Valhermoso Springs

Valhermoso Springs is a small community on Alabama Highway 36 in Morgan County. Although unincorporated, the place does have its own post office. There is also a cemetery. 

Mineral springs were discovered in the area by Lancelot Chunn around 1813. James Manning from Madison County operated a hotel at the site from 1818 until 1823. A post office opened in 1834 when the area was known as White Sulphur Springs; the present name was adopted in 1857. 

The previous year Jean J. Giers bought the hotel and turned it into a nationally known resort. The hotel finally closed in 1923 and was destroyed by tornado in 1950. The resort is described in some detail in James F. Sulzby's wonderful book, Historic Alabama Hotels and Resorts (1960).  

This advertisement extolling the resort's qualities appeared in the Memphis Daily Appeal 17 May 1873 along with ads for other similar health springs. The ad appeared in numerous issues of that paper in 1872 and 1873.

Source: Library of Congress Chronicling America

Another site in Valhermoso Springs is the First Christian Church property featuring a "Trail of Scriptures" and a shaded picnic area. 

Birmingham Photo of the Day (27): Hotel Hillman in 1908

As the BhamWiki article notes, construction on the Hotel Hillman was completed in October 1901. Until the original Tutwiler opened in 1914 it was the city's showplace hotel. Located on the corner of 4th Avenue North and Nineteenth Street, the Hotel Hillman building remained until 1969. The BhamWiki article has a link to a Google Earth view of the site now--a parking lot. That article also has photos of the hotel around 1906 and 1926. This photograph comes from the wonderful 1908 book Views of Birmingham. The title page and a link to the book are below.

The hotel was named after Thomas T. Hillman, an executive of the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company. As I have discussed in a previous blog post, he was a driving force behind Hillman Hospital.  

This book was published in 1908 and can be found online via the Internet Archive. 

Pelham Heights Hotel

For a few years early in the 20^th century Pelham had its very own resort hotel. The structure with 60 rooms was built in the summer of 1912 as a place for the annual encampment of Alabama Baptists. The grounds also featured a dining hall, auditorium, swimming pool and tennis courts. The religious affiliation did not last, however; and the complex soon became a resort for the general public.

The buildings were located off what is now County Road 52 on the mountain dividing Pelham and Helena. According to one source, Helena, Alabama, by Ken Penhale and Martin Everse, the structures were dismantled in the 1920s and moved to Cook’s Springs in St. Clair county. In his book Historic Alabama Hotels & Resorts James Sulzby includes a chapter on Cook’s Springs, but that hotel and resort were already operating very early in the 20^thcentury. He makes no mention of the hotel in Pelham.

Today the site of Pelham’s short-lived resort is marked by a Pelham water tower.

Pelham Heights Hotel
[Photo courtesy of the Shelby County Historical Society/President Bobby Joe Seales]

This item originally appeared in the Pelham City News September 2014.