Chad Watts knows all too well how hard kayaks are to see in the dark. Several years ago, while fishing in a tournament on Lake Jordan, he nearly ran over a kayaker.
They were fishing at what is considered “safe light,” just as it is getting light enough to see, but before the sun has risen. “I was running 75 miles an hour toward a wide cove. There was a piece of land that jutted out about 30 feet, so I couldn’t see around the other side of it until I got almost even with it,” said Watts.
“By that time, I was doing about 60. When I came around, there was a kayaker 20 yards from my boat. How I avoided running completely over the top of him, I don’t know. I was so rattled, I couldn’t fish.”
Watts went to check on the kayaker and wound up talking to him for 30 minutes (in the middle of the tournament). What came from the experience was a friendship and a product that makes kayak fishing safer.
Watts started Firefly Marine, a company out of Trussville, that produces the Firefly stern light. The difference in their product over what was available previously is both the height of the light (telescopes to over 9 feet) and the material of the light (refracting plastic to eliminate blinding light).
Located just off of St. Clair County 9 in Springville, Big Canoe Creek Nature Preserve can make you forget you’re just a mile or two away from the highway’s busy intersection of U.S. 11 in the middle of town.
As you drive along the winding, two-lane road covered with trees, you can already feel the temperature drop, even on this hot-as-molten-lava day in mid-August. It’s possible to roll your window down and take in a nice breeze.
The entrance to Big Canoe Creek is just under a half-mile past Homestead Hollow, but, if you’re not paying attention, you can drive right by it without noticing it.
Once you arrive on site, you’re reminded immediately of just how spectacular this part of St. Clair County truly is. On today’s visit, the sky overhead is mostly blue with a few clouds meandering by, and everywhere you look, you see green – undisturbed green. In a word, it’s breathtaking.
The Preserve, which opened to the public in February 2024, began to take shape when Alabama’s Forever Wild Land Trust purchased 382 acres of land in Springville in 2018. A year later the trust added 40 acres, bringing the Preserve to its massive footprint of 422 acres.
Preserve’s Historic Path
The Preserve’s caretaker and longtime advocate is Doug Morrison, now manager of it for the City of Springville. His interest in the area’s preservation goes back to 2007 while serving as the president of the Friends of Big Canoe Creek. Upon learning that the property was being eyed for development, Morrison and other members of Friends of Big Canoe lobbied the Springville City Council to take action to protect the creek.
Doug Morrison on the trail
At minimum, they asked for a riparian buffer, a strip of trees, grass, or shrubs either planted or left intact to protect bodies of water from development. Morrison said they even looked at what other nearby cities were doing to protect other bodies of water.
“A lot of times, developers will just clear every tree, and all of that sediment just goes into the creek,” says Morrison. “We were just trying to get them to be better stewards of the earth and at least leave riparian buffers.
“We even looked at some ordinances that Trussville had, for instance, with the Cahaba River and how they have setbacks leaving riparian buffers, basically just saying ‘leave the natural vegetation that’s already there,’ “ Morrison recalls.
Soon after the developers scrapped their plans altogether in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, and Morrison and others continued their quest to preserve and protect the creek and surrounding property.
Upon learning about the Forever Wild Land Trust, an initiative created by the state of Alabama in the early 90s, Morrison began approaching landowners about nominating their land for a potential sale to Forever Wild, a goal that took almost a decade of negotiations to accomplish.
With help from Springville and St. Clair County leadership and the owners of Homestead Hollow, the initial 386 acres were sold to Forever Wild in 2018.
Morrison says the creek had been affected by other developments in the area over the years, but it is now well on its way to full recovery. Big Canoe Creek is home to more than 58 species of fish, making it number one in Alabama in aquatic biodiversity. It is number four nationally in total biodiversity, and number one in the nation in aquatic diversity.
Still, Morrison says efforts are needed to protect “the special critters” of Big Canoe Creek. For instance, the creek is home to the Big Canoe Creek Club Shell, a mussel that can only be found in Big Canoe Creek that was listed as endangered in 2022.
“That’s one of the things we’re trying to tout and educate people about is our waterways are important, they’re special. They are home to a lot of different species of animals, and they’re disappearing at an alarming rate,” explains Morrison. “So hopefully with this preserve, we can get an educational program off the ground to help teach people about our great biodiversity.”
