TUSCALOOSA: Three Other Highlights

* Barbecue. The town has a lot of great places. The most famous is the original Dreamland (5535 15th Ave. East). You'll never find it on your own using the address, but you might get there with the map at http://www.dreamlandbbq.com. It's hard-core: It serves ribs (about $20 for a full rack), sauce, white bread, banana pudding, cold drinks. That's it. You want hush puppies or something, go somewhere else. If you have friends in town, get them to take you across the river to Northport to the equally spartan Archibald's (1211 MLK Blvd.), which many locals think is better than Dreamland.

* Foster Auditorium. One of the most dramatic moments in the civil rights struggle took place when Alabama Gov. George Wallace made his famous "stand in the schoolhouse door" to block two black students from entering the University of Alabama on June 11, 1963. Federal marshals and members of the Alabama National Guard forced Wallace to stand aside, delivering an important blow against institutional segregation in the South. A plaque at the north entrance commemorates the event. The building is on Sixth Avenue between University Boulevard and Ninth Avenue.

* Westervelt Warner Museum of American Art. Tucked far back in a subdivision on the north side of town, this relatively small museum has an extraordinary collection of American paintings, including works by Albert Bierstadt, John Singer Sargent, Childe Hassam, Winslow Homer, Edward Hicks, George Catlin, Thomas Cole, Asher Durand, Frederic E. Church, Mary Cassatt, James A. McNeill Whistler and others. Admission is $7. Directions and info: 205-343-4540. http://www.warnermuseum.org.

For more information on Tuscaloosa, contact the Tuscaloosa Convention & Visitors Bureau,800-538-8696, http://www.tcvb.org.

-- J.P.