In the area known as Beaver Valley, settlement began about 1853, when pioneer P. G. Oldham built his home a half-mile northwest on the Palestine-Athens Road, an early mail route. East of his home stood a campground where travelers often spent the night and where later residents gathered for seasonal religious camp meetings. Near the Oldham home were the Beaver Valley Primitive Baptist Church, later known as Holly Springs, a cemetery on land donated by Oldham, and the noted early school Beaver Academy. In 1859, the first local physician, Dr. T. J. Adams, built his homestead in the woods of Beaver Valley and maintained a wide practice until he was past 80. During the Civil War, while the young men of the area were away in the army, an iron foundry in the valley made arms and bullets for the Confederacy. In 1880, a post office named Montalba was established, a name suggested by early settler Tobe Hamlett and inspired by a snowclad mountain on the horizon, with Mrs. Mollie Hamlett serving as the first postmaster. In later years, the Montalba settlement moved southward and came to thrive as a market and supply point for the valley.