Big Cove, Alabama Explained

Official Name:Big Cove, Alabama
Settlement Type:Unincorporated community
Pushpin Map:USA Alabama#USA
Pushpin Label:Big Cove
Pushpin Label Position:top
Pushpin Map Caption:Location in Alabama##Location in the United States
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Type1:State
Subdivision Type2:County
Subdivision Name:United States
Subdivision Name1:Alabama
Subdivision Name2:Madison
Elevation Ft:620
Elevation M:189
Timezone:Central (CST)
Utc Offset:-6
Coordinates:34.6672°N -86.4889°W
Timezone Dst:CDT
Utc Offset Dst:-5
Postal Code Type:ZIP code
Postal Code:35763
Area Code:256
Blank Name:GNIS feature ID
Blank Info:146693

Big Cove is an unincorporated community in Madison County, Alabama, United States. It is located roughly seven miles southeast of downtown Huntsville. Big Cove also encompasses the growing community of Hampton Cove. The community of Big Cove does not have its own address. The address is shared with the town Owens Cross Roads located roughly 10 miles southeast of Big Cove and shared address with Huntsville.

History

The area in the gap between Monte Sano and Keel mountains has been known as Big Cove since 1807. The name Big Cove was simply derived from a description of the surrounding geography.[1]

Big Cove rests at the foot of Green, Huntsville, and Monte Sano mountains. It was named by John Clan Grayson, the first white settler and permanent resident of the area. It is bordered to the south by Owens Cross Roads, Alabama, whose zip code encompasses most of the community known as Big Cove. The northern area of the community, known by locals as the "upper end" is a part of the Brownsboro, Alabama, zip code, and has largely been annexed into the Huntsville City limits.

It was largely a farming community for many years; however, many of the old farms have been sold out of the families who had owned the land for generations, and subdivisions have begun to grow where soy bean, corn, and cotton, were once major cash crops.

Notes and References

  1. Foscue, Virginia. Place Names in Alabama. University: U of Alabama Press, 1989.