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Photos by Erin Nelson.
Ralph Yeilding walks along Southwood Road in Mountain Brook. Since late August, Yeilding has walked every street in the city and probably covered about 250 to 275 miles overall, he said.
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Photos by Erin Nelson.
Yeilding points to a printed map of the city as he explains that the red lines represent every street in Mountain Brook.
In addition to providing great exercise, walking can achieve a deeper purpose. It allows people to enjoy nature, escape their numbing routines and explore different corners of their environments.
Many writers, including Aristotle and Charles Dickens, have used walking as a break from hard, intellectual labor. Visual artists, including Van Gogh, have found inspiration in their strolls through the city or countryside.
Beginning around Labor Day last year, a Mountain Brook man used walking to carry out a special quest of his own that lasted three months.
Ralph Yeilding- a Colonial Hills resident since 1984 - walked every single street in Mountain Brook.
This unique project began as a way for Yeilding to get back outdoors and resume an exercise routine after a long lapse caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. "I had already started doing several little loops around the city," he said. However, Yeilding came up with his streets project as a way to focus his efforts. He "needed something ambitious to tackle" and thought that exploring all of the streets would be "a fun project," he said.
As Yeilding, an attorney, walked week after week through the fall, he got plenty of exercise. He also got the chance to engage intimately with the city he loves. He savored Mountain Brook's architecture, learned its streets and learned more about his fellow residents. Yeilding, who is nearly 65, also had his emotions touched when walking past homes once occupied by friends or family members. "It was a real sentimental journey for me," he said.
A Mountain Brook native, Yeilding attended Crestline Elementary and Mountain Brook Junior High School and graduated from Mountain Brook High School in 1975. His wife, Sally Stevenson Yeilding, is a 1975 MBHS graduate who attended Vanderbilt. The couple has three children in their 30s, Catie, Edward and Charles.
Before beginning his streets project, Yeilding bought some paper maps. "I wanted to be systematic about it," he said. He didn't take the maps with him on his walks, he said. "I would take a screen shot of the section of the map that I was going to cover so when I got out there I could figure out where I was going," Yeilding said. After coming home, he would mark the segment he covered that day in red.
Depending on his route, he walked some streets more than once and marked those in blue on a second map. "Several times, I took a lot of satisfaction in how much I had done," he said. Yeilding probably covered about 250 to 275 miles overall, he said. He was asked about the comments he received while doing the walks.
"The reaction generally was sort of, 'My gosh, how can you do that? The hills are so steep.' I said it's just building up your stamina," Yielding said. Yeilding said he walked mainly on weekends when he had time for "longer, marathon walks." He generally walked early in the morning, especially when walking a busy street.
"Sometimes I would go out in the dark with my headlamp on at 4:30 a.m. or 5:30 a.m. so I wouldn't have to encounter traffic," he said. He typically walked six or seven miles a day, with his highest total being about 14 miles. "It was a challenge at times, and I was glad to be done at times," he said, laughing. Yeilding finished up the project on Thanksgiving weekend.
During his walks, Yeilding said he tried to remain open to his environment. "I intentionally did not listen to podcasts or anything to divert my attention," he said.
He also learned a lot about the city. First of all, Yeilding was surprised at the number of streets he had never been on or even heard of. Another "entertaining aspect" of the project was the architecture, he said, as he kept track of what he liked and what he did not. He thought about "history and how these communities got to where they are," Yeilding said.
He also learned a lot about which city residents took good care of their property. "I paid attention to people who took care of their yard and those that did not take care of their yards, and I saw some interesting homes in the latter category," he said. Yeilding said he felt strong emotions whenever he walked past a home where a family member or friend once lived.
"It brings back a rush of memory," he said. "There was a high sentimental element to it that was enjoyable," he said. Yeilding earned a bachelor's degree from Davidson College in 1979 and a law degree at the University of Virginia in 1984. At the Bradley firm in Birmingham, Yeilding focuses primarily on estate and trust planning and administration. "I'm not a trial lawyer," he said. "The area I work in is collaborative, which fits my personality better. I enjoy trying to solve problems."
Yeilding said he loves Mountain Brook "I'm very devoted to this city and all the efforts made by city leadership, and I marvel at the commitment that's made by people who volunteer to do all of this," he said.
"There is a high degree of civic engagement," he said. "Lots of people give lots of time." An important aspect of Mountain Brook history is the development of more sidewalks by the city beginning in about 1992, Yeilding said.
According to his research, Mountain Brook had only 4 miles of sidewalks in 1992 but about 46 miles of sidewalks now. The growing network of sidewalks has helped to connect the villages, schools, neighborhoods, churches and synagogues and has brought "a sense of community and connectedness to the city," Yeilding said.
The sidewalks have been "transformational," he said, "I can get on a sidewalk at my home and walk to any of the villages on a sidewalk," he said.
