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Brindley Mountain Update
All my life I have known that Brindley Mountain was named for
Mace
Thomas Payne Brindley and that he was my great-great-great
grandfather. The only problem has been that somehow the spelling
of the mountain is the Arab area has become misspelled, mostly
due to the Brindlee Mountain Telephone Company and Brindlee Mountain
Parkway.
At the spring meeting of the Brindley International Historical
Foundation in May of 1999, it was decided that we would start
a project to correct the spelling of the parkway and hope that
the telephone company and other businesses would act in good
taste and respect for the Brindley family and follow suit.
In my research I found that on November 4, 1975 both houses of
the Alabama State Legislature passed a joint resolution (H.J.R.
23) officially encouraging the proper spelling of Brindley Mountain.
A copy of the resolution was to be sent to the State highway
department, but it was never received. This legislation had been
sponsored by Joe Brindley who later became Vice-president of
the University of Montevallo where I received my degree.
I then wrote a press release, attached a copy of the resolution,
Mace T.P. Brindley's biography and a copy of an official map
with the correct spelling and sent the packet to most of the
local press in North Alabama. I then called the State Highway
Department in Joppa and told them about the misspelling. After
I faxed them the legislation, they agreed to change the signs.
Many of the news papers carried the story and channel 48 in Huntsville
interviewed me at the Brindley Cemetery in Simcoe where Mace
is buried.
A few days later a received a call from an employee at the highway
dept., stating that the sign order had been sent to Montgomery
and the someone was trying to stop the correction. The Arab Tribune,
who had given the story the most coverage called me and said
that the highway department had changed their mind. I then presently
tried to contact the head of the highway department and after
some time an assistant called me back and stated that they were
going to delay making a decision.
I then received another call that Representative Howard Hawk
of Arab had sponsored (H.J.R. 14) on November 15, 1999 "maintaining
and Formally Declaring the of Brindlee Mountain near Arab, Alabama."
The Arab Tribune did a follow-up story that ran on December 6,
1999.
On December 15, 1999 the Arab Tribune ran an editorial titled
"Changing from "ee" to "ey" seems right
for mountain." In the article they stated, " . . .
the U.S. Geological Survey and its official topographical maps
produced in conjunction with the Tennessee Valley Authority spell
the name of our mountain "Brindley." That is its heritage.
More importantly, that is the official name of the mountain.
And that is what we shall begin calling it with our first issue
of the newspaper in 2000." I was so proud to read the first
issue with the correct spelling.
So at this point I am moving forward by creating the web site
www.BrindleyMtn.org and writing the legislature. I truly believe
that the name of the parkway will be corrected, but I can not
do it without help. Please contact the Arab Tribune and thank
them for their fair reporting and their decision to use the correct
spelling. Contact your state representatives and let them know
how disappointed you are in (H.J.R. 14).
Arab Tribune
Editor: David Moore
619 S Brindley Mountain Parkway
Arab, AL 35016-1502
Arabtrib@Airnet.net
Rep. Howard Hawk
House District 25
221 Cullman Road
Arab, AL 35016
(256) 586-8880
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