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“Altamont-A Portion of Red Mountain at Birmingham, Alabama, Study for General Subdivision and Arrangement.”
George H. Miller, Boston, Massachusetts, November 1911. BPL Archives.
Nearly two decades after Miller’s report, City Forester Hugh H. Sloss, in a 1931 Birmingham News interview, describes Altamont Park, its value, and the manner in which its natural environment should be treated. Sloss makes the following observations:
• Altamont Park protects the residences below from land- slides and excessive amounts of stormwater.
• The one-mile drive adjacent to Altamont Park offers beau- tiful views of Birmingham to every citizen and visitor.
• Altamont Park represents a wonderful contrast to the typical, formally planned parks in the city.
• Altamont Park requires a botanical management different from most park designs.
• Altamont Park is and must always be an informal, natural park due to its location and topography.
• Altamont Park’s only type of recreation should always be the enjoyment of the views and natural forest.
From those first several decades of the 20th century up until today, the view of the forested slopes of Red Mountain from the city below has been deemed as important as the view of the city itself from Altamont Road. Planners in fact considered Red Mountain to be the most important physi- cal feature of the city and understood the value of keeping it green and wooded in order to “assure to the mountain as seen from the distance a generally thick foliated surface with an evergreen foundation.”
In summary, Altamont Park was intended to remain a natural, forested green space, enhanced only by selective cleaning and pruning. It was conceived as a neighborhood park, whereas Altamont Road, one link in an imagined longer parkway, was meant for the enjoyment of all of Bir- mingham’s citizens and visitors. Furthermore, preserving as much vegetation as possible on the north face of Red Moun- tain allows the City of Birmingham to retain its most notable and defining natural feature.
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