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| Birmingham Apartment Locator Services : Birmingham Apartments |  | Contents | |
| Geography |
| Birmingham is located at 33°31'29" North,
86°48'46" West (33.524755, -86.812740)1. |
| Birmingham occupies Jones Valley, flanked by long
parallel mountain ridges (the tailing ends of the Appalachian
foothills) running from north-east to south-west. The valley
is drained by small creeks (Village Creek, Valley Creek) which
flow into the Black Warrior River. More importantly, the valley
was bisected by the principal railroad corridor, along which
most of the early manufacturing operations began. |
| Red Mountain lies immediately south of downtown. Birmingham's
television and radio broadcast towers are lined up along this
prominent ridge. The area "Over the Mountain," including
Shades Valley and Shades Mountain and beyond, was largely shielded
from the industrial smoke and rough streets of the industrial
city. This is the setting for Birmingham's more affluent suburbs
of Mountain Brook, Homewood, Vestavia Hills, and Hoover. South
of Shades Valley is the Cahaba River basin. |
| Sand Mountain, a smaller ridge, flanks the city to the north
and divides Jones Valley from much more rugged land to the north.
The Louisville and Nashville railroad enters the Valley through
Boyles Gap, a prominent gap in the long low ridge. |
| Ruffner Mountain, located due east of the heart of the city,
is home to Ruffner Mountain Nature Reserve, the largest urban
nature reserve in the United States. |
| According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has a total
area of 393.5 km² (151.9 mi²). 388.3 km² (149.9
mi²) of it is land and 5.3 km² (2.0 mi²) of it
is water. The total area is 1.34% water. |
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