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Valley Head, Alabama

22 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1983. It stands in the Valley Head-Mentone census division. It lies in ZIP code area 35989. It stands on Thomas Branch. The Survey maps it on the Valley Head quadrangle. 577 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,014 feet above sea level.

Valley Head within DeKalb County

On record in Valley Head

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 1 record

Population over time

2 figures

Valley Head grew from 558 to 577 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
2010558
2020577+19 (+3%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

12 surveys from 22 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

240 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 240 fires within 5 miles of Valley Head between 1994 and 2020, burning about 3,792 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 118 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Arson/incendiarism118
Debris and open burning65
Missing data/not specified/undetermined39
Recreation and ceremony7
Equipment and vehicle use6
Railroad operations and maintenance2
Smoking1
Natural1
Misuse of fire by a minor1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
30 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
26 September 1999Arson/incendiarism3.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
24 September 2012Missing data/not specified/undetermined22 acresAlabama Forestry CommissionNOR-20120924-001
24 September 2005Arson/incendiarism3.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
21 September 2016Debris and open burning1.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commission20160921-2
20 September 2008Arson/incendiarismunder an acreAlabama Forestry CommissionCO RD 759, VALLEY HEAD ALABAMA, AL
20 September 2000Arson/incendiarism8.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
19 September 2019Debris and open burning4.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commission20190919-16

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in DeKalb County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 13 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 13 workings within 5 miles of Valley Head: 8 occurrences, 3 prospects, 2 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Iron, Aluminum, Clay, Water, Free. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Consolidated #2Aluminum, Water, FreePast ProducerSurface
Dek 5 Clay ProspectClayProspect
Unnamed ProspectAluminumOccurrence
Allen ProspectIronOccurrence
Clyde Hulgen Iron PropertyIronOccurrence
Jesse Manning ProspectIronOccurrence
Unnamed ProspectIronOccurrence
Unnamed ProspectIronOccurrence
Unnamed ProspectIronProspect
Unnamed ProspectIronOccurrence

Every working recorded in DeKalb County

Storms near this place

22 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Valley Head in 22 storm reports between 1998 and 2025: 6 hail, 6 flash flood, 5 thunderstorm wind, 3 heavy rain. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
September 2009Flash FloodValley Head$60,000Five to six inches of rainfall, with local amounts up to 8 inches, caused flash flooding in northeastern Dekalb conty. Hardest hit areas were near Valley Head, Mentone and near the GA/AL state line. Several roads were washed out in the Mentone area. Both the Town Hall and Fire Department in Valley Head incurred damage due to water flowing through those buildings.
June 2011Thunderstorm WindValley Head$8,000Trees were blown down along Highway 117 in the Valley Head community.
September 2012Heavy RainValley Head$5,000A tree fell onto county road 89 due to saturated ground, just west-southwest of Valley Head.
January 2008Flash FloodValley Head$5,000Heavy rainfall from training thunderstorms produced flood waters of one foot in depth on Lowery Road near Hammondville.
July 2000Thunderstorm WindValley Head$5,000A Chevron gas station had its roof blown off.
August 2025Thunderstorm WindValley Head$3,000Trees and power lines were knocked down at 464 Lowery Road. Time estimated by radar.
June 2016Thunderstorm WindValley Head$2,000Trees and power lines were knocked down along CR 608 in Fort Payne.
June 2016Thunderstorm WindValley Head$2,000Trees were knocked down in Valley Head near the Tutwiler Gap.
June 1999HailValley Head$2,000Quarter size hail fell near Valley Head.
April 2025HailValley Head-Ping pong size hail was reported at this location.
April 2025HailValley Head-A photo indicated hail of at least 2 inches in diameter that had fallen in Valley Head.
April 2020Flash FloodValley Head-Flash flooding along Big Wills Creek has pushed debris up blocking Highway 117. Depth of water unknown. Time estimated.
February 2019FloodValley Head-Tutwiler Gap Road closed at County Road 117.
January 2017Flash FloodValley Head-Six inches of flowing water reported along Rock Ridge Road near the Big Wills Creek in Hammondville. Vehicles were able to drive through the water earlier, but may no longer be able to at this time.
April 2014Flash FloodValley Head-Flash flooding occurred along the Allen Branch and Big Wills Creek basins in and near Valley Head. Rainfall of 4.69 inches occurred at the NWS HCN/COOP site in Valley Head. Railroad tracks were washed away stranding a train. Up to 2.5 feet of water flooded the fire department and up to 1 foot of water flooded City Hall. Time of occurrence was estimated.
April 2014Heavy RainValley Head-The automated (HCN) cooperative weather station in Valley Head measured 4.69 inches of rain between 8 pm on the 28th through 6 am on the 29th. Of note was intense rainfall of 2.16 inches in the forty minute period from 215 am to 255 am on the 29th. In fact, 0.51 inches fell in five minutes from 225 am to 230 am. Please refer to a Flash Flood entry that resulted from this rainfall in Valley Head.
January 2009Flash FloodValley Head-At least six inches of flood water was observed atop Alabama Highway 117 in the Valley Head area.
September 2009FloodValley Head-Runoff from five to six inches of rainfall, with locally 8 inches in some locations, caused significant flooding in northeastern Dekalb county. Hardest hit areas were near Mentone and near the GA/AL state line. At 12:12 pm CDT, Big Wills Drive remained barricaded due to several inches of water flowing over the road and CR 635 southeast of Mentone remained flooded.
September 2007Heavy RainValley Head-Rainfall of 5.06 inches was reported on the 14th.
February 2005HailValley Head-Ping pong ball size hail reported.
February 2005HailValley Head-Baseball size hail reported.
May 1998HailValley Head-Dime size hail was reported in Valley Head.

Every storm recorded in DeKalb County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Hammondville1.1 miles22
Mentone1.5 miles22
Riverdale1.9 miles22
Cordell (historical)3.1 miles22
Council Bluff3.3 miles22
Bankhead3.3 miles22
Mays Gulf (historical)4.2 miles22
Lake Howard4.3 miles22

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on Valley HeadAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q66599The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 155288. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.