Chandler Mountain

From Bhamwiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Chandler Mountain is a rugged feature of the Blount Mountain district of the Cumberland Plateau in northern St Clair County. The synclinal mountain takes the form of a two joined bowl-shaped plateaus bounded by craggy ridges. The roughly 11 square-mile plateau is approximately 8 miles long, running southwest to northeast, and about a mile and a half wide. The mountain is named for the family of Joel Chandler, who settled on Little Canoe Creek in the 1810s.

Chandler Mounted is bounded on the southwest by Hyatt Gap, through which Muckleberry Creek flows. At the northeastern end a tall, rounded prominence is bounded by Little Canoe Creek and Steele Gap. Jake Creek, which is impounded to form Chandler Mountain Lake on the plateau, joins Gulf Creek on the south edge of Chandler Mountain, cutting a deep ravine as it flows toward Big Canoe Creek.

A high aquifer on the plateau made the mountain top desirable for farming, with peaches and, later, tomatoes as notable crops. By the 1880s the Mt Lebanon First Congregational Methodist Church had begun meeting, thought it only formally organized in 1905. A Mt Lebanon School was operating nearby and merged with McCay School to become the forerunner of St Clair County Schools' Chandler Mountain Junior High School. Chandler Mountain Baptist Church was organized in 1910.

Horse Pens 40, a recreational park known for its prominent boulders, was developed on land that John Hyatt acquired from his cousin Hezakiah McWaters on the western end of Chandler Mountain.

In March 2008 a assigned to the U.S. Navy's Training Squadron Six in Milton, Florida crashed into the side of Chandler Mountain, killing both officers aboard.

In 2023 Alabama Power Company made a formal application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for a "Chandler Mountain Pumped Storage Project" which would involve impounding new reservoirs at the top and bottom of the northeast end of Chandler Mountain, connected by reversible turbine pump generators. The water would be pumped uphill to be stored during non-peak hours for energy consumption, and then be released to generate hydroelectric power during peak demand. The proposal has met widespread opposition from local residents under the banner "Stop the Project".

In March 2024 "avocational archaeologist" David M. Johnson Jr addressed a group of residents and representatives of the Indian Nations Conservation Alliance at the Steele Community Center. He shared photographs of remnants of prehistoric use of the mountain by indigenous people, along with his interpretation that the geological feature was considered a sacred site.

This article is a stub. You can help Bhamwiki by expanding it.

References

Retrieved from "http://bhamwiki.com/w/index.php?title=Chandler_Mountain&oldid=213453"