Mooresville, Alabama

Mooresville, Alabama, incorporated in eighteen eighteen, is one of the oldest incorporated towns in the state and sits quietly in Limestone County, north of the Tennessee River. It was laid out on a grid of tree-shaded streets lined with Federal-style brick buildings, and remarkably, many of them survive intact. The town has no traffic lights and a population of just a few dozen permanent residents.

Two future presidents spent time here: Andrew Johnson lived in Mooresville as a young apprentice tailor, and James Garfield, then a Union general, preached at the Church of Christ in eighteen sixty-three. The entire community is a National Register Historic District. Walking its streets today feels less like visiting a preserved town and more like the intervening two centuries simply forgot to show up.