Neighborhood spotlight: Bluff Park

Bluff Park and the area known as Shades Mountain are some of the oldest communities in Hoover and predate the city itself.

More than 100 years ago, Bluff Park was a vacation and health resort known for its natural spring waters and picturesque views. Before the area was known as Bluff Park, it was called Spencer Springs after Octavius Spencer. The name changed again in 1863, when Gardner Hale of Prattville purchased the property and renamed it Hale Springs.

Transportation to the mountain resort was improved by way of an access road built over an old wagon road by the Hale Lumber Company in 1892. Gardner Hale’s son, Daniel Pratt Hale, ran a bed-and-breakfast type establishment called Liberty Hall and another called Pinnacle House, which was said to have the best views.

As time passed, visitors and landowners of Hale Springs became more interested in the view from the bluff rather than the springs and their healing properties. It was around this time the name Hale Springs changed to Bluff Park. One of the first recorded uses of the name Bluff Park is the Bluff Park Hotel. After Gardner Hale’s death, Hale’s son, George Gardner Hale, continued the family legacy in Bluff Park with his sons William, Evan and George Jr. The brothers did most of the development in the area including several homes for their families on Shades Crest Road. The homes are about 90 years old or older and are still standing.

Other prominent families and landowners on the bluff included the Tylers, Disons, Morgans, Hanahan, Yates, Chambers and Aldritches to name a few. The first one-room schoolhouse and church was around the intersection of Tyler Road and Valley Street.

In 1896, Summit Church and School were built. In 1923, the school moved and changed its name to Bluff Park School. Bluff Park School became Bluff Park Elementary School. Summit Church changed its name to Bluff Park Baptist. It was not until 1985 that the historic community of Bluff Park was annexed into Hoover. The area was one of the last established areas to be brought into the city, along with its volunteer fire department.