Birmingham's oldest continuously operating hotel (1925) — last lodging of Hank Williams Sr., who spent the night here before his death en route to a 1953 show.
2101 5th Avenue North, Birmingham, AL 35203
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$$
Operates as a Curio Collection by Hilton hotel; nightly rates apply. Public lobby and rooftop bar are accessible to non-guests.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Downtown urban hotel with elevators; sidewalk parking and curb access at 5th Avenue.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1925 · National Register of Historic Places (1983) · Birmingham's oldest continuously operating hotel · Site of Hank Williams Sr.'s last overnight stay (Dec 31, 1952)
The Redmont Hotel opened on March 1, 1925, as a 200-room downtown hotel offering the then-novel amenities of private baths in every room and water-cooled ceiling fans. The 14-story Chicago School building was designed by Atlanta architect G. Lloyd Preacher.
Hotel magnate Clifford Stiles purchased the property in 1946 and, in 1947, converted the building's top floor into a private penthouse apartment where he lived with his family. Stiles operated the hotel into the postwar period.
The Redmont's most-cited 20th-century incident is the December 31, 1952 stay of country music star Hank Williams Sr. Williams was traveling north from Montgomery, Alabama for a New Year's Day 1953 concert in Canton, Ohio. He spent the night of December 31 at the Redmont and was driven north early on January 1; he died in the back seat of his Cadillac somewhere in West Virginia during the journey. The official cause was heart failure. The Redmont was therefore his last hotel.
The Redmont was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983 and has cycled through several owners and brand affiliations since. It currently operates as the Redmont Hotel Birmingham, Curio Collection by Hilton, and remains Birmingham's oldest continuously operating hotel. The rooftop bar has become a downtown landmark.
Sources
The Redmont's haunting reputation rests on three named figures, all attested across multiple regional sources (US Ghost Adventures, Alabama Haunted Houses, FrightFind, The Haunted States).
The first is Hank Williams Sr. Williams spent the night of December 31, 1952 at the Redmont and was driven north before dawn on January 1 toward a Canton, Ohio show; he died of heart failure in the back seat of his Cadillac during the trip. Tour narratives and guest reports describe humming, faint guitar music, and an indistinct male figure on the upper floors that staff associate with the country singer.
The second is Clifford Stiles, the hotel's mid-century owner. Stiles converted the top floor to his family residence in 1947 and is reported to roam the halls turning lights on and off and locking and unlocking doors — behaviors framed in the lore as those of an attentive proprietor still checking the building.
The third is a 'lady in white' on the ninth floor, sometimes seen accompanied by a small phantom dog. Reports of this figure are anonymous in the historical record — she has no documented identification — but the account recurs across multiple guest reviews recorded by Alabama Haunted Houses and Haunted Journeys.
Guest reports across all sources describe a consistent set of secondary phenomena: doors opening and closing on their own, furniture and baggage shifted in locked rooms, and a sense of being watched in upper-floor hallways. Some online sources misstate that Hank Williams 'died at the Redmont' — he died on the road during the next morning's drive, not at the hotel.
Notable Entities
Stay overnight in Birmingham's oldest continuously operating hotel. The ninth-floor and upper-floor rooms — including the former Stiles penthouse — are most often cited in ghost reports.
The Redmont is a regular stop on Birmingham ghost walks, with guides telling the Hank Williams and Clifford Stiles stories from the sidewalk on 5th Avenue North.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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