Every year, tourists travel to the Yellow Hammer State to see Cahaba lilies in Bibb County along the Cahaba River.

It's now spring and the flowers are beginning to bloom, documented by Patrick Stewart Photography. Check out some images captured in one of the most beautiful places in Alabama.

As part of the Cahaba National Wildlife Refuge, a new project has just been completed that will open up the area and make it easier for visitors to view the lilies.

The $8.5 million project has been in the works for 15 years, led by Cahaba River Superintendent David Butler.

“What you see today is not what you'll see in the future, so this is all going to be reforested, but it's just going to take time,” Butler told WVTM News a few weeks ago. “We're mostly done. Now it's time to reforest, to bring it back to how it was before the mining activities.”

You can see Stewart's entire gallery of lilies and the new renovation project here.