"What to do in Monroeville" Top 5 Page for this destination Alabama Things to Do Tip by Basaic

Monroeville, the county seat of Monroe County has a population of over 7000 people. It is located in Southeastern Alabama near US Highway 84. The town started in 1822 with one store. The Monroe County Court House was built between 1903 and 1904 and was designed by famous Southern Architect Andrew Bryan, using the Romanesque style of architecture with a Georgian influence. The old courthouse is now a museum. Monroeville has a nice historic district with several buildings of historic and architectural interest, many of which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Harper Lee, the author of To Kill a Mockingbird, was born and raised in Monroeville. The fictional town of Maycomb is modeled on Monroeville. The novel received the 1961 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Truman Capote, a childhood neighbor and friend of Harper Lee, grew up in Monroeville. Novelist Mark Childress was also born there. As of 2006, an estimated 30,000 tourists visited Monroeville annually because of its association with To Kill a Mockingbird. Each May the Monroe County Heritage Museum stages an amateur play based on the book. The all-volunteer cast has been invited to perform in Washington, D.C., Hull, England, and Jerusalem. In 1997 the Alabama Legislature designated Monroeville and Monroe County the "Literary Capital of Alabama."