Shades Creek
Shades Creek, sometimes called Mountain Brook, is a 56.4 mile-long stream running southwest from its source near the Birmingham Race Course, through Shades Valley, to the Cahaba River near the Shelby County/Bibb County line. Along the way it passes through Irondale, Birmingham, Mountain Brook, Homewood, Hoover, and Bessemer.
History
From 1915 to the 1940s, Shades Creek was dammed at Columbiana Road, just downstream of Griffin Creek to form Edgewood Lake, a popular recreational resort during the 1920s and 30s.
In recent years, the Freshwater Land Trust has purchased several acres of land along the creek, primarily behind Wildwood Shopping Center and in Shannon for permanent conservation. The Land Trust is also working to remove Japanese privet, a highly invasive, non-native plant, along stretches of Shades Creek in Bessemer and to restore the creek to its original pathway. Other work along the creek includes Homewood's construction of the Shades Creek Greenway to connect Jemison Park in Mountain Brook with West Homewood Park.
Recently, biologists have found Cahaba shiners, goldline darters and coal shiners in Shades Creek near its outlet into the Cahaba, perhaps indicating that recent improvements to both streams are having a positive effect on aquatic life.
Sites along Shades Creek
Starting upstream (from the north):
- Jemison Park
- Brookwood Village
- Shades Creek Greenway
- Homewood High School
- University Park
- Wildwood Shopping Center
Streets running alongside Shades Creek
Major roads crossing Shades Creek
Starting upstream (from the north):
- U.S. Highway 280
- Independence Drive (U.S. Highway 31)
- Columbiana Road
- Interstate 65
- West Oxmoor Road
- State Highway 150
- Interstate 459
References
- Cahaba Tributaries at the Rivers of Alabama web site
- Greenway Walking Trail at the Homewood Chamber of Commerce web site
- Freshwater Land Trust web site. Accessed November 8, 2006.
- Bouma, Katherine (November 19, 2006) "Imperiled fish reappear up Shades Creek." Birmingham News.