Notice the capitol ahead — known as the First Confederate Capitol, though today it houses only the governor's office and a museum. It sits on Capitol Hill — originally Goat Hill — in Montgomery, and was declared a National Historic Landmark on December 19, 1960. Unlike most other state capitols, the Alabama Legislature does not meet here; it meets at the Alabama State House. This building houses the governor's office and otherwise functions as a museum.
Alabama's seat of government moved through five political capitals and four purpose-built capitol buildings since it was designated a United States territory. The territorial capital was at St. Stephens in 1817. The state organizing convention met in Huntsville in 1819, and the first permanent capital was designated in 1820 as Cahaba. The legislature moved the capital to Tuscaloosa in 1826, where it occupied a new three-story State House that later became the Alabama Central Female College. After that 1826 State House burned in 1923, its ruins were retained within Capitol Park. Finally, in 1846 the legislature moved the capital to Montgomery.
The hill, the building, and the park each carry a piece of that long journey from St. Stephens in 1817 to Montgomery in 1846.