The Stunning Landscape In Alabama That Appears As Though It Was Ripped From A Salvador Dali Painting
By Lisa Battles|Published November 16, 2023
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Lisa Battles
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Lisa has traveled the U.S. for over a decade, seeking out and sharing the stories of its most interesting places, people, and experiences. A journalism graduate of Auburn University, she has been a content strategist, editor, and writer for more than 25 years. Lisa has worked in community news, PR, and marketing with a focus on tourism, hospitality, and economic development. Besides following her curiosity around every corner, she's a devoted dog mom of two and advocate for animal welfare.
Have an eye for the unusual? Just 15 miles west of Double Springs near Bankhead National Forest, formations resembling the work of surrealist painters create a stunning landscape in Alabama.
Scientific history says that, unlike surrealism, there’s nothing intangible about how the bridge came to look this way. Rather, it’s simply the sea’s masterwork over 200 million years ago when it carved away sandstone to reveal this soaring, dynamic form. And then a Native American legend tells a different story.
Let’s take a look.
The longest natural bridge east of the Rockies, the sandstone and iron ore Natural Bridge spans 148 feet and is 60 feet tall.
To see it, you take a 2-mile trail out and back from the Natural Bridge Park store and gift shop. Admission is $3.50 per person, and the park is open from 8 a.m. to sunset throughout the year. While you are prohibited from walking across the top of the bridge, you can explore the cavern beneath it. Get ready for some incredible, perspective shifting views.
While the bridge is a beauty, the journey getting there also is a treat for the eyes. You'll see all kinds of intriguing living things. Orderly fungi unfurls down fallen branches left and right. In the spring, 27 varieties of ferns fill the verdant forest floor. Can't you already feel the fresh air in your nose?
On the subject of rock faces, there's also a literal one at Natural Bridge State Park. Along the edge of a giant rock formation, there appears to be the profile of a Native American face similar to that on the Buffalo nickel. While it has been documented that Cherokee, Chickasaw, and Creek tribes lived in Winston County, one story of the bridge's origin arose from the storytelling tradition of the warring Chickasaw tribe.
According to the history writers with Alabama Pioneers, a Chickasaw tribe had assembled a large number of prisoners from their conflicts and kept them as enslaved people. At one point, the chief promised he would set the prisoners free if they met harvest goals, yet he did not honor his word. It was then a warrior called Lanachichi brought fellow prisoners together and appealed to The Great Spirit to help them.
In turn, The Great Spirit brought a series of curses upon the Chickasaw tribe that ranged from darkness and frogs to death for one person in each wigwam. Ultimately, the chief set the prisoners free, only to pursue them as they fled. He chased them to a river, at which point Lanachichi appealed to the Great Spirit again for help. As the legend has it, the solution appeared as the bridge, which carried the captives to safety. The Alabama Pioneers account came from a 1936 US Works Progress Administration Federal Writers' Project transcription.
What do you think of the Natural Bridge stories? You might come up with an entirely new narrative through your own unique lens. Since we’re already calling it a Dali painting, I recommend you treat this space as you would a work of art in a gallery or museum. Take notice of the big picture down to the finer details. Consider all of the elements and how they contrast and converge. Then interpret that sensory information by connecting it with your own experiences and memories. We’d love to hear your take!
In the meantime, be sure to check out the Natural Bridge Loop on AllTrails for more images and reviews as you plan your visit.
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