Vulcan Park and Museum is built around the statue of the Roman Forge God Vulcan. Standing at 56 feet tall from the base of his pedestal, Vulcan is the largest cast iron statue in the world. Vulcan was designed by Italian sculptor Giuseppe Moretti as Birmingham's entry into the 1904 World's Fair. In addition to the park and museum, guests can walk Vulcan Trail, which runs for four miles (out and back) along the side of Red Mountain and offers amazing views of Birmingham. Vulcan Park is at the southern tip of central Birmingham and is just a short drive from the wedding hotel block in Homewood.

Located east of downtown, Sloss Furnaces is a retired steel mill that has become a historical landmark site in Birmingham. Birmingham was founded in 1871 because of the Furnace's location in the Jones Valley, north of Red Mountain, which was rich with iron. The iron fueled a booming steel industry in Birmingham and Sloss was one of several major steel processing facilities in Birmingham. Today the Sloss site offers a window into Birmingham's industrial past.

Birmingham Museum of Art has fixed and rotating exhibits with American, Asian, African and European Art installations. The Museum opens at 10:00am on the morning of the wedding which makes it a great option for an early morning activity before the evening ceremony. Entrance is free for general admission!

The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute has a series of exhibits chronicling the history of the Civil Rights Movement in the Southeast. It opens at 10am on Saturdays.

Just a short walk from Homewood's Aloft Hotel, guests can find the shops of downtown Homewood along 18th Street South. We recommend highlights such as Johnny's Restaurant, Cookie Fix, O'Henry's Cafe, and Little Professor Bookstore.

Fine Dining

- Bottega - Italian Restaurant

- East West - Asian

- Automatic Seafood an Oysters - Seafood

- Hot and Hot Fish Club - America/Seafood

- Chez Fonfon - French

Casual

- Sol Azteca - Mexican

- Pies and Pints - Pizza

- Melt - American

- Mr Chen's - Chinese

- Surin West- Thai/Sushi

Breweries

- Back Forty

- Trim Tab (arguably best brews in town!)

- Monday Night

- Cahaba

- Ghost Train