A long history: New book tells the story of Ruffner Mountain

Ruffner Mountain Nature Preserve in south East Lake —  the third largest urban nature preserve in America — covers 1,038 acres and features a wetland, native plants, hiking trails, a limestone quarry, spectacular scenic overlooks and even the ruins and remnants of iron-ore mining.

“Ruffner’s a magical place, and you can’t take a step without being almost overwhelmed by how magnificent it is,” Pelham resident and Ruffner volunteer June Fletcher told Iron City Ink in 2017.

Ruffner Mountain also has a special history, one that reaches back long before 1977, the year when area residents and environmentalists joined forces to stop a developer who wanted to build apartments at the site and, in the process, acquired the initial 28 acres that became the original Ruffner Mountain Nature Center.

In fact, the mountain’s history goes back to ancient geologic time, includes the beginning of mining there in the 1880s and continues with the ongoing efforts to preserve it for future generations.

That complex story has been told in a new book, “Back to Nature: A History of Birmingham’s Ruffner Mountain,” published by Ruffner Mountain Nature Coalition, the nonprofit that maintains RMNP.

“Back to Nature” was written by Mark Kelly, formerly the publisher of the weekly newspaper Weld, who spent countless hours perusing archives and conducting interviews. The book was designed by Melanie Colvin. It also contains scores of photos, including many taken by Bob Farley, a veteran Birmingham photographer and longtime Ruffner volunteer and board member, as well as historical images.

”Organizationally the book is important because it is a comprehensive telling of not only the nonprofit’s history, but the historical events and environment that lead to its founding,” said Carlee Sanford, executive director of RMNP.

Kelly said he is a “lover of history” and also has a “personal affinity for geology,” both of which drew him to the story of Ruffner Mountain.

“There’s really three histories — the geology history, the mining history and the history of the nature center,” Kelly said. “From a writing perspective, that was kind of the attraction to me, to be able to weave all that history together with the history of the city.”

The book goes all the way back to primeval times, to the Cambrian period of geologic history about 500 million years ago, to the Ordovician period immediately following when Ruffner Mountain began to take shape and limestone deposits formed in this area and to the Silurian and Pennsylvanian periods when deposits of iron ore and coal took shape.

This part of the history is critical to “Back to Nature,” according to Kelly. “Birmingham wouldn’t be here except for this miracle of geologic happenstance,” he said. Birmingham is the only place in the world where coal, iron ore and limestone — the three basic ingredients of iron — are found in close proximity.

Two of those substances, iron ore and limestone, were found and mined at Ruffner Mountain, according to Kelly. Mining began at Ruffner in the 1880s and continued off and on until 1953.

A big chunk of “Back to Nature” consists of a compelling history of Birmingham in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when mining and heavy industry created a rough, tough boomtown that attracted national attention for its rapid growth.

To tell the story of Ruffner, Kelly said, “You’ve got to tell the story of the city. You’ve got to give the context.”

Kelly also discusses the harsh working conditions faced by miners and factory workers in Birmingham and the way industrial bosses making big profits cracked down hard on labor organizers and used racism to divide black and white workers.

The book “does not shy away from the realities of Birmingham’s industrial past, beyond the proximity of iron ore, limestone and coal — racism, oppression, economic violence and structural power are a part of that history,” Sanford said.

The book itself has a long history. Kelly conducted the first interview in October 2008, after Kathy Freeland, who was the director of the Nature Center at the time, gave Kelly, Farley and Colvin the go-ahead on the book.

But the team’s work on the project slowed after a couple of years due to financial difficulties faced by the Ruffner Mountain nonprofit in the wake of the devastating Great Recession. 

The group had borrowed $5 million in 2008 to build its Tree Top Nature Center. And the city, which had always helped support the facility, drastically cut its funding to the nonprofit in three of four fiscal years between 2010 and 2014. 

“There were some questions about the future and even the survival of the organization and the nature center, and that went on for a few years,” Kelly said.

But after Sanford became executive director in late 2015, she worked with the Ruffner board of directors to find new sources of revenue, renegotiate the facility’s remaining bank debt and gradually put the nonprofit on firmer ground. Sanford also approached Kelly about finishing the book and “rejuvenated the project,” he said. 

Sanford calls Kelly, Colvin and Farley “an amazing team.” 

“They did not give up on that idea (and) without them this book would not be a reality,” she said. 

Finishing the book is also gratifying on a personal level for Kelly, who began hiking at Ruffner Mountain in the early 1980s while attending Samford University and has taken his kids there often in recent years.

With the book, Kelly said, he can “maybe do something to give back to this place that I've gotten so much out of over the years.”

Kelly hopes the book can generate revenue for the nonprofit for a long period of time. The book could also benefit RMNP because it is still underappreciated in the Birmingham area, according to Kelly. “I really hope the book can help raise awareness of this jewel that we have here,” he said.

And Kelly said he is optimistic about the future of the nature preserve. 

“I think the awareness of it is higher than it's ever been, and I think… you have a dedicated core group of staff, volunteers, users and financial supporters who are committed to the idea that this is a unique and valuable place,” he said.

Proceeds from the sale of Back to Nature benefit the Ruffner Mountain Nature Coalition. Copies are available at the following locations: Alabama Booksmith, Alabama Outdoors, Church Street Coffee and Books, Shoppe, Little Professor, Leaf and Petal and Anvil Gift Shop at Vulcan Park.

For more information about the Ruffner Mountain Nature Preserve, go to ruffnermountain.org.https://ruffnermountain.org/