Green Mountain's Late Fall Now Happens at the Bottom of Green Mountain Road

From Bailey Cove Road, Green Mountain Road SE climbs and becomes South Shawdee Road. Past the black fence, a Land Trust sign marks the Alum Hollow Trailhead at 13800 South Shawdee Road. The trailhead sits about half a mile past the entrance to the Madison County Nature Trail. Most Green Mountain households already know that drive.

The new stop this fall is at the bottom of the road, where Green Mountain Road meets Bailey Cove Road. On Sept. 15, the City of Huntsville finished the four-phase rebuild of the former Grissom High School campus on Bailey Cove Road and opened it as the Sandra Moon Community Complex. Its 600-seat auditorium has a booked season through Dec. 20. Put the two calendars side by side for November and December and the mountain's busiest public stretch is at the bottom of the road.

The preserve has one date before the new year

The Land Trust of North Alabama's Green Mountain calendar had two October outings. The last of them, a Hump Day Hike at Green Mountain North on Oct. 28, has now passed, which leaves one public outing for the rest of the year. That outing is the Hike at Green Mountain South on Saturday, Nov. 21, from 9 to 11 a.m. The route covers 2.1 miles of the Alum Hollow Trail, rated moderate. It goes out to Alum Falls and the rock shelter nearby, an overhang the Land Trust says sheltered native residents and travelers through the area's human history. The listing calls the trail relatively easy, apart from a steep hill down to the waterfall and shelter at the halfway point.

Sign-up runs through a link on the event page. No fee is listed. If weather or trail conditions cancel the hike, the Land Trust emails the address you registered with.

The preserve is open every other day of the season. It covers 818 acres in two sections. The South side, reached from Alum Hollow, has more than 5 miles of trail. Its streams and waterfalls flow most of the year, and it also holds Alum Cave, a rock shelter used during the Middle Woodland period. A few Land Trust rules come up more often in late fall than in summer:

• Trails are open from dawn to dusk. As the days shorten, that window closes earlier in the afternoon.
• The Land Trust asks visitors to stay off trails for 24 hours after rainfall.
• Pets are welcome on a leash at all times.
• Once the trailhead lot is full, the preserve is closed to more visitors, and street parking isn't allowed.

The North section, reached from Riverview Drive SE or Astalot Drive SE, carries the 3.2-mile Green Mountain Trail. It runs from the top of the mountain down to Green Mountain Road. Both trailheads sit in residential areas with limited parking, and the Land Trust asks that no one block a driveway. So even the longest trail on the mountain ends at the same road as everything else in this post.

The old Grissom auditorium is now the busiest stage nearby

The complex's newest wing holds a renovated version of the former Grissom auditorium, now a 600-seat performance venue. Arts Huntsville also has office and rehearsal space in the building. On Sept. 22, the city and Arts Huntsville named the stage the David A. Chan Theatre and announced a first season of local theater companies, community ensembles, school productions and holiday shows.

That announcement came without dates. The Arts Huntsville calendar for the Sandra Moon Performing Arts Center has since filled them in. Dear Evan Hansen opened the run Oct. 22 through 25. Here is what remains this year, with the Land Trust hike added so both ends of the road appear in one list:

That's six shows at the bottom of the road against one guided hike at the top. HCCA's five choirs open the stretch on Friday, Oct. 30, with music from operas, Broadway, family films and cartoons, including Gilbert & Sullivan and The Muppets. BandFest follows on Sunday. The Huntsville Concert Band is hosting it as a community band festival celebrating the long tradition of community band music in North Alabama. Showtimes and ticket links are on each Arts Huntsville listing. The box office number is 256-513-4296.

December brings two Nutcrackers to one stage

In its first December, the new stage is booked for two separate Nutcracker productions two weeks apart. Dance Elan's The Rocket City Nutcracker on Dec. 5 and 6 is billed as an original production and as the inaugural Nutcracker in the new theater. Rocket City Ballet's The Nutcracker comes on Dec. 19 and 20, with listings on both days. The Huntsville Youth Orchestra's holiday concert falls between them on Tuesday, Dec. 8.

The original season announcement also named a Huntsville Community Chorus Association holiday concert and The Beasley Brothers Christmas Show. Both were still waiting on dates. If they land on the calendar, December at the old Grissom campus gets busier still.

Nov. 21 fits both ends of the road into one Saturday

The only overlap on the whole late-fall calendar is the weekend of Nov. 20 to 22. That Saturday morning, the Alum Falls hike gets you out of the woods by 11 a.m., and Come From Away plays at the bottom of the road all weekend. The musical tells the true story of Gander, Newfoundland, an isolated town that ended up hosting the world. A Saturday built around both might look like this:

1. Register for the hike through the Land Trust event page beforehand, and watch your email that week in case weather cancels it.
2. Meet at the Alum Hollow Trailhead, 13800 South Shawdee Road, for the 9 a.m. start. Plan on the steep hill down to the falls at the halfway point.
3. Drive down South Shawdee and Green Mountain Road to Bailey Cove Road and the Sandra Moon Community Complex at 7901 Bailey Cove Road. On Saturdays the complex is open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., and the South Huntsville Public Library on the same campus is open until 5 p.m.
4. Check the Arts Huntsville listing for the Come From Away showtime that suits your day.

The rest of the campus runs on its own hours

Shows are the only thing on the old Grissom campus that needs a ticket date. The city lists lighted outdoor pickleball and tennis courts, multi-use fields, an ADA-accessible playground, two gymnasiums, a fitness center and an indoor walking path. The original main and auxiliary Grissom gyms were restored for basketball, volleyball and pickleball. A multimedia center for teens and adults has gaming and recording stations. The complex is open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday and 1 to 5 p.m. on Sunday. Classes and programs are listed in the city's Parks & Recreation program guide.

The library isn't new to the campus. It opened in September 2021, during an earlier phase of the rebuild, and celebrated its fifth birthday on Sept. 26. It sits on the north end of the complex at 7901-L Bailey Cove Road. Inside its 30,000-plus square feet are a cafe run by HATCH, a makerspace and a quiet reading room. Weekday hours are 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday. Per the Huntsville-Madison County Public Library holiday schedule, it closes Nov. 11, Nov. 26 and 27, and Dec. 24 and 25. It closes early at 5 p.m. on Nov. 25 and Dec. 31.

The complex carries the name of Sandra Moon. She served on the Huntsville City Council from 1998 to 2010, was its first woman president, and later chaired the committee that considered how the Grissom campus could be reused. Council President Jennie Robinson told 256 Today at the opening that the facility "was created out of this wonderful community conversation to meet community needs."

For more than two decades, Donna Burns has followed how Green Mountain's daily routines change as new places open along the roads that serve it. If you're thinking about what this year's changes at the foot of the mountain could mean for your own home, request a confidential consultation and we'll talk it through.