Fort Payne, Alabama

Fort Payne, a community of 12,938 located in northeastern Alabama, is the seat of DeKalb County. The city, which is known as the "Sock Capital of the World" or "Hosiery Capital of the World," is located 54 miles (87 kilometers) southwest of Chattanooga and 95 miles (153 kilometers) northeast of Birmingham.

Fort Payne was established in the early 1800s, and its beginnings are tied to the Trail of Tears, as it was one of the stockades at which members of the Cherokee Nation of the southeastern United States were held before their forced removal to Oklahoma. To commemorate the event, an annual Commemorative Motorcycle Ride is held.

Near to town are the Little River Canyon National Preserve, which provides a wide range of scenery and settings, including forested uplands, waterfalls, canyon rims and bluffs, pools, boulders, and sandstone cliffs, and DeSoto Resort State Park, a 3,502-acre (1,417-hectare) park set atop Lookout Mountain. Also an easy drive from Fort Payne are the 2,000-acre (809-hectare) Buck's Pocket State Park, a secluded park in the Appalachians, and Lake Guntersville State Park, which overlooks the 69,000-acre (27,923-hectare) Guntersville Reservoir, and has an 18-hole championship golf course. And speaking of outdoors – why not try skiing (or golf) at Cloudmont Ski & Golf Resort, the country's southernmost ski resort, located less than 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of town. If a person wanted to enjoy the outdoors without effort, and explore the area, a great way to do so is to drive the 93-mile (150-kilometer) Lookout Mountain Parkway, which passes through Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee as it stretches from Gadsden, Alabama, to Chattanooga, Tennessee.