HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — The 35802 is considered South Huntsville, but it's also considered home to many in the #1 place to live in the country.
District 3 Councilmember Jennie Robinson is enthusiastic about the place she represents. "Everybody goes someplace else to work but they all come home. This is where people in Huntsville, if they may may work at Research Park, they may work at the hospital, they may work at the university, they may work out on the Arsenal, but they all come home here."
Angie Kloote with Engel & Volker loves it, too. She says, "Huntsville is the number one place to live in all of the United States and 35802 is one of my favorite zip codes. 35802 has traditionally been a bedroom community. This is where you come home to and what makes a home too, is not just the home itself, but it's the environment around you have lots of great parks, and then recently we have just boomed with recreation."
One of the newest additions to recreation in this area, so new it's not even complete yet, is the Sandra Moon Community Complex. "Most people know this is the home of the old Grissom High School and if you look, you can see that we took the old high school building, basically chopped it in half. Then we've got the section of the building that we've kept [that] is going to become a performing arts center," shared Councilmember Robinson.
One of the gems of 35802 is Jones Valley, which houses a working farm. Robinson says, "Jones Valley is the largest urban farm in the country and, and it's right smack dab, it's so unusual because it's right smack dab in the middle of all these residential areas, across from a major shopping center... you got the cows, and it's it and on top of that, it's beautiful. It is absolutely beautiful green space, backed up by by the mountains and we just hope that it will be preserved."
And you may have seen the name of a very iconic cow all over the area. Robinson explains, "We have a number of areas in South Huntsville that are named after Lily Flagg who was a cow. We have Lily Flagg Estates, we have Lily Flagg Road, there's Lily Flagg Station and most people don't even realize that she was a cow but she was a cow, prize winning cow at the Chicago World's Fair, known for the exceptional quality of her butter. And so yeah, we remember Lily Flagg and Lily Flagg Pool where my children's swam. Their mascot is the cows."
In the spirit of looking back into the past, South Huntsville is also home to many homes built before 1980. Kloote says, "We are very landlocked here in Southeast Huntsville. You've got the mountain, you've got the river, you've got the arsenal. So because of that, there's been a lot of investors in this area, purchasing homes, renovating the homes, purchasing lots, building new homes, so you're seeing a lot of that in this area."
RELATED: Unzipped: Athens, 35611
RELATED: Unzipped: Decatur, 35601
RELATED: Unzipped: Madison, 35758