Black Belt | Wilcox | Best Seasons: Fall | Spring | Winter
Gee’s Bend Park is located on a scenic oxbow of the Alabama River. Its riparian woodlands can produce impressive numbers of songbirds in spring, fall, and winter. Raptors are in good supply here: Red-shouldered and Red-tailed Hawks are common all year, as are Barred Owls. You can see Mississippi Kites from late March through late summer and Swallow-tailed Kites congregate over fields and marshy areas in summer. There are numerous cut-over pine plantations in which White-eyed Vireos, Yellow-breasted Chats, Prairie Warblers, Northern Bobwhites, Common Yellowthroats, Field and Chipping Sparrows, Eastern Bluebirds and more are common in their seasons.
Wild Turkeys may be found throughout the area. Common Ground-doves are seen on the edges of woods and in early second-growth habitat. Some of the mature, open pine forest plays host to Bachman’s Sparrows. You may see the occasional Painted Bunting in the wet, scrubby hammocks, as well as multitudes of Orchard Orioles, Eastern Kingbirds, and Blue Grosbeaks along the sides of CR-29. Look for waders around the river. Bald Eagles and Ospreys nest nearby and may be seen year-round.
Gee’s Bend is best known for the world-famous Freedom Quilters Co-op, where local women turn out museum-quality quilts from a dedicated building on CR-29. Visitors will enjoy driving the local roads and seeing this historic, isolated rural community. Gee’s Bend (or Boykin on some maps) itself is distant from any major point. The only visitor’s services are the public restrooms and picnic tables at Gee’s Bend Park and the facilities at the Gee’s Bend Ferry terminal building. A visitor may take the ferry over the Alabama River as an alternate route. Be sure to check the schedule in advance. The ferry runs several times each day on a regular schedule.
Note: Gee’s Bend is remote. There is no fuel, no lodging, and no food available to the public in or particularly near Gee’s Bend. At night, watch the roads for the numerous deer and other wildlife.
GPS N 32.058246 W -87.304752
Gee’s Bend Ferry (Mailing address)
1001 Earl Hilliard Rd.
Camden, AL 36726
334-375-6049
Site Accessibility
The Gees Bend Ferry location offers a drive on trip down the Alabama River. One can bird the area surrounding the ferry dock while waiting and get good views of the river.
From Selma ( fuel, food, and lodging available. All are scarce beyond Selma), take AL-22 west for 23.2 miles. At the fork, merge onto AL-5 and continue 4.7 miles. Turn left (south) on CR-29 and follow 15.2 miles. Gee’s Bend refers to the entire thinly-settled community along the last several miles of CR-29 and the several small rural residential roads proceeding to the east of CR-29.
Amenities Available: Picnic Tables, Restrooms, Wheelchair Accessible
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