Today’s Path(s)
Big Canoe Creek Nature Preserve boasts four trails, Creek Loop Trail, Easy Rider Trail, Fallen Oak Trail and Slab Creek Trail, ranging from 1.2 miles to 2.5 miles in length available for a mixture of uses – hiking, biking and horseback riding.
All sorts of interesting finds along the trail
You can also canoe or kayak with outfitters on the creek offering gear rentals and guided tours along the creek.
This writer, on the day of his visit, hiked for a bit along the Fallen Oak trail and the Easy Rider Trail, and was struck by the preserve’s natural, rustic beauty – if the word “rustic” isn’t redundant when discussing nature. After a few yards of crushed gravel, the trails give way to narrow dirt paths winding along the natural topography of the land under dense tree cover. The trails are suitable for novices and children, however, anyone who is moderately active to the most experienced hikers will enjoy the trails and the chance to see a variety of wildlife, including the occasional deer.
Morrison says this is the ultimate goal of Big Canoe Creek Preserve: to give everyone a chance to experience the natural surroundings and biodiversity of Big Canoe Creek. He added that the organization, a 501c3 nonprofit organization, is exploring grants for the construction of a pavilion where they can hold educational events and field trips for the county’s school children.
“We want classes to go on field trips and along the trails and along the creeks and just experience nature,” Morrison says. He references an influential book by non-fiction author and journalist Richard Louv titled, Last Child In The Woods. In the book, Louv coined the term “nature deficit disorder,” a concept that resonated with Morrison and one he hopes to remedy over time.
Through the Preserve, he says, “We’re hoping we can do away with nature deficit disorder in St. Clair County.” llock repairman.Goforth, Mayor Thomas, Lucy Cleaver, Lee Jeffrey, Mandi Rae Trot, Candice Hill, Blair Goodgame and Morrison; Springville Parks and Rec Board; bands and individual musicians who played on the side stage and vendors.
It certainly wasn’t a first for Homestead Hollow. They’re used to hosting an outdoor festival drawing crowds from all around the region. But for newly opened Big Canoe Creek Nature Preserve, its successful first venture looks like a gateway to an annual fundraiser.
Event was held to help fund the Big Canoe Creek Preserve
Creek Jam was an all-day, outdoor musical festival, featuring bands, entertainment and activities for the entire family and drawing 1,500 to 2,000 attendees. And Homestead Hollow provided the ideal setting on its main stage featuring: Winston Ramble, Jason Bailey Trio, The Stepdads, Love Rat, Len Park, Cottonmouth Creek, LeeJ The DJ and more.
An educational tent was run by two of the Big Canoe Creek Preserve Partners, Jimmy Stiles and Jill Chambers. Jimmy brought creek critters, such as a baby alligator, snakes, turtles and other species. Jill brought microscopes for kids to view all sorts of things found in Nature. The Nature Conservancy, Forever Wild and the Coosa Riverkeeper also manned educational tents.
Camping was available, providing more time to listen to the bands and to explore the preserve.
“It was a good turnout,” said Preserve Manager Doug Morrison. “We’ve had good feedback. People came from Gadsden, Hoover, Locust Fork – from all over. We were real pleased.”
The feedback, he added, centered on how impressed they were with the venue and “how well put together the event was.”
It had a little something for everybody with artisans and makers as vendors, food galore and music of all genres – and plenty of it.
Festival goers spread blankets, set up camp and lawn chairs or strolled through the open fields to just enjoy the day and the outdoors.
After all, that’s what it was all about – the treasures found in simply getting outside – just like at the preserve.
Morrison thanked sponsors for their support:
A great day was had by people of all ages at the festival
St. Clair County Commission
City of Springville
Buffalo Rock/Pepsi, our Presenting Sponsor
Big Canoe Creek Preserve Partners
APEX Roofing
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama, The Caring Foundation
St. Clair EDC
AmFirst
Peritus Wealth Management
PPM Consultants
Hill, Gossett, Kemp, P.C.
Thompsons Tractor Rental
Schoel Engineering
Springville Dental
In-Kind Sponsors:
Cahaba Brewing Company
Ghost Train Brewery
Back Forty Beer Company
Steel Hall Brewing
Sweet Home Spirits
Creative Entertainment
Bob Tedrow of Homewood Music
Rusty’s BBQ
The Farm House
In addition, Morrison had high praise for:
Terri and Dean Goforth, who provided the venue space; Mayor Dave Thomas and Springville City Council; Commission Chairman Stan Batemon and the County Commission; all volunteers; Salient Projects, who organized the soundstage, bands and helped tremendously with planning; city employees from Parks and Rec; the planning committee – Terri & Dean Goforth, Mayor Thomas, Lucy Cleaver, Lee Jeffrey, Mandi Rae Trot, Candice Hill, Blair Goodgame and Morrison; Springville Parks and Rec Board; bands and individual musicians who played on the side stage and vendors.
