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Monte Sano Mountain is a mountain located in Huntsville, Alabama. The name ''Monte Sano'' is Spanish for "Mountain of health". This name comes from the fact that curative health resorts used to be located on the mountain to take advantage of the fresh air, clean water, and cooler temperatures.
The top is relatively flat and lies just under 500 meters above sea level. This elevation is about 300 meters higher than the floor of the Tennessee Valley, which surrounds it. A residential neighborhood occupies the western portion of the top. The eastern portion and slopes of the mountain are occupied by
The summer months in the late 1800s saw yellow fever, cholera and diphtheria in high proportions. Clean water and sanitary living conditions were found on the mountain and visitors' health improved. However, because the causes of these diseases were not yet fully understood, many again would become ill after returning home.
In 1886, the Hotel Monte Sano was built to serve as a health resort for hundreds of people. The hotel was a three-story 223 room wooden structure of Queen Anne architecture, with rooms costing $11.00 per week, including meals. Resort amusements included horseback riding, two bowling alleys, croquet, billiards, lawn tennis, and beautiful gardens. Patrons traveled the eight miles from the Huntsville Depot to the hotel in four hours by horse and carriage.
The popular resort's register showed guests from every state in the union and from several foreign countries. Visitors included philanthropist William H. Vanderbilt, Viscount William Waldorf Astor, composer Walter Damrosch, and railroad financier Jay Gould.
To better serve guests, the eight-mile Monte Sano Railway was created between May and August 1888. The 25 cent train ride took 20 minutes and made three trips per day. However, shortly after completion, the train's brake sand pipes choked, the wheels jumped the rails, and the train came to a quick stop. There was no injury to passengers or damage to the train, but the incident frightened potential riders. Thereafter, the railway was primarily used for hauling supplies until it went into bankruptcy in 1896.
Once the cause and cure for yellow fever and cholera were discovered, a trip to the "Mountain of Health" was no longer necessary. Transportation problems and lack of patrons stifled business to the hotel, and its last season was 1900.
"The Romance and Realism of Monte Sano", ''The Historic Huntsville Quarterly'', Vol. VI, No. 4, Summer 1980
Monte Sano Historical Collection, The University of Alabama in Huntsville Archives and Special Collections
{{Mountains of Alabama Huntsville-Decatur, AL Combined Statistical Area Landforms of Madison County, Alabama Mesas of the United States Mountains of Alabama
Monte Sano State Park
Monte Sano State Park is a publicly owned recreation area and mountaintop retreat encompassing on the eastern portion of the top and slopes of Monte Sano Mountain on the east side of Huntsville, Alabama. The state park has 1930s-era, Civilian Co ...
. Monte Sano is connected to Round Top (Burritt) Mountain by a col to the south.
Hotel Monte Sano & Railway
The summer months in the late 1800s saw yellow fever, cholera and diphtheria in high proportions. Clean water and sanitary living conditions were found on the mountain and visitors' health improved. However, because the causes of these diseases were not yet fully understood, many again would become ill after returning home.
In 1886, the Hotel Monte Sano was built to serve as a health resort for hundreds of people. The hotel was a three-story 223 room wooden structure of Queen Anne architecture, with rooms costing $11.00 per week, including meals. Resort amusements included horseback riding, two bowling alleys, croquet, billiards, lawn tennis, and beautiful gardens. Patrons traveled the eight miles from the Huntsville Depot to the hotel in four hours by horse and carriage.
The popular resort's register showed guests from every state in the union and from several foreign countries. Visitors included philanthropist William H. Vanderbilt, Viscount William Waldorf Astor, composer Walter Damrosch, and railroad financier Jay Gould.
To better serve guests, the eight-mile Monte Sano Railway was created between May and August 1888. The 25 cent train ride took 20 minutes and made three trips per day. However, shortly after completion, the train's brake sand pipes choked, the wheels jumped the rails, and the train came to a quick stop. There was no injury to passengers or damage to the train, but the incident frightened potential riders. Thereafter, the railway was primarily used for hauling supplies until it went into bankruptcy in 1896.
Once the cause and cure for yellow fever and cholera were discovered, a trip to the "Mountain of Health" was no longer necessary. Transportation problems and lack of patrons stifled business to the hotel, and its last season was 1900.
Geology
Geologically, Monte Sano is a mesa separated from the mainCumberland Plateau
The Cumberland Plateau is the southern part of the Appalachian Plateau in the Appalachian Mountains of the United States. It includes much of eastern Kentucky and Tennessee, and portions of northern Alabama and northwest Georgia. The terms "Alle ...
by the Flint River
The Flint River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 15, 2011 river in the U.S. state of Georgia. The river drains of western Georgia, flowing south from the u ...
Valley. It is characterized by a resistant sandstone caprock of the Pennsylvanian Pennsylvanian may refer to:
* A person or thing from Pennsylvania
* Pennsylvanian (geology)
The Pennsylvanian ( , also known as Upper Carboniferous or Late Carboniferous) is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy, ICS geologic timesca ...
Pottsville Formation overlying more soluble layers of Mississippian
Mississippian may refer to:
* Mississippian (geology), a subperiod of the Carboniferous period in the geologic timescale, roughly 360 to 325 million years ago
*Mississippian culture, a culture of Native American mound-builders from 900 to 1500 AD ...
limestone. The Mississippian limestone is rich in marine fossils, especially crinoids and blastoid
Blastoids (class Blastoidea) are an extinct type of stemmed echinoderm, often referred to as sea buds. They first appear, along with many other echinoderm classes, in the Ordovician period, and reached their greatest diversity in the Mississi ...
s.
Western Slope
Much of the western slope of the mountain - the backdrop for downtown Huntsville and 2 miles from City Hall - comprises the Monte Sano Nature Preserve owned and managed by the Land Trust of North Alabama. Established in 1987 as Alabama's first land trust, the Land Trust of North Alabama is an accredited not-for-profit organization dedicated to preserving land, fresh water resources, local farms, and habitat. The Monte Sano Nature Preserve is one of the largest urban nature preserves in the US and one of six nature preserves in the area maintained by the Land Trust. The Monte Sano Nature Preserve consists of over 1,107 acres and offers 23+ miles of public trails. The extensive trail system, along with those of the Land Trust's Wade mountain, Harvest Square, andBlevins Gap Nature Preserve
Blevins Gap Nature Preserve is a nature preserve in southern Huntsville, Alabama. It measures in total and contains over 12 miles of trails within its borders. Cecil Ashburn Drive splits the preserve into two parts. The northern section measures ...
, are the first to be honored as National Recreation Trails in Madison County.
Along with the Land Trust, volunteers have crafted and maintain the trails. Land Trust trails include Three Caves Loop, Bluff Line, Toll Gate, Alms House, Fagan Springs, Oak Park, and Old Railroad Bed trails. The Old Railroad Bed Trail preserves what is left of the path of the steam locomotive that traveled from the Huntsville Depot to the (no longer standing) Hotel Monte Sano from 1888 to 1896. This trail is one of the first 500 Rails to Trails.
References
External links
"The Romance and Realism of Monte Sano", ''The Historic Huntsville Quarterly'', Vol. VI, No. 4, Summer 1980
Monte Sano Historical Collection, The University of Alabama in Huntsville Archives and Special Collections
{{Mountains of Alabama Huntsville-Decatur, AL Combined Statistical Area Landforms of Madison County, Alabama Mesas of the United States Mountains of Alabama