Miles of wilderness hiking and biking and a 22-acre lake for watersports and fishing already are strong attractions for Red Mountain Park, one of the largest urban parks in the country.
A land swap involving U.S. Steel, the city of Birmingham and the park announced this week will add another 49 acres to the park, making it even larger. Combined with Ruffner Mountain and the downtown Railroad Park, Birmingham is a national leader in city green spaces, with thousands of acres of undeveloped and developed park land.
Too often, we find Birmingham at the top of the sorts of lists we’d rather stay away from, including national violent crime rates.
This time, Birmingham is the leader in an area that is likely to draw not only visitors from this state, region and beyond, but people who are looking for a greener place to relocate. Don’t underestimate the value of nearby wilderness spaces in inspiring the growth of urban areas.
Birmingham is blessed with more than 20 acres at the downtown Railroad Park, more than 1,000 acres at Ruffner Mountain and, with the land swaps this week, now more than 1,200 acres at Red Mountain Park.
This is very good news, but even better is how the additional land enhances Red Mountain Park’s attractions. Included in the new land are the ruins of mines and railroads that covered the property over a century from the 1860s to the 1960s and, also important, two historic cemeteries where miners and workers at furnaces in the area are buried.
Red Mountain Park not only will feature great recreation opportunities, it also will be a historic attraction for visitors wanting to learn more about the people and lives surrounding the commercial ore mines in the park and the now-vanished company towns where hundreds of miners and their families lived. Many are buried in the two cemeteries that now will be the park’s responsibility.
There’s still much to do before Red Mountain Park is fully opened to the public — including building roads, hiking and biking trails and a lake. But a Red Mountain Park official said the park should be opened for business in three years.
Sounds like it will be well worth the wait.
HIKE RED MOUNTAIN
Friends of Red Mountain Park hosts hikes at 2 p.m. on the third Sunday of each month from October through April. New trails have been added.
Where: Tours leave from the cul-de-sac at the end of Frankfurt Road off Lakeshore.
When: Oct. 18, Nov. 15, Dec. 20, Jan. 17, Feb. 21, March 21 and April 18.
