A photographic history of Mountain Brook that is full of heart, soul & personality!
Nestled in the over-the-mountain suburbia of Birmingham, Mountain Brook was originally hunting grounds for Creek, Choctaw, Cherokee & Chickasaw Indians. First settled in 1821, it wasn't until 1926 that visionary Robert Jemison Jr. incorporated Mountain Brook Estates. Honoring the integrity of its natural beauty, he hired nationally renowned landscape architects Warren H. Manning & William H. Kessler to design the new community. Mountain Brook incorporated in 1942 during WWII and experienced a resurgence of growth & expansion in the 1950s. Neighborhoods were designed to be anchored by villages as community centers for residents within walking distance. Still in touch with the principles on which Jemison founded Mountain Brook, its citizens enjoy the avant-garde villages full of restaurants, specialty gift shops, groceries, and parks, as well as its scenic natural landscape. Catherine Pittman Smith has compiled over 250 documentary photographs from many Mountain Brook family collections and has intricately woven them with stories, memories and historical facts spanning well over 100 years.
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See what Patti Callahan Henry has to say about the Mountain Brook book:
"Even at first glance, Mountain Brook is easy to love--an idyllic city where families live and play in lush surroundings. In the Mountain Brook book, Catherine Pittman Smith takes this love-at-first-sight feeling to a deeper level as we come to understand the history, vision and noble heart in this city of unspoiled beauty. Through pictures, narrative and story, Catherine reveals the layers of history that influence and shape this forested cathedral. She introduces us to the founders, the visionaries and also shows us the playful side of this beloved city. If I thought I loved Mountain Brook before, that feeling doesn't compare to the deep admiration and respect I have for our city after reading the Mountain Brook Book by Catherine Pittman Smith.
