Bill Coleman holds a BBA Degree from the University of Montevallo. An entrepreneur since the early 1980s, he is presently a website developer. Owner of five websites and an outdoors blog, his flagship site, www.gulf-shores-travel-guide.com, is one of the most heavily trafficked sites on the Alabama Gulf Coast. After living in the Gulf Shores, Alabama, area for eleven years, he and his wife Kathy moved back to Rock Mountain where he grew up. There, they spend most of their free time fishing in the lakes and walking on the trails. He also enjoys researching and collecting the history of Rock Mountain and the surrounding areas. When I'm enjoying the outdoors at Rock Mountain, I can't help but wonder about the people who were here before me. There is a big flat rock on Fire Tower Road where we like to picnic. It's a certainty that people have been enjoying meals on that rock for thousands of years. Those people walked the same trails and they waded in the same creeks as we do. Who were those people? Why did they leave this area? Who replaced them? Where did those people come from? Those are just a few of the questions that I have pondered during the half century since I first walked over Rock Mountain as a nine year old child. Rock Mountain has built a history of human occupation that spans more than 10,000 years, but history books have barely mentioned it. I set aside the time to write this book when I realized that I had witnessed much of the tangible history of Rock Mountain disappear, and it had never been recorded. Originally, I had planned to write a short history of personal observations from the time my family first came to Rock Mountain. During the time I was putting my thoughts together, I was also researching the history of the Native Americans who lived in this area. That led to reading about the first settlers who had traveled down the Huntsville Road to found Jonesboro. Eventually, I came to the conclusion that I should combine my personal history in this area with my research. I think that I've written a book that will be an entertaining read for those who want to know more about where they live, as well as a book for those who love history.