Wheeler is an unincorporated community

Unincorporated area

In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...

 in Lawrence County

Lawrence County, Alabama

Lawrence County is a county of the U.S. state of Alabama, and is included in the Decatur Metropolitan Area, as well as the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area. It was named after James Lawrence, a captain in the United States Navy from New Jersey. As of the 2010 census, the population was...

, Alabama

Alabama

Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

. Wheeler had a post office

United States Postal Service

The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...

 at one time, but it no longer exists. Wheeler has two sites on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

, the Tidewater

Tidewater region of Virginia

The Tidewater region of Virginia is the eastern portion of the Commonwealth of Virginia formally known as Hampton Roads. The term tidewater may be correctly applied to all portions of any area, including Virginia, where the water level is affected by the tides...

-type cottage known as Bride's Hill

Bride's Hill

Bride's Hill, known also as Sunnybrook, is a historic house near Wheeler, Alabama. It is one of the state's earliest surviving and most significant, examples of the Tidewater-type cottage...

 and the former home of Joseph Wheeler

Joseph Wheeler

Joseph Wheeler was an American military commander and politician. He has the rare distinction of serving as a general during war time for two opposing forces: first as a noted cavalry general in the Confederate States Army in the 1860s during the American Civil War, and later as a general in the...

, Pond Spring

Joseph Wheeler Plantation

The Joseph Wheeler Plantation, commonly known as Pond Spring or the General Joe Wheeler Home, is a historic plantation complex and historic district in the Tennessee River Valley in Wheeler, Alabama. The property contains twelve historically significant structures dating from 1818 to the 1880s...

.

Geography

Wheeler is located in the Tennessee River

Tennessee River

The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. It is approximately 652 miles long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The river was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other names...

 valley, roughly 5 miles (8 km) south of Wheeler Lake

Wheeler Lake

Wheeler Lake is located in the northern part of the United States state of Alabama, between Rogersville and Huntsville. Created by Wheeler Dam along the Tennessee River, it stretches 60 miles from Wheeler Dam to Guntersville Dam...

. It is at 34.65259°N 87.24974°W and has an elevation of 597 feet (182 m).