Top Photo: Keith Little Badger, Cherokee tribe of Northeast Alabama, surveys area
Story by Mackenzie Free and Carol Pappas Photos by Mackenzie Free
Charlie Abercrombie has a history on this mountain, dating all the way back to the War of 1812 and a man by the name of Chandler.
That’s why today’s fight to save it meant so much to so many. For Charlie, it was personal.
Many joined the fight along the way and for varying reasons – from newcomers to old timers. It was personal to them, too.
Mackenzie Free, a photographer for Discover Magazine, joined the effort and was a vocal advocate in the Save Chandler Mountain movement. She lives in the mountain’s valley on the same land her husband’s family raised generations. Mackenzie and her family stood to lose it all – just like Charlie – if Alabama Power’s quest to build a hydro dam there succeeded.
Charlie Abercrombie on the dam on family’s land
It didn’t.
This is but one story among many, painting the picture of how history could be lost so easily. Here are excerpts from Charlie’s story that Mackenzie shared on social media at the height of the fight to save the mountain:
This is Charlie Abercrombie.
Out of all the folks I’ve met since moving out to the Steele/Chandler Mountain area 10 years ago, he might very well be one of my favorites.
I “think” he said he’s 77 years old, but I might be mistaken because he’s far too sprightly and agile for that to be correct.
He’s very charming and intelligent and has a memory that far exceeds mine.
He is also humble, hardworking and takes a lot of pride in his land.
You see, this land he calls home is special.
Very special …
His property was part of a presidential land grant from the U.S. government to Mr. Joel Chandler (yes, Chandler… as in ‘Chandler Mountain’) for fighting along with Andrew Jackson in the war of 1812.
A short while later, in the early 1840s, a grist mill (grinding wheat to flour and corn to meal) was built here. It was powered by water… this dam and Little Canoe Creek.
One of the pictographs found on the mountain
Mr. Abercrombie’s great grandfather later purchased this property and grist mill from the daughter of Joel Chandler in 1896. Let me reiterate that … 1896!!
(*To put that in perspective this property has been in his family longer than Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Alaska, and Hawaii, have been a part of the United States!!!)
This land is more than just his home… its history!
It’s his heritage.
It’s sewn into the very fiber of who he is.
It’s his legacy.
And you’ll find that is a common theme for most of these families (mine included) that stand to lose everything their forefathers fought so hard to protect.
It’s more than land … it’s bigger than that.
It’s not money either … it’s about history, heritage and the American dream.
Land has always been a staple of the American dream. From the Mayflower Compact of 1620, to the Homestead Act of 1862, all the way down to the ongoing battle we face to preserve what we have today … land has always been a integral component and driving force for the American way of life.
Mr. Abercrombie’s family worked their entire lives to earn, maintain and preserve the land they have for the next generation.
He is a steward of this land and the natural wonders around him … just as his great grandfather was.
He stands to lose it all.
The same sentiment played out across the mountain and down in the valley. They treasure the land, and they want to preserve it for future generations.
People like Fran Summerlin, Ben Lyon, Leo Galleo and a host of others led what did indeed become a movement to stop the project. The Alabama Rivers Alliance lauded them with an award for what was called a valiant battle.
The consensus was that the mountain isn’t just a geologic formation, it stands as a monument to history and heritage. It still stands because people cared enough to get involved in a fray most didn’t think they could win. But, they did.
Native American groups stepped in with support for preservation of land their ancestors once lived. Twinkle Cavanaugh and Chip Beeker of the Alabama Public Service Commission visited the mountain, heard the group’s pleas and decided their votes on Alabama Power’s proposal would be ‘no.’
Within days, Alabama Power announced it was cancelling its plans.
Big Canoe Creek Nature Preserve kicks off education program
Story by Roxann Edsall Photos by Mackenzie Free
Wattle, caruncle, snood! Characters in a Dr. Seuss book? Though quite amusing to say, and quite like the nonsensical words used in the works of children’s author Theodore Geisel, these are real words that describe features of a gobbler, a tom, or a hen or simply a turkey.
