Book signing for new book on Riverchase set for Friday

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The new pictorial book on the history of Riverchase went on sale Monday, and Hoover author Heather Jones Skaggs is holding a book signing at the Barnes & Noble Booksellers in the Patton Creek Shopping Center on Friday.

The book signing is scheduled for 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. but could last longer, Skaggs said.

The 96-page paperback, called “Images of Modern America: Riverchase,” contains more than 150 photographs showcasing the history and people of the Riverchase community.

It covers the history of the land, from its early days as a mining community known as Acton to the purchase of the property by the Chace family and later Harbert Construction Co. in 1968.

Harbert joined with the Equity Life Assurance Society of the United States to develop the 3,000-acre property, which was annexed into the city of Hoover in 1980.

Skaggs recounts how the Riverchase development plan was to create an environment where people could live, work and blend in with the surroundings and countryside while enjoying and preserving the natural beauty of the area.

“The developers wanted residents to live with nature, not just build on top of it,” Skaggs writes in the introduction.

The Riverchase community includes a wide range of land uses, including single-family and multi-family residences built into the rolling hills along the Cahaba River, an office park, recreational parks, the Riverchase Country Club, churches and a thriving commercial center that includes the Riverchase Galleria mall and numerous smaller shopping centers.

Skaggs’ book includes photos from the Acton mining community in the early 1900s and pictures that show early and current businesses, including construction of the Riverchase Galleria and a significant fire that occurred in the Galleria office tower during construction in 1985.

There also are historical pictures from the Riverchase Garden Club, schools and churches in the community, the collapse of the Old Montgomery Highway bridge over the Cahaba River in the 1980s and the blizzard of 1993.

This is Skaggs’ third book for Arcadia Publishing. She also put together a pictorial book on the history of Bluff Park and a second book on the history of early Hoover as part of the company’s Images of America series.

She will have another book signing for the Riverchase book at the Riverchase Country Club at 6 p.m. on Dec. 2.

The book costs $22.99 and is available for sale at Barnes & Noble Booksellers or on Arcadia Publishing’s website. It also will be sold at a few other Hoover businesses, Skaggs said.