Dexter Avenue Parsonage

Top choice in Alabama


The home of Martin Luther King Jr and Coretta Scott King has been frozen in time, a snapshot of a mid-century home complete with Mad Men–era furniture, appliances and indoor ashtrays (King was a regular smoker). The most fascinating part of the tour is King's old office, which still contains some of the books that influenced his theology, philosophy and activism. In the back, there's a garden filled with stones inscribed with Christian virtues.

Friendly docents will lead you on tours of the home, which depart on the hour. Because this was a lived-in space, there's an intimacy and immediacy to the Parsonage house tour that you may not receive at the church.