The wattle is that flap of skin under the turkey’s chin, while the caruncle are fleshy bumps on the turkey’s head and throat. The snood is the fleshy flap that hangs just above the turkey’s beak.
Fun facts about turkeys kept the attention of dozens of young people and their parents at the Youth Turkey Call Expo, held at Big Canoe Creek Nature Preserve in Springville to kick off its education program. The Preserve opened in March, and the education component will be a key focus.
Traci Ingleright helps a child practice using a turkey call
The goal was to get kids outdoors and learning about the sport of wild turkey hunting, an activity they can do now with adults and continue to enjoy into adulthood. They learned about turkey behavior, their habitats, turkey calling and about habitat management.
If you’re wandering around the woods and find a turkey feather, don’t worry, that bird has quite a few more…about 6,000 more. And if you want to find that turkey, you’re going to want a locator call. There are basically three types of turkey calls – locator, diaphragm (or mouth) and friction.
Locators help to find where the turkeys are. Diaphragm-type calls are those that are held in the mouth, and sound is made by forcing air through them. Friction calls use a rubbing motion to make sound and include push-button, box and slate calls. Which type a hunter uses depends on his or her need at the time and their skills and preference.
“My favorite is a slate call,” said Miller Gauntt, already a seasoned hunter at 12 years old. His dad, Trey Gauntt, took him on his first hunt six years ago. “He didn’t even want to take a gun,” says Trey. “But I killed a turkey that day, and he changed his mind.” Miller says what he likes most is hearing them gobble. “100 percent it’s hearing them gobble … and being outside.”
Male turkeys are called gobblers or toms. Females are hens, and young turkeys are called poults.
As three children from one family head home, they excitedly reflect on their favorite lessons of the day. Five-year-old Noah and his 10-year-old brother, Caleb, were particularly impressed with their newfound knowledge on identifying turkey droppings. “Boy turkey poop is shaped like a hockey stick,” says Noah. Caleb completes the lesson by adding that the female’s skat can be identified by its more artistic spiral shape. Macy, their 9-year-old cousin, now knows that turkeys have three toes, a lesson learned this day through pushing a metal impression of a turkey’s foot into a bit of modeling clay.
“I think events like this are crucial to getting people out here,” says David Hopper, senior conservation officer and wildlife biologist for the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. “Being a turkey hunter myself, I think it’s imperative to teach kids about the traditional ways of turkey hunting. We want to teach them to be safe and to respect the bird.”
He explains that respecting the turkey includes only killing what you plan to eat. And, if pictures are posted to social media, making sure the bird is cleaned up. “Make sure he’s shown respectfully,” says Hopper. “They’re beautiful creatures.”
Hopper grew up hunting and credits his grandfather as his outdoor mentor. “Turkeys and hunting, period, kind of shaped my career path, down to both degrees I ended up getting,” he says.
“As much as the outdoors and hunting has given to me, it became natural to give back. And the way we give back is to manage these resources so that my kids and their kids and everyone else have these natural resources for the future.”
He was four when his grandfather took him hunting for the first time. It’s a tradition he is planning to carry on with his own children.
Three generations of one family are enjoying the event and learning about the sport. Kyle Mavin, from Springville, has brought his son, Jake, and 5-year-old grandson Rowan to introduce the youngster to the family pastime. “I introduced Jake to hunting when he was a young boy,” says Kyle. “Now we’re introducing Rowan to it together. We wanted to get him outside, away from technology. Today’s been a great day to do that.”
Traci Ingleright leans in to help a child practice using a turkey call. She’s a teacher by day and volunteers with educational events for the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF). Having grown up turkey hunting with her dad, she is helping to educate future hunters as a tribute to him.
Her dad, Ben Knight, was a two-time world slam turkey hunter. A world slam turkey hunter is one who has harvested one of each of the North American subspecies of wild turkey in a given year.
Another grand slam turkey hunter is helping with another presentation today. Preston York got his single season grand slam in the spring of 2021. A family friend took him turkey hunting when York was 18 years old. “It spurred my love of the outdoors,” he says. “It got me in the woods every day of the season.”
Preston York (left) talks turkey with Trey Gauntt and his son, Miller
Now he’s in the woods a lot as owner of FloMotion Trail Builders, the company that built most of the trails at the Big Canoe Creek Nature Preserve and another 200 miles of trails in 40 locations in five states.
