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The highest point is marked with a USGS marker (photo below) in front of Bunker Tower, a stone Civilian Conservation Corps building with an observation deck on top. The CCC also constructed a road to Cheaha, but the road has been closed for years. The old road is locally referred to as the "CC Road" and contains interesting, inaccessible ruins. Near the peak is Bald Rock, which was recently improved with a wheelchair-accessible wooden walkway that provides an impressive overlook of the surrounding region. The entire area gives an impression of being at a much higher elevation than it actually is, in part because of the relatively low elevation of the adjacent area to the west. Cheaha Mountain is part of the Talladega Mountains, a final southern segment of the Blue Ridge, unlike other elevations of the Appalachians in north Alabama, which are part of the Cumberland Plateau. The mountain also has the unique distinction of being the highest geographical point in the eastern portion of the Sun Belt (south of Interstate 20, and north of the Gulf of Mexico). The mountain is a host to several commercial and public service transmitters. These transmitters, along with sundry structures dating back to commercial schemes by the State of Alabama in the Seventies, stand in stark contrast to the surrounding natural environment. The Calhoun County Amateur Radio Association has a repeater near the peak and Alabama Public Television has its transmitter for WCIQ TV (and digital DTV 52), a tower 176 meters tall. This mountain is also known to hold the location of the Summer Camp known as Camp Mac The mountain was opened to the public as a state park on June 7, 1939. |