Ruffner Mountain Park
Ruffner Mountain Nature Center is a 1,011 acres (4 km2) nature preserve located in the eastern portions of Jefferson County, Alabama near Birmingham's suburb, Irondale. The preserve includes a visitor center containing native Alabama animals including raptors, snakes, turtles and owls. The Ruffner Mountain area was home to iron ore mines and stone quarries, supplying the area's steel mills. When the mines played out in the 1950s, nature reclaimed the area. The Trust for Public Land added over 500 acres (2.0 km2) to the park from 1983-1985, and an additional 400 acres (1.6 km2) in 2000.
The preserve contains 12 miles (19 km) of hiking trails.
Read more about Ruffner Mountain Park: Expansion Efforts, External Links
Famous quotes containing the words mountain and/or park:
“What have we achieved in mowing down mountain ranges, harnessing the energy of mighty rivers, or moving whole populations about like chess pieces, if we ourselves remain the same restless, miserable, frustrated creatures we were before? To call such activity progress is utter delusion. We may succeed in altering the face of the earth until it is unrecognizable even to the Creator, but if we are unaffected wherein lies the meaning?”
—Henry Miller (1891–1980)
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—Jean Giraudoux (1882–1944)