About the Second District
The 2nd District of Alabama consists of sixteen counties in Southeast Alabama, stretching from Elmore and Autauga Counties at the northern end of the district through Montgomery, Troy, and Ozark and down to Dothan and the Florida state line. Evergreen, Andalusia, and Greenville are to the west, and Eufaula, Abbeville, and the Georgia border are to the east.

The sixteen counties are Autauga, Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Coffee, Conecuh, Covington, Crenshaw, Dale, Elmore, Geneva, Henry, Houston, Lowndes, Montgomery (northwest part), and Pike.

Flat countryside is abundant throughout the district, filled with southern pine trees, red clay, beautiful lakes and rivers, and an ample supply of azaleas. The district's rich cultural heritage ranges from the first capital of the Confederacy and the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery to the Wiregrass area named for the stiff, wiry roots of the native grass that grows around Dothan. Interstates 65 and 85 both run through the district, and Interstate 10 is just a short drive away. Travelers can fly to Montgomery or Dothan via commercial airlines. The Alabama, Chattahoochee, Choctawhatchee, Conecuh, Coosa, Tallapoosa, and Pea Rivers all flow through the district.

State Capitol Building Montgomery

Montgomery
The City of Montgomery is home to the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, the U.S. Air Force's Air University at Maxwell Air Force Base, the annual Blue-Gray college football classic on Christmas Day, and the downtown Jubilee CityFest during Memorial Day weekend. From the steps of the restored Greek revival State Capitol, where Jefferson Davis was sworn in as the president of the Confederate States of America, one can look downhill at the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, where the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was pastor and launched his leadership during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. The Civil Rights Memorial is just a few blocks away. Montgomery is shared with the 3rd Congressional District.

To the north are Autauga and Elmore counties. Prattville in Autauga is the home of a new Robert Trent Jones golf course. Elmore County is host to Lake Jordan and the Fort Toulouse National Historical Park. To the south of Montgomery is Fort Deposit, home to the annual Calico Fort Arts and Crafts Fair. Greenville, in Butler County, hosts the Watermelon Festival in the summer and another in the state's series of Robert Trent Jones golf courses. Nearby Georgiana has the Boyhood Home and Museum of Country music legend Hank Williams, Sr.

Botanical Gardens Dothan The largest city in the Wiregrass, Dothan offers an array of cultural and historical attractions, including the Wiregrass Museum of Art and the Botanical Gardens.

Wiregrass Area
The region including Enterprise, Ozark, Daleville, Troy, and Geneva is home to the Army's Aviation Warfighting Center at Fort Rucker, where helicopter pilot training takes place. The Army Aviation Museum is on post. Many defense contractors have located in the area as well as large diversified plants that provide tires and computer disks. A large missile assembly plant is being enlarged near Troy in rural Pike County. Pike County also has the Pioneer Museum and the annual TroyFest Arts and Crafts Festival.

U.S. Army Aviation School Fort Rucker The home of helicopter training for the United States Army

Borderlands
On the eastern side of the 2nd district, rural Barbour County and the town of Clayton are the respective birthplace and original home base for former governor and presidential candidate George C. Wallace. Eufaula offers beautiful, stately Southern mansions, a yearly pilgrimage, and Lake Eufaula State Resort and Conference Center. Union Springs is the birthplace of industrialist and former Postmaster General Winton (Red) Blount as well as the national amateur championship for quail hunting, held each February. The Chattahoochee River flows through Henry County at the Georgia border.

On the western side of the 2nd district, the Opp Jaycees run the only rattlesnake rodeo in Alabama. Red Level has an Armadillo Roundup. Andalusia is home to the World Championship Domino Tournament, and Florala has scenic Lake Jackson. Covington County is host to most of the Conecuh National Forest. Good fishing and hunting opportunities abound near Evergreen in Conecuh County, Luverne in Crenshaw County, and almost all the rural areas of the district.

Boll Weevil Monument Enterprise This insect's destruction of cotton crops led Alabama farmers into other profitable agricultural products -- including peanuts and soybeans.

Economy
Defense and agriculture are the mainstays of the 2nd district's economy. The soil was first tilled for cotton, but in the early part of this century the boll weevil wiped out more than two-thirds of the cotton crop. Now the area grows more peanuts than almost any other part of the country. Enterprise in Coffee County erected a monument to the boll weevil as a tribute to the insect whose destruction of the cotton crop persuaded farmers to switch their efforts to growing peanuts. Dothan hosts the National Peanut Festival and Parade each October, offers the Azalea Dogwood Trail in the spring, and is home to a Robert Trent Jones golf course. Ozark has the Claybank Jamboree each fall.

Higher Education
Four-year state institutions of higher learning include Troy University in Troy, Dothan, and Montgomery; and Alabama State University in Montgomery. Private colleges are Huntingdon College and Jones School of Law, both in Montgomery. State-operated junior, community, and technical colleges include Alabama Industrial Development Training Institute in Montgomery, Enterprise-Ozark Community College in the Wiregrass, Ingram State College in Deatsville, Douglas MacArthur State Technical College in Opp, John Patterson State Technical College in Montgomery, Reid State Technical College in Evergreen, Chauncey Sparks State Technical College in Eufaula, George Wallace Community College at Napier Field (Dothan), and Lurleen B. Wallace Junior College in Andalusia.

Population
635,000 (2000 Census)