July 2024 Newsletter
Monte Sano Civic Association - July Newsletter
Special State Park Edition
Hello Mountaineers!
Everyone loves Monte Sano State Park – but even longtime residents are surprised by all the new happenings at the Park. Based on your feedback, and with all the Park’s summer activities, we decided to have this month’s issue focus on the Park. We hope it is especially useful for our newer residents.
There are a number of important upgrades underway, and many new activities. New Park Manager Zach Heard told us about some of these at the spring meeting – in this issue, we’ll take a closer look at:
New Park Upgrades Underway
Park Activities
The Monte Sano State Park Association
A Brief Park History
NEW PARK UPGRADES UNDERWAY:
New and improved campground sites - with new gravel, borders, and upgrades to electrical and water systems. A new bathhouse is being added to the campground. The new bathhouse will be connected to three ADA sites by a concrete path. The ADA sites will be poured concrete, instead of the standard compacted gravel of our other sites.
Renovation of all 14 Cabins - The floors are being refinished, walls and ceilings sanded and painted. There will be new furniture, appliances, and cabinets in all cabins.
New Bathroom in Day Use Area near the playground.
New water utility lines throughout the park.
Additional Summer Hours at the Camp Store – it’s now open till 7 PM to help accommodate guests checking in after 5 pm. The Park has an additional staff member at the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) Museum – it is now open all seven days for most of the summer to accommodate the increasing number of guests during the week.
And if you like camping but want more comfort, the Park now even has glamping!
Future plans - include updates on the lodge exterior, new landscaping in public areas, and improvements to the primitive campground road. The Park will also add a group site with water in the primitive area. There will also be new picnic tables and trash receptacles throughout the park and new exterior lighting in public use areas.
And for those relatively new to the mountain, please consider the historic Monte Sano Lodge for weddings, parties, reunions, and other activities. It’s a one-of-a-kind facility and reasonably priced.
PARK ACTIVITIES
Recurring Events:
Kids Bike Rides every Tuesday night at 530. HAMR(Huntsville Area Mountain Bike Riders) sponsors this ride for children of all ages. It’s a great activity for family and friends. Meet at the Bikers Parking Lot Pavilion. Free sweet treats after every ride (courtesy of Bicycle Cove and Sunset Bicycles)
TNKR (pronounced “tinker”) program focuses on our youngest riders
Saturday night programs at Von Braun Astronomical Society (VBAS) at the Observatory. About 50 of us attended a special Friday night ‘Stars Fell on Alabama’ program - about the great meteor shower of 1833. Consider joining the VBAS – it’s only $36/year.
Kidscam Day Camp for Elementary school age children: Monday – Friday until July 25. It’s every week from 9 AM to 3 PM – with both Before and After Care sessions from 7 – 9 AM and 3 – 6 PM respectively
Jackalope Trail Race Saturday July 6th – 7 AM, 4- and 8-mile trail runs
Light on Yoga July 20th and August 10th – 830 AM
HAMR Mountain Bike Stage Race July 25th – meet at the Bikers Pavilion for a mini Enduro stage race
Skunk Ape Trail Race Saturday July 27th – 7 AM, 5 and 10 miles
MOPAR Car show August 3rd – many of us had no idea there is a classic car show at the Park. The Tennessee Valley Mopar will be having their 26th show from 8 AM – 3 PM
Chupacabra Trail Race August 17th – 10K and half-marathon
HAM Fest August 16-18 – HAM radio enthusiasts from across the southeast will be on the mountain
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There is much more information on the helpful Park Website. It’s been ages since many of us went to it and it’s definitely worth a look. Here are three brief videos.
And please consider getting an annual family pass. For the cost of taking your family out to dinner, you could get a $150 annual pass for the whole family. The Monte Sano State Park and the entire State Park System is self-funded, so your membership contributions help fund the Monte Sano State Park.
MONTE SANO STATE PARK ASSOCIATION
The MSSPA was set up in 2019 to ensure that 100% of your donations (or bequests) go directly to Monte Sano State Park.
Monte Sano State Park Association is a registered 501(c)3 Corporation with the IRS. The principal office and registered office of the corporation is the same as the Monte Sano State Park:
5105 Nolen Ave SE, Huntsville, AL 35801.
The registered agent is Park Manager Zachary Heard
All money donated goes straight to Monte Sano State Park, and the Monte Sano Park Manager has sole discretion over how these funds should be best spent. Monte Sano State Park Association cannot and does not have any role in managing the State Park or determining Park policy. It is set up as a ‘friends group’ to help and support Monte Sano State Park. The Monte Sano State Park Association is one of only two ‘friends groups’ in the Alabama State Park System.
The Board is composed of your neighbors on Monte Sano – please reach out to any of them.
Kem Robertson - President
Greg Wright - Vice President
Bob Crook - Treasurer
Anna DiPlacido - Secretary
Emma Lansdel - website
Elizabeth Thornton
MONTE SANO STATE PARK HISTORY
In the late 1920’s, a massive development was planned for what is now the State Park, including a golf course. The Great Depression hit, and the desperate developers sold the land for the Park. The Park was constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps. The CCC started immediately after Franklin Roosevelt’s inauguration to address the environmental and economic challenges facing the country during the height of the Great Depression. Enlisting 250,000 workers in just two months, the CCC was an ambitious undertaking that brought several government agencies together. The Department of Labor recruited men from the ages of 18 to 25; the War Department clothed and trained them for two weeks, and the Department of Agriculture designed and managed the specific work assignments.
Over the next decade, the CCC put more than three million young men to work in the nation's forests and parks, planting 3 billion trees, building flood barriers, fighting fires, and maintaining roads and trails, conserving both private and federal land.
In Ken Burns’ PBS Documentary, the CCC is described as ‘the best idea the country ever had.’ In addition to providing immediate employment, it also provided three meals a day, lodging and education for the young men – all of whom were required to send most of the money they made back to their families. Millions learned to read and write and when World War II broke out, these better-educated and better-fed young men of the Greatest Generation became the backbone of the US warfighting effort.
You can learn more about the CCC’s work on Monte Sano at the CCC Museum by the eastern overlook. Or.... you can talk to your neighbor Lue English! Lue’s father, Mac Thorn, was the Construction Foreman who built the roads and most of the infrastructure. Her grandmother, Lucille Phillips, was the adult education teacher for the camp. Her grandfather, Thomas Phillips, was camp machinist. She has some great tales. For example, the foreman of the crew that built the cabins said that if any of his men complained about working too hard, he sent them to Mac Thorn’s crew. They came back begging to go to work on the cabins!
We’ll be back again next month with updates on our ongoing work on Channel 19 and long-term threats to the community. We hope everyone has a great summer – and takes advantage of all the great opportunities at the Park!
Sincerely,
Your neighbors on the Civic Association Board
Anna Gail Joyce - Communications
Don Masterson – City Liaison
Sandy McAnally - Secretary
Jeff McCracken - Directory
Stephen Norris - Treasurer
Ralph Petroff - President
Joe Pinnix – Vice President
Rebekah Sanders - Membership
Camille Scales – Special Projects
Mary Tally Watson – Social
