Keel Mountain is a mesa in northern Alabama, stretching across parts of Madison and Jackson counties and linked to the Cumberland Plateau, though separated from it by the Paint Rock River valley. It was named for Jesse and Priscilla Whitaker Keel, early pioneers from North Carolina who settled there before 1810, connecting the mountain to some of the region’s earliest Euro-American settlement. Its protected lands include Bethel Spring Nature Preserve, with trails to a large waterfall and a trail system added to the National Trails System in 2021, and Keel Mountain Preserve, where a trail leads to the Lost Sink and where conservation protects the endangered Morefield’s leather flower.