Overview

Cahaba River Estates is a residential neighborhood in Hoover, Alabama, set along the Cahaba River. Its homes are mostly single-family houses on larger lots, and some properties include river frontage.12

The Cahaba River

The Cahaba begins near Birmingham in Jefferson County and runs about 194 miles to the Alabama River at the old town of Cahaba in Dallas County. It is described as the longest substantially free-flowing river in Alabama.3

The river supports more than 131 fish species, 18 of them found nowhere else. Its best-known plant is the Cahaba lily, which blooms in the shoals from early May to mid-June. The name is generally traced to Choctaw words for "water above."3

Cahawba, where the river meets the Alabama, served as the state's first capital from 1820 to 1825.3

Hoover grows south

Hoover incorporated on April 28, 1967, with a population of 406. Annexations began in 1969 and pushed the city's boundaries outward through the 1970s and 1980s. The Cahaba River crosses the southern part of the city.4

Nearby, the Riverchase planned community was announced in 1974 by Harbert Construction and Equitable Life and was annexed into Hoover on September 8, 1980. The Riverchase Galleria opened in 1986.45

Help wanted: when was Cahaba River Estates platted, who developed it, and when did it join Hoover?

The old lodge

The oldest house in the neighborhood stands at 1122 Cahaba River Estates. It was built in 1928 on roughly 8 acres along the river and was used as a summer home and hunting retreat.2

Neighbors confirm it was the old lodge of this stretch of north Shelby County, and longtime residents remember it as a lively place where people hunted, gathered, and gambled in its early decades. North Shelby County had a reputation for that kind of roadhouse back then, and the state archives hold a photo of a raided "house casino" in the county from that era, though which house it shows is not identified.6

Help wanted: who built the lodge, who ran it, and when did the land around it become Cahaba River Estates? Add what you know on the neighbor pages below.

The homes

Most homes in the area were built between 1970 and 1999, with a smaller number built since 2000. Nearly all are owner-occupied.1 At least one property in the subdivision dates to 1928, with large acreage and about 600 feet of river frontage.2

Timeline

  • 1820–1825 Cahawba serves as Alabama's first state capital.
  • 1928 The lodge is built on about 8 acres along the river as a summer home and hunting retreat.
  • 1967 Hoover incorporates.
  • 1970s–1990s Most of the neighborhood's homes are built.
  • 1980 Riverchase is annexed into Hoover.
  • 1986 Riverchase Galleria opens.
  • 2026 crehoover.com launches.

Neighbor pages

Anyone in the neighborhood can add a page or fix one. Every change is saved, so nothing is ever lost.

Have old photos, plats, or newsletters? Send them to crehoover@gmail.com and we'll add them.

Sources

  1. NeighborhoodScout, "Cahaba River Estates & Paramount, Hoover, AL." neighborhoodscout.com
  2. Redfin listing, 1122 Cahaba River Estates, Hoover, AL 35244. redfin.com
  3. "Cahaba River," Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cahaba_River
  4. Hoover Historical Society, "History of Hoover." hooverhistoricalsociety.org
  5. "Riverchase," Bhamwiki. bhamwiki.com/w/Riverchase
  6. Alabama Department of Archives and History, "House casino in Shelby County, Alabama, after a raid by law enforcement." digital.archives.alabama.gov