Big Spring Park (Huntsville, Alabama)
Encyclopedia
Big Spring International Park (also known as Big Spring Park) is located in downtown Huntsville, Alabama
Huntsville, Alabama
Huntsville is a city located primarily in Madison County in the central part of the far northern region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Huntsville is the county seat of Madison County. The city extends west into neighboring Limestone County. Huntsville's population was 180,105 as of the 2010 Census....
. The park is built around its namesake "Big Spring", the original water source that the city of Huntsville was built around. The park is also notable as the venue for the Panoply Arts Festival
Panoply Arts Festival
The Panoply Arts Festival, an annual three-day celebration of the arts in Huntsville, Alabama, has been a Huntsville tradition since it first opened on Friday, 14 May 1982...
, held the last full weekend in April, and the Big Spring Jam
Big Spring Jam
Big Spring Jam is an annual three-day music festival taking place in Huntsville, Alabama. The Jam, which began in 1993, typically takes place the fourth weekend in September, beginning Friday and ending Sunday. It features acts from all genres of music including local bands, emerging talent, old...
, an annual music festival that usually occurs on the fourth weekend in September.
The Big Spring
| "Huntsville is situated around the finest spring in the world; the spring forms a semicircle 100 feet wide, and at a trivial expense the stream can be made navigable for batteaux to the Tennessee river; which is only ten miles distant." |
| - future U.S. Senator John Williams Walker John Williams Walker John Williams Walker was an American politician, who served as the Democratic-Republican United States senator from the state of Alabama, the first senator elected by that state.... , 1815 to his friend and US Secretary of War William H. Crawford William H. Crawford William Harris Crawford was an American politician and judge during the early 19th century. He served as United States Secretary of War from 1815 to 1816 and United States Secretary of the Treasury from 1816 to 1825, and was a candidate for President of the United States in 1824.-Political... |
Big Spring Park is named after a large, underground karst spring, referred to by the indigenous Cherokee
Cherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
and Chickasaw
Chickasaw
The Chickasaw are Native American people originally from the region that would become the Southeastern United States...
as "the big spring". Hearing of the abundant water source and plentiful big game, John Hunt, Huntsville's founder, sought out the spring and settled near it in 1805 on the bluff above, which later became the site of the First National Bank of Huntsville. Isaac and Joseph Criner had previously reached the Big Spring and considered settlement, but due to the presence of bears and mosquitoes left to settle New Market
New Market, Alabama
New Market is a census-designated place in Madison County, Alabama, United States, and is included in the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area. As of the 2000 census, the population of the CDP is 1,864...
instead. During the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, the spring was Huntsville's water source, due to its massive flow. The Big Spring is the largest limestone spring in North Alabama, with its usual flow between 7 and 20 million USgals (75,708.2 m³) per day, depending on the time of the year.
From 1827 to the early 1840s, what would later become the park grounds served as the site of the Fearn Canal, built from 1821 to 1824. The canal was built by the Indian Creek Navigation Company, led by local resident Dr. Thomas Fearn. It linked downtown Huntsville and the spring to the Tennessee River
Tennessee River
The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. It is approximately 652 miles long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The river was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other names...
, allowing traders to bypass a costly wagon haul of about 11 miles South to the nearest river port, Ditto's Landing in the town of Whitesburg. The canal eventually became obsolete upon the construction of railroads.
The Park
Von Braun Center
The Von Braun Center , known as the Von Braun Civic Center until 1997, is a multi-purpose indoor arena, meeting, and performing arts complex, with a maximum arena seating capacity of 10,000, located in Huntsville, Alabama...
.
Today the park prominently features gifts given by other countries and foreign nationals to the city of Huntsville, including a 1903 light beacon (often referred to as "the lighthouse") and a 1929 fog bell given by Norway in 1973. Other smaller gifts included a bench from the United Kingdom and a sundial from Germany.
The most recognizable gifts, however, are the iconic red Japanese bridge and cherry trees, given by Japanese Major General Mikio Kimata. From 1964 to 1966, Kimata, then a Lieutenant Colonel, attended Redstone Arsenal
Redstone Arsenal
Redstone Arsenal is a United States Army base and a census-designated place adjacent to Huntsville in Madison County, Alabama, United States and is part of the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area...
's Ordnance Guided Missile School program. As thanks to the city for its hospitality when hosting him, Kimata donated the original 60 Yoshino Cherry
Prunus × yedoensis
Prunus × yedoensis is a hybrid cherry of unknown origin, probably between Prunus speciosa as father plant and Prunus pendula f. ascendens as mother...
trees. He followed up on this gift with the donation of a "friendship bridge" to celebrate the United States Bicentennial. The bridge was formally dedicated on May 3, 1977. In 1998, Kimata and the Japanese Society of Alabama partially financed a major $36,000 renovation of the bridge. The bridge was restyled, expanded, and given a gentler slope.
The park served as a major filming location in Constellation
Constellation (film)
Constellation is a film that was released by Codeblack Entertainment and 20th Century Fox in 2007. Prior to theatrical release the film won several Audience and Jury Awards at Festivals. It had its French Premiere in Cannes,...
, a 2005 feature film.