For centuries prior to the arrival of Europeans, the Blount Springs area was treasured by the Cherokee and their ancestors for its abundant natural resources and its medicinal springs. In perhaps the first specific historical reference to Blount Springs, Davy Crockett spent time recuperating from a fever by a set of sulphur springs some miles north of Jones Valley, Alabama in about 1815. By 1826, a stagecoach road connected Blount Springs to Huntsville. The bed of that road can still be seen today cutting through the hills across Blue Hole Lake. In the decade or so prior to the Civil War, drawn by the pleasant mountain climate and the purported healing properties of the mineral springs, small resorts began opening in the area. While the war and Reconstruction halted much such activity, by 1872 the L & N Railroad completed a rail line through Blount Springs. This was about the same time that the City of Birmingham was founded.
Now connected by rail and only 30 or so miles north of a burgeoning new industrial city, Blount Springs exploded. A grand resort and spa community based on European and upper New York State models blossomed. Persons from Birmingham and all over the South and even points North streamed in. Dignitaries, socialites and luminaries such as Lillian Russell and Diamond Jim Brady, mixed with the common folk at the 'Saratoga of the South'. There were plays, vaudeville performances, concerts, balls, galas, picnics and other entertainments devised for their amusement. Time marched on, however, and after the turn of the century things began winding down. In 1914 the L&N closed the rail line and tragically in 1915 the Main Hotel burned down. In the following decades, Blount Springs was all but forgotten by the outside world. Although it would remain a popular local spot for picnics and swimming through the 1960s, by the end of the 1980s nature had all but reclaimed Blount Springs in its entirety.
Birmingham's mayor, Mel Drennen, owned Blount Springs in the good times, through 1914 and into the bleak days thereafter (which led to his death). But Uncle Mel's vision for Blount Springs lived on in Jim Tullis, his nephew. The inspiration from his uncle's dream and his own deep love for the land led Jim and Linda Tullis to buy the property and initiate the recolonization of Blount Springs. Their plan for Blount Springs was forward-looking and employed a town-of-tomorrow design while rooted in the values proven by generations: community, respect for man and nature, and reverence for the serene.
Fueled by an increasing desire among nearby urban residents to return to nature, as well as Blount Springs' proximity and easy access to a major metropolitan area after the completion of I-65, the area offered a prime location for development. In 1989 the first efforts toward the recolonization of Blount Springs were initiated. A new community based on the principles of New Urbanism sprang up from the limestone, sheltered by massive oaks, hickories, and beeches. Blue Hole Lake was dredged and deepened, and the dam across Mill Creek was built higher, producing a beautiful lake for boating, swimming, and fishing. The first section of the Village at Blount Springs, originally called Blue Hole Village, today consists of about 70 homes, all with one-of-a-kind designs. Every home has a broad porch designed for neighborly interaction, or for simply enjoying the breeze and listening to the birds sing.