Alabama Renaissance Faire

Arts Alive

Belle Mont Mansion

Cypress Lakes Golf & Country Club

Festival of the Singing River

Frontier Days

Helen Keller Festival

Indian Mound and Museum

Ivy Green, Birthplace of Helen Keller

Kennedy Douglass Center for the Arts

McFarland Park Golf Course

Pope's Tavern Museum

Ritz Theatre

Shoals Symphony

Spirit of Freedom Celebration

Spring Park

The Tennessee Valley Art Center

Turtle Point Yacht and Country Club

Veterans Memorial Park

Waterloo Heritage Day

Zodiac Theater

In the Shoals, green can mean a lot of things. It's watching a production of The Miracle Worker at Ivy Green, Helen Keller's birthplace. The annual Helen Keller Festival pays homage to this courageous Shoals native with arts and crafts, music and theatrical events.

Native Americans settled this area long ago, and the Indian Mound museum is located on a ceremonial burial mound near the river. The Festival of the Singing River honors our native ancestry each fall. But our celebrations don't end there. The Shoals is the site for the Alabama Renaissance Faire, held each October, as well as Arts Alive, Heritage Days, the Freedom of America Celebration on the fourth of July, an annual Trailof Tears Celebration, and many others.

The Shoals is an outdoor lover's dream. Golfers pick from a variety of public and private courses. Nature lovers and bird watchers find much to enjoy in the area's public parks, camping areas and walking trails. In the spring, neighborhoods come alive with flowering dogwoods and azaleas, and the downtown areas buzz with activity as restaurants move tables to the sidewalk and enjoy another change of season.

But there's plenty to do indoors, as well. The Kennedy-Douglass and Tennessee Valley Art Centers offer exhibits, classes and juried shows. Theater groups and dance studios perform; museums offer educational programs. Many people think of the color green when they think of the Shoals. Lush, green neighborhoods. Ivy Green. And playing the greens.

I traded an apartment in New York City for a cattle ranch in the Shoals. Miss the big city? I have everything I need right here -- and more.

-Nancy O'Neal
Painter, cattle rancher and Florence resident