is a fairly conservative place, consistently voting for conservative candidates in elections, and with Baptists claiming the largest number of congregants of any church denomination. Much of Sand Mountain is dry, with the sale of alcoholic beverages being forbidden. Sand Mountain is one of the last places in the country with churches which still use Sacred Harp singing in their Sunday morning church services, and is home to many of the largest and oldest continuous Sacred Harp singings in the country, as well as many important singers (i.e. editors of the Sacred Harp tunebook). Snake handling by some churches on Sand Mountain was the subject of Salvation on Sand Mountain, a 1996 book by Dennis Covington. Those who live on Sand Mountain state that the book mostly took place in Scottsboro, in the Tennessee River valley to the west of Sand Mountain. Climate Sand Mountain, being located in the mid-South, has long hot humid summers, and winters which are short and mild by comparison to much of the rest of the country, with snow being a real rarity. Its elevation, however, leads to it being cooler than the rest of the state of Alabama. On Sand Mountain, between 60 and 90 days per year are over , according to the Heat Zone Map published by the American Horticultural Society. By comparison, the great majority of the upper Midwest and Northeast has less than 30 such days per year. These hot days, combined with the South's high humidity, make it sweltering in the summer. The average daytime temperature is in the high 70s or above for at least five months out of the year (May through September). Sand Mountain has higher rainfall than almost anywhere else in the South, including anywhere else in Alabama, with the exception of the Gulf Coast area. Some areas of Sand Mountain get more than of rainfall per year (though others get as little as ). The following is a general idea of Sand Mountain's climate, taken from Ider, Alabama: Soil Sand Mountain has, on average, a depth of soil - after which is solid sandstone bedrock. The soil is generally loam-based, and is a mixture of sandy loam and silty loam, drawing from such series as Apison, Atkins, Cotaco-Barbourville, Crossville, Hartsells, Lickdale, and Muskingum. It is extremely acidic, growing more so the deeper you go from the top. It is classified as "well-drained". Settlements located