Our Partners & Projects
The Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area engages with partners across the region – and beyond – to carry out projects that help to preserve our natural, cultural and historical resources as well as encourage the growth of recreational opportunities. Explore some of these projects here (click on the image for details)! Interested in getting involved in any of them? Let us know at msnha@una.edu.
Roots of American Music Trail
The Roots of American Music Trail takes you where musical history was made. Visit the places and discover the stories of songwriters and musicians whose words and music made hits for the stars in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, earning the northwest corner of Alabama its reputation as the “Hit Recording Capital of the World.”
Hidden Spaces
MSNHA collaborates with the University of North Alabama Public History Center and photographer Abraham Rowe to produce the photographic project Hidden Spaces. This initiative identifies, displays & interprets cultural landscapes along with built environments and natural features that highlight the inherent uniqueness & diversity of the greater Shoals region.
Civil Rights Struggle in the Shoals
The Civil Rights Struggle in the Shoals Project seeks to research and document the struggle for freedom in northwest Alabama (Colbert and Lauderdale counties) in a dynamic and accessible way. The project is committed to enhancing the community by telling a story that has largely been ignored in the narrative of Shoals history.
Project Threadways
Project Threadways seeks to understand the impact that textiles and their creation—from raw material to finished good—had on our local community. It also follows the textile story into the American South, the nation and the world—connecting the people, places and materials.
Tennessee RiverLine
The Tennessee RiverLine is a vision for a continuous, multimodal system of trail experiences along the Tennessee River from its formation in Knoxville, Tennessee, to its confluence with the Ohio River in Paducah, Kentucky.
Singing River Trail
The Singing River Trail will be a 200-plus mile greenway system along the Tennessee River that strengthens regional bonds and creates new health and wellness, educational, economic, tourism and entrepreneurial opportunities for the people and communities of northwest Alabama.
Florence Indian Mound Museum
Florence Indian Mound Museum and the MSNHA have collaborated on a variety of interpretive projects as well as regular programming. Initiatives include the Young Learner’s Series and other speakers and programs that focus on our local Native American story.
Village School Foundation
The partnership between the Village School Foundation and the MSNHA is focused on the preservation of the Village School located in Nitrate Village No. 1 with the goal of turning the space into a community center and interpretive space for the MSNHA’s Tennessee River Theme.
Shoals MTB
The MSNHA and Shoals MTB work to promote trail development across the MSNHA and to activate trails with educational programs, youth mountain biking opportunities and events. Activities include trail cleanup and maintenance as well as instruction and scheduled rides.
League of Outdoor Women
The League of Outdoor Women empowers women to explore the outdoors, to build community and to seek adventure. Activities include day hikes, overnight hikes, outdoor yoga sessions, book discussions and instructional classes.
Muscle Shoals Music Camp
Muscle Shoals Music Camp is a partnership among the MSNHA, the University of North Alabama and the Shoals music community. It connects students to the history of Muscle Shoals Music and local music makers and helps them to write, record & perform a song of their own.
Operation Pollination
Operation Pollination is an initiative developed by the National Park Service, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service and Rotary International. It seeks to conserve declining pollinator populations across the globe through pollinator education and restoration of native habitat.
Other Partners and Projects
Abraham Rowe Photography
Athens State University Foundation Inc.
City of Sheffield
Florence-Lauderdale Tourism Center
Keep the Shoals Beautiful
Kennedy-Douglass Center for the Arts Volunteers
Music Preservation Society Inc.
Oka Kapassa Festival Inc.
Shoals Storytelling Festival
TJ’s Great Big 652 Adventure — paddling the Tennessee River
Trail of Tears Association
University of North Alabama History Department
University of North Alabama Institute for Innovation and Economic Development
University of North Alabama Public History Center
