Alabama NewsCenter — Heritage Landing promises economic opportunity for southern Walker County, Alabama

By Michael Sznajderman
Alabama NewsCenter Staff

For more than a century, Walker County’s economy was driven largely by the rich seams of coal that underlie the region. By 1900, the bounty of the famed Warrior Coal Field had transformed an agricultural county into the second largest producer of coal in Alabama, just behind rapidly industrializing Jefferson County.

Today, Walker County’s economy and workforce are driven by a broader diversity of sectors. From the auto suppliers and other manufacturers locating along the Interstate Highway 22 corridor that connects Birmingham to Memphis, Tennessee; to the tourism and recreation dollars generated by Smith Lake; to the new retail vibrancy in the historic town center of Jasper – Walker County is re-creating itself.

Now, a new project involving private and public partners is transforming land historically tied to the county’s legacy of mining into a site for the industries of tomorrow.

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