A Day Trip to Florence Alabama

A friend and I had the opportunity to take a little day trip. This is our journey and what we learned while visiting the historic downtown of Florence, Alabama.

It is about an hour to an hour and a half drive to get there and I discovered several different routes can get you there. The day we drove out was sunny and warm for late January.

Since it was our first visit, we didn’t know what to expect or where to park. We found a parking garage that was centrally located and it cost us a whole dollar at the end of the day.

We left Huntsville at 0900 and arrived in Florence at exactly 10:30AM and we were hungry.

Our first priority was to find food and coffee. We knew there were a couple of different cafes for coffee but ended up having to ask one of the locals which direction to take. The gentleman we asked knew exactly where to point us and even told us to tell Rob that Burt sent us.

I ordered the egg and tomato sandwich along with their coffee house special which involved honey and cinnamon.

After we had our fill of good food and caffeine, we were off to take in all that Florence had to offer.

We made note of all the places to eat and decided we would definitely have to make multiple trips to Florence in the near future.

The downtown area has a plentitude of various local shops and boutiques. We visited several but here are a few that stood out to us.

The Ye Ole General Store has been around since 1947 and was on our list of places to check out. We were not disappointed, a family owned general store with a wide variety of merchandise ranging from military backpacks to outdoor cold weather attire and they boast of having the largest selection of men’s hats in north Alabama.

We spent most of our time at this next stop, at the Court Street Market and it was quite by accident. We thought it looked interesting so we went in and found that they were under construction but the owner was there and she took us on a tour and told us her vision of what the Court Street Market will become.

Keep this place on your radar. The plan for this space is to be a multitude of services and goods. A coffee roaster, cafe, indoor farmer’s market, swanky tavern, and local artisan boutiques.

Of course, if you know anything about fashion and style then you know this is the place where Billy Reid has established his flagship store. From speaking with the locals, this was the start of the revitalizing the downtown area.

Trowbridges was on our list to visit too. Walk into this little diner and you have taken a step back in time. Opened in 1918, the little ice cream parlor is located on north Court Street. We had heard they were famous for their orange-pineapple ice cream and so that is what we ordered.

Before getting back on the road to head back to Huntsville, we wanted to grab a bite to eat for a late lunch. We grabbed a Chicago style dog from The Chicago Cafe. A very small walk-in and order to go type of vendor. They do have some limited seating but it is not your regular sit-down kind of eatery either. Awesome dogs!

Oh Florence, we’ll be back to see you soon. We enjoyed our visit and found many attractions and sites we need to come back to over and over again. Thank you for having us!