Nature
Following U. S. Steel’s donation of $1 million plus a commitment to sell land at a $9.5 million discount, a 1,108 acre tract has been put together by the Black Warrior-Cahaba Rivers Land Trust that will result in the establishment of Red Mountain Park. This large park will extend for 4.5 miles along ridgetop and adjacent lands in southwestern Birmingham. With the creation of this park, according to the Trust for Public Land, Birmingham will have 17.9 acres of public green space per 1,000 residents, ahead of top ranked Minneapolis with 14.3 acres per 1,000 residents.
At 9,940 acres, suburban Oak Mountain Park is the state’s largest park. The Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, miles of hiking trails past waterfalls and ridgetop vistas, pristine lake, golf course, horseback rides, and cabins and camp sites offer something for everyone. The Oak Mountain Amphitheater draws thousands to warm-weather concerts. Lake sailors and anglers enjoy nearby Logan Martin while canoeists and kayakers find miles of flowing water on the Cahaba River flowing east to west just south of downtown.
The 10-acre park starring Vulcan, the world’s largest cast iron statue, features spectacular views of Birmingham and moving stories of the city’s past and current progression for connecting parks, trails, and greenways. No wonder Birmingham was featured in Runner’s World magazine for its desirable environment.
Places of Worship
From Birmingham’s founding, its churches emerged as architectural gems and centers of the arts as well as places of worship. Three cathedrals and a synagogue form a triangle of stars in Birmingham’s architectural crown: the Eastern Orthodox Church of the Holy Trinity & Holy Cross holds a fall Greek Festival. The Cathedral Church of the Advent (Episcopal) and Cathedral of St. Paul exemplify the European High Gothic in design and the Twenty-first Century in community-building. Conservative, Reform, and Orthodox congregations meet in historic buildings, the earliest being Temple Emanu-El (1889). Protestant Christian and independent churches are well-represented.
Our most famous church, Sixteenth Street Baptist, continues its Phoenix-like rise as the catalyst of the Civil Rights Movement. In the Civil Rights District of Birmingham, Sixteenth-Street Baptist Church plans and hosts cultural, educational and civic activities; when its organist Anthony Patton is away, he’s traveling the world to perform with top orchestras.
Schools
The Alabama School of Fine Arts school for gifted and talented students in the sciences and mathematics as well as all the arts. Annually, ASFA boasts several National Merit Scholarship finalists and its graduates are offered scholarships at MIT, Stanford, Eastman, Vanderbilt, and the Ivy Leagues. Other state and private schools in the region earn national accolades for academic quality.
In a ranking of the top 1,000 high schools nationwide, Jefferson County International Baccalaureate School (with 325 students) was named the top public high school in the nation. The ranking was based on the number of students who took Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate tests in 2004, divided by the number of seniors. Additionally, Alabama School of the Fine Arts ranked 61 (down from 4th in the nation a year ago) and Mountain Brook High School ranked 248.
Two nationally-ranked liberal arts institutions, Samford University and Birmingham-Southern Collegeand University of Alabama at Birmingham with its world-class medical research programs, along with several IT and two-year colleges, ensure access to an array of cultural programs as well as quality education for the members of the Birmingham business community and their families.
