Albany

Southwest Georgia city on the Flint River, with civil-rights history and a notable regional arts scene.

Albany is the largest city in southwest Georgia and the seat of Dougherty County. It sits on the Flint River about 170 miles south of Atlanta. Not a common tourist destination, but it has a surprisingly strong arts and cultural scene for a mid-size Southern city, and it carries a weight of history that most places its size don't.

The Albany Civil Rights Institute on Whitney Avenue tells the story of the Albany Movement, one of the early mass campaigns of the Civil Rights era — the city was a significant battleground in 1961 and 1962, when local activists and SNCC organizers launched months of marches, sit-ins, and jail protests that drew Martin Luther King Jr. and ultimately shaped the strategy of later campaigns in Birmingham. The Albany Museum of Art holds one of the best collections of traditional African art in the Southeast. The Flint RiverQuarium, a freshwater aquarium dedicated to the Flint River ecosystem, sits on the riverfront near Ray Charles Plaza — a striking bronze memorial to Albany's most famous native son, born here in 1930. The Thronateeska Heritage Center covers local history and science, and has a well-regarded full-dome planetarium. North of town, Chehaw Park holds 800 acres of greenspace with a wild animal park designed by naturalist Jim Fowler of Wild Kingdom.

Guide

Things to Do

Albany's main cultural attractions are clustered near downtown. The Albany Civil Rights Institute documents the Albany Movement of the early 1960s, when the city became a focal point of the Civil Rights campaign. The Albany Museum of Art holds a strong permanent collection including 19th and 20th century American and European works and one of the largest collections of traditional African art in the Southeast. The Flint RiverQuarium on the riverfront is a freshwater aquarium with a focus on Georgia's river ecosystems.

The Albany Ballet Theater and Albany Symphony Orchestra provide regular performances at the Municipal Auditorium, which has a fine beaux-arts interior worth seeing.