being an architect. Students design and construct their projects.

They often have to rely on donated and salvaged materials for their projects because of limited funds. The results are clever and often stunning structures. One house has walls made of car tires and another is made of hay bales. There is also a shed with stone walls that are studded with soda bottles to let bits of light through. The Rural Studio has completed numerous homes and civic projects in the surrounding communities. You’ll find a large collection of the sites created over the years by Rural Studio here.

Rural Studio’s office, located in the Morrisette house, is a working office and not a visitor center. However, you are welcome to pick up a guide that contains a map which shows the locations of the Rural Studio projects.

Address: 8448 Alabama 61, Newbern, AL 36765
Phone: (334) 624-4483
Latitude: 32.599108 | Longitude: -87.533210
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Learn More About Bibb County

Bibb County offers many attractions and points of interests. These attractions include a large public lake, a private country club with an 18-hole golf course, several walking trails, an airport, several baseball fields, tennis courts and public parks with picnic pavilions and children's playground equipment.

The Cahaba River flows through the county providing canoeing and fishing opportunities. Bibb County offers many acres of private and government owned land dedicated to wild game hunting. It is also conveniently located near the metropolitan areas of Tuscaloosa and Birmingham.

Learn More About Fayette County

The first recorded visit to the Fayette area was by the explorer Hernando DeSoto and his band in the year 1540. He traversed the Sipsey River, Coal Fire Creek, Bear Creek, Buttahatchee, and Luxapalilla Creek as he passed through during his search for gold and treasures. From that time it would be over 250 years before the northwest Alabama area would be visited by settlers.

Although there were a handful of settlers and traders in the Mississippi (Alabama was not yet a separate territory) area in the early 1800’s it was not until after the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814 that the area opened up to a large number of immigrants. The small town that grew up in what became northwest Alabama was first known as Lafayette in honor of the French Revolutionary War hero. This was situated at present day Old Town, what is now known as Five Points. Lafayette was the first of several names the small town was known by as it gradually grew and moved with the business center. On January 15, 1821, the town was incorporated as Fayette Court House. The first name change was due to their being several other towns in Alabama with the name Lafayette.

Learn More About Greene County

Greene County was named for General Nathaniel Greene, a Rhode Island hero of the American Revolution, who led our troops at Guilford and Eutaw Springs and retook Charleston. Greene county was formed on 13 December 1819 from parts of Marengo (formed 1818) and Tuscaloosa (formed 1818) counties and from Indian land from the Choctaw Cession of 1816. Many men who came down the Natchez Trace with Andrew Jackson for the Battle of New Orleans in January 1815 went back through central Alabama looking for land. Since settlers may have arrived there as early as 1812, records of the parent counties could have some information on these first families.See More Here

Learn More About Hale County

Located in the west-central part of the state in Alabama's Black Belt, the area that now constitutes Hale County was home to three Alabama governors: Israel Pickens, John Gayle, and Thomas Seay. Hale County's Moundville Archaeological Park includes a number of Mississippian-era mounds built by Native Americans more than 1,000 years ago.

The town of Greensboro claims the title of Alabama's Catfish Capital and was the birthplace of the Hale County Civic Improvement League, one of the nation's first civil-rights associations. See More Here

Learn More About Pickens County

Located in the west-central part of the state, Pickens County is a rural county of timbered uplands to the north and rolling plains to the south. During World War II, the Pickens County city of Aliceville served as the site of one of the largest German prisoner of war camps in the nation. Many of Field Marshall Erwin Rommel’s elite Afrika Korps, of the German army, were held in Aliceville after their defeat at Tunis. The visitor center in Pickensville is home to one of the few steamboats, the USS Montgomery, that are on the National Register of Historic Places.
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Learn More About Tuscaloosa County

Tuscaloosa is located along the banks of the Black Warrior River in West Central Alabama. Tuscaloosa is led by a Mayor/Council form of government and is home to just under 100,000 residents as well as a thriving business community.

Tuscaloosa has appeared in Money magazine’s annual list of the country’s best places to live. The ranking is based on qualities most valued in a place to live as stated by Money magazine subscribers.

The Tuscaloosa Metro area has a population of 182,000 people.

Tuscaloosa is famous for its gridiron action and the home of the original Dreamland Barbeque, but if you take a closer look, you’ll see that’s not all we have to offer!

No matter what your interests are, one thing is certain- you will come again. On behalf of Tuscaloosa Tourism and Sports Commission, we would like to welcome you to Tuscaloosa…America’s One and Only!

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Auburn Rural Studio

County: Hale | Attraction Types: Museum