Clio, AL

Clio had 1,220 residents in 2020, at the meeting point of Alabama Routes 10 and 51 in Barbour County. Route 10 runs west toward Brundidge and east toward Blue Springs, giving the city a direct connection to the surrounding farms and communities. The most distinctive nearby landmark is Blue Springs State Park, built around a cold spring whose water feeds a swimming hole and has drawn visitors since John Harrison developed the site in the late 1800s.

ATTRRivers Langley; SaveRivers / CC BY-SA 3.0

Blue Springs also ties Clio to Alabama’s political history. George Wallace grew up about six miles from the spring, and as governor in 1963 he made bringing the property into the state park system a priority. Baseball Hall of Famer and longtime broadcaster Don Sutton was born in Clio as well. Today, the state park, Easterling Correctional Facility, and the Route 10 corridor are the names most likely to orient a visitor, while the wider Barbour County setting supplies the fields, roads, and small communities that surround the city.