Saturday

4) 9 A.M. Market Meal

Over a hundred farm stands, food stalls and craft sellers sprout each Saturday morning from April to December at the popular Market at Pepper Place in the parking lot of a handsome brick complex that used to house a Dr Pepper factory. Graze for blackberries, buttery poundcake (made with a recipe by a matriarch named Big Mama) and sheep’s milk dulce de leche. For a sit-down meal, head to OvenBird, whose cast iron hearth sends out Spanish-meets-Southern dishes like fried chicken with chorizo ($13) and a pork belly B.L.T. with piparra chile ($15).

5) 11 A.M. On a Roll

Check out a flashy green Zyp bicycle from a bike-share kiosk next to Pepper Place ($6 for unlimited rides of up to 45 minutes each within a 24-hour period). Then explore the expansive grounds of Sloss Furnaces, which manufactured pig iron from 1882 for nearly a century. Now a National Historic Landmark building with a ruddy patina, this interpretive museum is not only a site for concerts and metal forging classes, but also a symbol of the city’s industrial foundation and green evolution.

Sloss Furnaces, opened in 1882, is now a site for concerts and metalworking classes. Credit Robert Rausch for The New York Times



6) 11:45 A.M. Rail to Trail

A pleasant 1.5-mile ride, which includes zipping down an abandoned railroad reborn in 2016 as the Rotary Trail, will lead you to Railroad Park. This 19-acre green lung, molded largely with materials reclaimed from the site where warehouses once occupied the heart of the city, has become a communal garden with ponds, streams, hills and a skate park. Dock your bike and join the joggers and stroller-pushers on the three-quarter-mile loop path to admire the skyline.

7) 12:30 P.M. Out of the Park

The intimate (and free) Negro Southern League Museum views baseball through a distinctively local lens. As you browse the memorabilia, interactive displays and uniforms of players like the pitcher Satchel Paige, you’ll learn not only about how the sport has evolved, but also about how the United States changed in the 20th century, causing the league to rise and fall.

8) 1:30 P.M. Global Aspirations

Once deserted after business hours, downtown has made a dazzling comeback in the last decade, with lofts occupying historic buildings along First and Second Avenues North. Catering to the young professionals who flock here, the Pizitz Food Hall opened in February with globally minded dining spots like Eli’s Jerusalem Grill, which pairs a shawarma pocket ($7.79) with sweet tea, and Lichita’s, which scoops out Mexican-style (eggless) ice cream made with local fruits, all centered on a bar serving milkshakes and cocktails. Drop by Yellowhammer Creative, brimming with covetable dish towels, retro-style posters and T-shirts reading “It’s nice to have you in Birmingham.”

In the Kelly Ingram Park, there are statues of the four African-American girls killed in the 1963 church bombing. Credit Robert Rausch for The New York Times



9) 3 P.M. ‘Yearning for Freedom’

Designated a national monument by President Barack Obama during his last days in office, the Birmingham Civil Rights District consists of sites like the A. G. Gaston Motel, where the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. met with activists, and the 16th Street Baptist Church, where a 1963 bombing killed four girls and injured many other congregants. Today the Romanesque church remains a thriving place of worship that testifies to the community’s resilience. Tour the adjacent Birmingham Civil Rights Institute ($15), which chronicles African-Americans’ continuing struggles through photographs, multimedia and objects like the bars of the cell where Dr. King wrote the “Letter From Birmingham Jail.” At the eerily quiet Kelly Ingram Park across the street are a number of sculptures, including a police dog lunging at a boy and three pastors kneeling in prayer.

10) 7 P.M. Points Well Taken

Spend your Saturday evening in Five Points South, where the idyllic neighborhood of Highland Park collides with the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The dynamic neighborhood is home to convivial gastro pubs as well as James Beard winners like Frank Stitt, who runs two French-accented restaurants, Highlands Bar & Grill and Chez Fonfon, side by side, and Chris and Idie Hastings, whose Hot and Hot Fish Club serves plates like rabbit roulade with crawfish and rice grits ($36). Afterward, sip a dessertlike martini at the intimate Blue Monkey Lounge or rock out with the town’s good-hearted revelers to live music at Marty’s PM, which stays open until 6 a.m.