Cornerstone Ranch
Cornerstone Ranch is a non-profit Christian organization focused on helping young people. It is located on 1,200 acres in eastern Brookside with an address at 4300 Powder Mill Road (Jefferson County Road 67), north of Mineral Springs. The camp includes the 80-acre Newfound Creek Lake and five smaller ponds, as well as a portion of the former Cane Creek Branch of the Birmingham Mineral Railroad along its western edge.
The organization was founded in 2008 by Jake Chemell, Josh Nation, Jimmy Nation and Rusty Rouse. The goals of the ranch are to develop self-esteem, character, and faith in the lives of young men and women through a combination of faith-based sessions and recreational activities.
Cornerstone acquired the former powder plant property, unused since the 1970s, from the DuPont Corporation on December 31, 2008. In 2011, the Gardendale Rotary Club provided funds to construct a pavilion at the Ranch.
In 2018 the Five Mile Creek Greenway Partnership began developing the abandoned railway right-of-way, which it had acquired from CSX Transportation, into a segment of a 16.5-mile recreational trail. Cornerstone opposed the development and filed a federal lawsuit to assert its claims.
Executive directors
- Rusty Rouse, 2008–
- Dalton Moore, 2022
References
- "Ranch moves to next level" (November 28, 2011) North Jefferson News
- Haygood, Sheldon (March 17, 2022) "Cornerstone Ranch is building kids up." WBRC.com
External Links
- Cornerstone Ranch website