The VanWagner family loves coming out to the Preserve. “It’s a huge resource for us,” he says. “I do a lot of hiking and landscape photography, and this is a great place for that.” He has brought his two girls out for the day to enjoy time outdoors and to participate in the turkey call expo.
Eight-year-old Emma can hardly contain her excitement as she talks about her love of these “fuzzy and cute” creatures. She says she’s always wanted to use a turkey call, but that her dad won’t get her one.
Thanks to the vendors who donated prizes for the day, the VanWagner family has a very happy daughter. Emma won her very own turkey call. She’s sure to summon a gobbler soon, complete with wattle, caruncle and snood.
Maybe one day, she’ll be a grand slam turkey hunter, too.
Once historic enemies join forces to keep a proposed dam project off the mountain
Story by Paul South Photos by Mackenzie Free and Leo Galleo
When Seth C. Penn ponders Chandler Mountain, he thinks of the Indigenous peoples who walked the mountaintop 6,000 years before Christ trod the earth.
Darrell Hyatt thinks of generations of his family, who yanked a living from the mountain’s rich soil. The Hyatts came to the area when the only way to navigate the mountain was by wagon, horseback or on foot.
And Joe Whitten, an amateur historian and retired educator who came to St. Clair County in 1961, hiked from the base to the top of the mountain at age 80 and plans to do so again, even at 85.
Their backgrounds are different, but the three men share a love for the mountain and an understanding of the importance of the successful battle to fend off an Alabama Power proposal to build dams there. It was a plan that would have flooded the valley, displaced families and damaged sacred sites and archaeological treasures.
Community comes together for common cause
While bluegrass music at Horse Pens 40 and tomatoes – the area’s iconic signature crop – sprout in the minds of most Alabamians when the name, Chandler Mountain, is mentioned, make no mistake, it is holy ground.
According to Penn, Southeastern Region coordinator for the Indian Nations Conservation Alliance and a citizen of the Cherokee Tribe of Northeast Alabama, all land is sacred for Indigenous peoples, regardless of location. But the mountain is unique.
“Chandler Mountain is an area where tribal territories met,” Penn said. “This was a place inhabited by several different tribes, Cherokee people and Muskogean people as well. This is an area where you could see different looking people, different looking tribes, different languages. That makes the mountain unique unto itself.”
There are archaeological and ecological features on the mountain sacred to the tribes.
“How the water flows, the hydrologic buildup, makeup and processes are important ecologically and also sacred, considering the values of water, plant life and animals,” he said.
Prayers and other ceremonies were conducted on the mountain. And while the story may be apocryphal, it is said that Chandler Mountain is the only place where a peace treaty was signed between the Cherokee and Creek tribes.
“I have never seen that document,” Penn said. “So as far as the credibility of that, it’s very debatable and very questionable. So, my response to that would be, I’d like to see that happen in present time, so that an actual treaty exists.”
One piece of ancient history that does exist are the rock formations, stone structures and Cherokee pictographs, rock art that native peoples may have painted with their fingertips, according to a report by Dr. Harry Holstein, a professor of Chemistry and Geosciences at Jacksonville State University.
These drawings and structures, as well as the stars, all play into the ceremonial and governmental history of the mountain and its ancient inhabitants, Penn said.
“This is a place where we might go to higher ground in search of a spiritual connection. It’s a place where territories met. So, at times we might meet in council-like setting, where topics might be discussed among our tribe or with other tribes even. Trades could also take place,” Penn said.
From a spiritual perspective, he added, “The whole sacred, ceremonial prayer aspect of events that took place – with certain rock features facing certain directions, certain astrological features in line with certain features, that all plays into the ceremonial aspect of it.”
A Family’s Story
With all their earthly belongings, John Hyatt and his wife arrived on horseback from Hurt County, Ga., and settled near the Horse Pens area in 1875, where they homesteaded 120 acres.
“There have been Hyatts on that end of Chandler Mountain ever since,” said John Hyatt’s great-grandson, Darrell.
He lives near the base of the mountain. He can recite his family’s history like a precocious schoolboy. John Hyatt’s brother, Otis, was the first person to farm the tasty Chandler Mountain tomatoes.
But the mountain is about more than tomatoes. Darrell has lived in the Chandler Mountain Valley since 1969, and at his current homestead since 1981. There, he reared his children.
