The Forks of Cypress is a haunting plantation ruin north of Florence, where a ring of brick columns is all that remains of one of Alabama's early Greek Revival mansions. The house was completed in 1830 for James and Sally Moore Jackson and was destroyed by fire in 1966.
It is an evocative but complicated stop. The architecture is impressive, but the site also points straight at the wealth created by enslaved labour in the Tennessee Valley, so it is best visited with that history in mind rather than as a romantic ruin.