Anniston: hitting the Big Time in the Small Town

This weekend I decided to forgo the Clemson game and instead chose to make a weekend stop in between Birmingham and Atlanta. The "highway town" better known as the Model City to natives, Anniston has built itself into a retail haven and history hamlet. The city is home to the Anniston Army Depot as well as the site where the Freedom Riders made an indellible mark in history. Anniston now gets year round travelers who are "passing though" and has the stores to call itself a big city, but has the charm of a small town.

Exit 188 will deposit you in the midst of a plethora of hotels, ranging from the Comfort Suites to the Holiday Inn, which I've personally stayed in when our family reunion was hosted here in 2003. If you have forgotten any necessities or need to indulge in some retail therapy, the Oxford Exchange is directly across the bypass. The outdoor mall, which opened in July 2007, is home to Target, Best Buy, and TJ Maxx, as well as several other retail stores. Don't forget to pick up the local paper, The Anniston Star, to get filled in on the happenings in the city and neighboring areas. (Pick it up on a Wednesday, and you'll get the double feature of reading the "Your Food" section, my personal favorite, and the column of George Smith, who always has an anecdote to share.) Have lunch or dinner at two of the few hometown restaurants left in the city, Betty's Bar-B-Q (my personal favorite) , or Top O' The River. Betty's specializes in all things over a fire, and has a nightly "4 PM til' gone" homecooked meal deal. Top O' the River is known for its fried catfish, cornbread, and fried pickles; order the Riverboat Special. If you have time to sightsee, take a tour of Historic Downtown Anniston, where many establishments are listed in the National Register of Historic Places. End your evening with a coffee at our Starbucks in neighboring town Oxford, and sit outside to gaze at the city.

I always make an effort to hit up my favorite haunts when I come home, and keep up with the city through the Anniston Star website. The Model city is only an hour away from Birmingham and an hour and a half from Atlanta. I feel it gives me the best of both worlds - the ability to travel around and then return home to the comfort that never left.