At one time, he pondered moving his family out west. But the tug of home was too strong, the ties too deep. In his family, Darrell has always been known as “the man who came back to the mountain.”
Artifacts found tell story of Native-Americans living on land
“I always knew this mountain was different,” he said. “We could never pull ourselves away. It’s not just the family history. It goes back thousands of years.”
He found paleo-points on the mountain, and he and his wife found the pictographs. In turn, they brought Holstein as well as a rock expert from the University of Tennessee.
“Dr. Holstein said this was the most significant archaeological find on the upper Coosa River drainage area,” Hyatt said.
That archaeological find played a significant role in the defeat of the Alabama Power project.
What would have been the impact of the project if it had moved forward? Often, before Alabama Power shelved the plan, Darrell imagined his last day in his beloved valley, where his kids grew up and where he walked the mountain, climbed its rocks and contemplated the world in solitude.
One of the dams would have been built within 1,000 feet of his home. Rocky Hollow, the Mount Lebanon Cemetery, a number of archeological treasures and dozens of families would have been washed away.
The Hiker
Darrell remembers the first time he and Joe Whitten hiked the mountain, following Steele Gap Road. Whitten was 80.
“Joe, are you ready to stop?,” he would ask.
“Where’s the top?,” Whitten replied. Hyatt pointed upward.
“Let’s go,” Whitten said. And they did. “I think I can do it again,” he added.
Whitten talks of the importance of Chandler Mountain to the quality of life of St. Clair County and to its economy.
“It was in a remote section of the county that the pioneers made a beautiful place of,” Whitten said. “As time progressed, they tried various fruits. They grew peaches there for a time, but the tomatoes made the mountain famous.”
The Alliance
Two groups that history saw often at odds, the Indigenous tribes and new settlers of the 19th century, joined with the City of Steele and Montgomery politicians to fight the utility. The fight continues because the utility still owns significant acreage there.
In the face of opposition from locals, as well as Public Service Commission President Twinkle Cavanaugh, Alabama Power Company scrapped its plans to build a hydroelectric storage project and remove homeowners from Chandler Mountain in August 2023. The utility withdrew its efforts to seek a license from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
In these politically fractured times, is there a lesson to be learned from the alliance that fought it?
Flat top of mountain a distinctive characteristic
“Absolutely,” Darrell said. “This community in my eyes was starting to lose itself. (The dam project) pulled everybody together.”
In local folklore, it’s told that John Hyatt built the market road down the backside of the mountain near what’s now U.S. 231, in an area known as Hyatt’s Gap. And the mountain can be seen from Alabama’s highest peak, Mount Cheaha.
“It’s very distinct,” he said. “And I think the Native Americans saw that, too. It’s sacred. Very sacred to them.”
Whitten said that even in these difficult days, the successful effort to block the project, “shows there can be unity. Peoples can come together and work together on projects that are needful to the community and the county and the state.”
He added, “What is there is important to the state as well, because it’s part of our Indigenous history.”
Penn agreed. “Obviously, it’s an ancestral holy place for an Indigenous person,” he said. “But because of those thousands of years of prayers building a foundation for a sacred setting, it’s just as much a sacred place for that farmer who says a prayer while he’s out there planting or harvesting. It’s a sacred place to that family who comes together and prays before a meal every time they eat dinner. It’s a sacred place and a significant place to many people.
“While our significance to the mountain and the sacredness of the mountain predates the settlers, I don’t want to discredit that it’s important to many of them as well in present time.”
Of the alliance, Penn said, “We’re a whole lot better when we can put differences aside and find common ground and work together regardless of backgrounds, faiths or political affiliations.
“Chandler Mountain is a unique situation in that we can come together. We have done that, and I’d like to see this initiative grow. I’d like to see Alabama Power realize, ‘Look, we had wrong intentions here. This isn’t where we need to do this. We just need to pull out and let go and give this mountain back to the people who truly care about it. And that is the Indigenous people and that is the local Chandler Mountain Community. That is our mountain and should be our mountain. That’s how I feel about it.”
“Alabama Power does not have any plans for the Chandler Mountain property,” said Alabama Power spokesperson Joey Blackwell in an email response in April.
When Alabama Power announced it had scuttled its proposal, there were celebrations on Chandler Mountain. Hyatt and his family celebrated with dinner at an area Mexican restaurant.
There was joy. “And there were tears,” he said. “More than a few tears.”
