Sylvania, AL

Sylvania is a DeKalb County town on top of Sand Mountain, with Alabama 75 running through the town toward Henagar and Rainsville. The 2020 census counted 1,790 residents. The community was established in 1836 and incorporated in 1967, so its history has both a nineteenth-century settlement layer and a much newer town boundary. The mountain setting is not scenery at the edge of town; it is the surface the town is built on.

Sylvania High School carries a bit of local resilience. The first school, built in 1914, burned in 1945, and the current high school followed in 1947. The Rams use gold and green, giving school colors a place in the town’s visual vocabulary. A 120-acre DeKalb County Public Fishing Lake sits about a mile north, adding a water spot to the Sand Mountain setting. Sylvania is a small ridge-top town with a school history, a highway through its middle, and a fishing lake just beyond the town limits.