re: My son is interested in history. What places do you recommend visiting in the south?

There are some really cool forts and museums around Pensacola, granted the naval air museum was partially closed due to Covid for a long time. I'm not sure if they've reopened or not. One of my favorite trips as a tween was when I went with my scout troop to Pensacola and we played hide and seek in this old ruined fortress.

Maybe already posted but Shiloh as a kid was fascinating. Huntsville NASA-Redstone Arsenal, go see the hydro dams at Pickwick, go see all the infrastructure at ORCS.

For Pre-Columbian, Poverty Point is the answer. It's a major archaeological site and is featured in many ancient history textbooks.

I got into archaeology through Boy Scouts, but we were a different troop than today's. We volunteered at Moundville (AL) a lot so I would recommend calling them. You could also contact some local arrowhead collecting groups for a hunt. Another in Alabama is going shark tooth hunting, an underrated hands-on kid history experience (and productive too unlike gimmicky gold mining tourist traps). Another is that some of the Natural History Museums put on fossil excursion camps during the summer.

Another recommendation is to get him reading and go backwards in time and start with written history/accounts. Hernando de Soto was the first (well documented) European explorer in the South. Between de Soto and the next explorer, it was 150 years later and much of the native populations had reduced or moved on. Obviously, exploration and conquest is controversial, as he was one of the few explorers to become extremely wealthy at a young age from plundering. It gives a young kid something tangible to read about, but there is some censoring that may be needed. Spoiler: He wasn't a good dude to natives. Something my father and I did was trace some of the route of De Soto and visit the museums, sites, etc along the route. For me the European written account opened up interest in non-written history. Something unique about the writings about de Soto is that the first reports were officially filed in Europe just 2 years after his death, and actual accounts/diaries coming 15 years after his death. This makes for some "fresh" reading. Reading then going made for a more impressionable experience than just going and seeing dirt piled up or etc.

I would visit any place with a statue, there may not be any of them left in a few years.

WWII museum in New Orleans. Do you consider Houston the south? They have a really good concentration camp museum.

But if you just go through small towns throughout the south there is plenty of history to be found in different forms.

You can find some interesting things because there is always a chance a small town has a historian of the town who might have a book.

You want to learn about the history of the Atchafalaya here is a book written by locals who did their research, etc..

Spirit of Atchafalaya

You just have to be more specific and I am sure there is something there..

Pre-Columbus: a trip to Newfoundland and Aux en Meadows for his high school graduation.

Driveable_ west Texas to see the flint quarry where so many Clovis points were chipped.(Near Amarillo) Then to New Mexico to Chaco Canyon and then to Canyon de Chelly. He's young and will come away with some knowledge and will probably want to know more.

Ask him if he wants to center a vacation on the Woodland Indians culture and let him make up the drive.

Don't overlook the Okonaluftee village near the Smokies.

If your vacation is a week long, let him plan three days. He's not too young to make decisions.

North Baton Rouge...that place has been history for a while now

The Alamo. Remember it.