LET’S TAKE ANOTHER LOOK AT “SWEET HOME ALABAMA”

United States of AmericaEssentially AmericaMary Moore MasonTravelTourismUSAAlabamaMobileGolf CoastMardi GrasSweet Home Alabama

1 Mar

Written By Mary Moore Mason

*Enjoying Mobile's Historic Oakleigh House*

When you think about Alabama chances are you think of the thought-provoking sites along its Civil Rights Trail and/or its rich music heritage, but, as I recently discovered, there’s another side to this historic Deep South State: its lush and lovely Gulf Coast.

My travelling companions and I began our visit at its historic gateway city, Mobile, nestled beside its namesake river and massive bay and sharing some of its charm and French Heritage with New Orleans, Louisiana, 144 miles to its west. In fact, Mobile – not New Orleans – staged America’s first Mardi Gras celebrations in 1703, 15 years before ‘The Big Easy’ was founded.

Then, when Mobile was left down in the dumps by the mid-19th century Civil War, local character Joe Cain decided to cheer things up by bringing dormant Mardi Gras festivities back to life. Inexplicably dressed as a Chickasaw Indian chief he led a parade through the streets and past the occupying Union soldiers. (See his statue in said garb in the city’s Mardi Gras Square; in the nearby waterfront park, there’s one to French Canadian Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville, who, along with his brother Jean Baptiste, founded Mobile).

*Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville and the skyline of the city he and his brother founded*

Alas, the scheduling of our visit could not encompass the major five-day February Mardi Gras festivities including 40 parades featuring a fire-snorting dragon, flamboyant floats peopled by such colourfully named and costumed groups as the Order of Butterfly Maidens, the Knights of Revelry, the Mystic Stripers Society, the Comic Cowboys and a figure of Folly chasing Death around a white column plus quick-stepping brass bands. And that’s not to forget the balls presided over by majestically adorned Carnival Kings and Queens, both black and white, and Joe Cain Day where I could have joined the black-veiled “widows” dancing around his Church Street Cemetery grave to the accompaniment of a jazz band.

However, we were able to savour a bit of the scene at the Mobile Carnival Museum, sited in a handsome old mansion crammed with figures modelling the splendid, ornate gowns and suits worn by former kings and queens. Nor could I resist its tempting gift shop, a huge crescent moon hanging from its ceiling, its shelves featuring such temptations as marshmallow-filled Moon Pies, traditionally thrown from the floats to the Mardi Gras crowds, and flamboyant sunglasses – I am now the proud owner of a pair with lens in the shape of motorcycle wheels.

There’s much more to be learned about the city’s more than 300 years of French, British, Spanish, American and Confederate history in the History Museum set in its Italianate-style former 19th-century City Hall, its recreated 1723 French-founded Fort Conde, and – on the waterfront – the World War II Battleship Alabama and GulfQuest National Maritime Museum.

And that’s not to forget its lovely, historic homes clustered around beautiful tree-shaded squares and avenues, some such as Dauphin Street lined with a rainbow array of balconied townhouses, restaurants, and shops. Among those you can visit are the Conde-Charlotte Museum, built in 1822 and the city’s first courthouse and jail, and the 1833 Oakleigh House, home to a series of wealthy families and surrounded by huge live oak trees veiled with Spanish moss.

Ready for some of the reputedly delicious local cuisine we dropped by the nearby Hummingbird Way Oyster Bar for yummy crab cakes and shrimp and grits prepared by chef Jim Smith, a winner of the Great American Seafood Cook-Off competition. (We later visited a number of other outstanding seafood, barbecue, Southern style and other restaurants both individually and on a food-tasting tour.)

*Clotilda slave descendent Darron Patterson in Africatown*

*Bessie Bellingrath, co creator of Bellingrath House and Gardens*

When it came time for us to leave our Renaissance Battle House Hotel and explore further afield we first headed about three miles north of downtown to Africatown, the small but remarkable community established in 1860 by West African slaves illegally brought to the area by local plantation owner Timothy Meaher. Their dramatic and impressive story of survival was recounted to us by Darron Patterson, one of their descendants, as he stood beside an African-inspired monument. Behind him, the Heritage

House offers more information via Clotilda: The Exhibition, whose name is inspired by that of the sailing ship that brought the 100-some slaves to the area.

Next, we headed south along the western side of Mobile Bay to Bellingrath, a former fishing camp transformed in 1935 into an opulently-furnished mansion by wealthy Coca-Cola bottling plant owner Walter Bellingrath and his wife Bessie. Surrounded by 65 acres of beautiful gardens overlooking the Fowl River, it is open to the fee-paying public.

*Bellingrath Gardens overlook Fowl River south of Mobile*

*A reception room in the Bellingrath mansion*

Heading south, we bypassed the picturesque fishing village of Bayou La Batra where the shrimp boat scenes were shot in Forrest Gump, to cross the causeway onto Dauphin Island, settled by the French in the 1700s and filled with attractive residential and holiday homes as well as being an Audubon Bird Sanctuary. From here, a ferry whisked us across the mouth of Mobile Bay to the massive ruins of the major Civil War-era Fort Morgan and then on to the coastal resorts of Gulf Shores and Orange Beach.

Basing ourselves in Hilton’s eco-friendly Lodge at Gulf State Park, we enjoyed its long sandy Gulf of Mexico beach, the trails leading to the nearby freshwater fishing lake and a typical American meal of burger, fries, and milkshake at the retro Sunliner diner– seating options included a vintage convertible parked in its midst. Then on to Orange Beach’s Wharf, overlooking yachts berthed along the Intracoastal Waterway and offering a Ferris Wheel, live music in the amphitheatre, dining, shopping, and an evening light show.

*The Wharf attractions include a marina*

*A waiter at Gulf Shores’ Sunliner Diner*

A quick sandcastle-building tutorial at a nearby beach – we came away with diplomas from Sandcastle Academy! – and then off for a fun-filled evening of live music, margaritas and more at the renowned Flora-Bama beachfront honky-tonk set on the Alabama/ Florida state line. If we had been there in late April, we could have enjoyed a major beach party and tried our hands at becoming

mullet-tossing champions by throwing fish the furthest distance from Florida into Alabama. Instead, we headed back to Mobile via Highway 98, stopping by to stroll along the lovely streets and beach at Fairhope, once acclaimed “America’s Best Small Southern Town”. This seemed a good place to linger, have a drink and propose a toast to our enjoyable time in what the locals call “Sweet Home Alabama”.