Florala, AL

Florala is a Covington County town on the Alabama–Florida line, with U.S. Highway 331 and Alabama Routes 54 and 55 tying it to the Wiregrass and the Florida Panhandle. The 2020 census counted 1,923 residents. Lake Jackson straddles the state line, and Florala’s Alabama shoreline includes the city park, boat landing, wetlands, and a historic downtown. Covington County schools, local businesses, the restored railroad depot, and the lake give the town a working center as well as a border-town setting.

ATTREbyabe / CC BY-SA 3.0

The area had a post office by 1875, first under the name Lake City, then Lakeview, before Florala became the official name in 1891. The town incorporated in 1901. Lumber and naval stores drove an early boom, and the Yellow River, Louisville and Nashville, and Central of Georgia railroads all reached Florala between 1898 and 1904. The town’s population grew rapidly as timber companies and textile businesses arrived. The forests and railroads later declined, leaving Lake Jackson, the downtown historic district, the First National Bank building, and the depot as pieces of that earlier economy.