# Hayden AL -- why all the exclaves? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 28, 2025, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hayden-al-why-all-the-exclaves/1026114 "2025-12-28T09:33:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2025, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hayden-al-why-all-the-exclaves/1026114/1 "2025-12-28T09:33:51Z")
Hayden AL is a town north of Birmingham. It seems to be composed of one main section and dozens of exclaves, including some within the neighboring town of Smoke Rise. https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=33.8878806,-86.7579851&z=12&output=embed&dg=ntvb&q=Hayden,%2BAL The red dotted lines are the town boundaries. So why all the exclaves? is there something advantageous about being in that town? ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2025, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hayden-al-why-all-the-exclaves/1026114/2 "2025-12-28T10:30:25Z")
I suppose, but this is only a guess, that these exclaves are isolated houses outside the main settlement for which the town administration is supposed to provide public services. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2025, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hayden-al-why-all-the-exclaves/1026114/3 "2025-12-28T10:47:50Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > So why all the exclaves? is there something advantageous about being in that town? There’s a 99% chance the answer is segregation-related. Most likely, the lots that are parts of the city are the properties on which white people lived when those lines were drawn. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2025, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hayden-al-why-all-the-exclaves/1026114/4 "2025-12-28T10:59:45Z")
It appears to have to do with a [tax dispute](https://www.al.com/spotnews/2010/06/tax_backlash_may_double_size_o.html), due to another nearby city imposing an extraterritorial sales tax, which apparently is a thing Alabama cities can do. > Blount County residents were enraged when Warrior, a nearby Jefferson County city, imposed a sales tax on its police jurisdiction last year, which extends into Blount County, Smith said. > > Instead of paying a tax to Warrior, landowners who have never expressed an interest in annexation decided they wanted the protection of their own town, she said. > Since the large lump of annexations were an act of legislation, tracts of land did not need to touch a part of incorporated Hayden to annex. The result is a checkerboard of annexations, with many of the land tracts located miles from the current town limits, Smith said. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2025, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hayden-al-why-all-the-exclaves/1026114/5 "2025-12-28T16:12:13Z")
Thank you @Lord_Feldon. I was fairly sure it was some kind of tax issue. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2025, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hayden-al-why-all-the-exclaves/1026114/6 "2025-12-29T00:09:00Z")
Didn’t know Smoke Rise was an actual community. Smoke Rise was a fictional neighborhood in Ed McBain’s 87th precinct novels. It was part of Isola, which was the novels’ version of Manhattan. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2025, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hayden-al-why-all-the-exclaves/1026114/7 "2025-12-29T09:50:22Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > Blount County residents were enraged when Warrior, a nearby Jefferson County city, imposed a **sales tax** on its police jurisdiction last year, which extends into Blount County, Smith said. > > Instead of paying a tax to Warrior, landowners who have never expressed an interest in annexation decided they wanted the protection of their own town, she said. (Emphasis added) I got to thinking about this and then looked at what’s actually in the exclaves. As far as I can tell, none of them have stores where a sales tax would be charged. So either the article quoted got the type of tax wrong or the tax would apply if the owners sold their property. I suppose the latter could be the reason. Otherwise it doesn’t make sense. ETA: Further checking find that one of the exclaves has some stores, although the border of that exclave goes through the middle of two of them.