Central Region - Hiking Alabama: A Guide to the State's Greatest Hiking Adventures - page 263

Maps: USGS Bessemer, Bessemer Iron District, Birmingham South, AL;
DeLorme: Alabama Atlas & Gazetteer, page 30 F5; trail maps available at inform-
ation kiosk (free but donation requested)
Trail contact: Red Mountain Park, 277 Lyon Ln., Birmingham, AL 35211; (205)
202-6043; www.redmountainpark.org
Finding the trailhead: From I-65 in Birmingham, take exit 255 and head west on
W. Lakeshore Parkway. Travel 3.2 miles and turn right onto Frankfurt Drive. The
trailhead is at the bend as Frankfurt Drive becomes Lyon Lane. Park anywhere
along Frankfurt Drive. GPS: N33 26.712' / W86 51.753'
The Hike
Many people know that the city of Birmingham was once the center of iron pro-
duction in the South. Parks such as Tannehill Ironworks Historic State Park allow
you to hike that piece of the city's history. But what many people do not realize is
that to become the industrial powerhouse it was in the 1800s and the bustling city
it is today, it took a little red dust—iron ore. Red Mountain Park gives hikers a
chance to visit that part of the history and learn about the sweat and backbreaking
work it took to bring the ore to market, plus there's a little something extra. More
on that in a moment.
The abridged story of iron ore in central Alabama goes back centuries to the
Native Americans who lived in the region and used the dust for dyeing clothes
and pottery. It wasn't until the 1840s that a local farmer, Baylis Earle Grace, iden-
tified the dust as hematite (iron ore) and began scraping the land and shipping it to
a foundry in a neighboring county. As the Civil War approached, speculators
began buying up large tracts of land on and near Red Mountain, the goal being to
capitalize on the now-burgeoning iron-mining industry. The area's first commer-
cial mine, known as Eureka 1, was opened in 1863 (the mine is located on the
eastern side of the park). And with that the mining boom was on, the population
increased, and in 1871 the city of Birmingham was founded.
The iron-mining boom continued for a century, until it was finally shut down
for a variety of reasons, including an increase in foreign imports. The last active
mine on the mountain was closed by its owner at the time, US Steel, in 1962.