Flotte’s Notes on Mobile, Alabama Attractions

· Arts Alive! on Dauphin and Conti Streets is a street and performing arts festival that began in 2003 – originally biannual, now held in the Spring

· Kids Days on Bienville Square is held every Thursday during the summer

· The Gulf Coast Ethnic & Heritage Jazz Festival began in 1998. It is held in July in Bienville Square. It is managed by a non-profit corporation.

· Dauphin Street International Beer Festival in August

· BayFest music festival is held every October since 1995

· The Greater Gulf State Fair is held every October. Includes arts and crafts exhibits, concerts, livestock expos, petting zoos, PORCA Rodeo and the Great Gulf State Gun & Knife Show.

· Alabama Pecan Festival is held in Tillman’s Corner in November

· The Mobile International Festival is held in November

· The Rileigh & Raylee Angel Ride is held in November in Fairhope

· Gulf Coast Antiques, Food, and Wine Festival, December

· Mobile Christmas Parade

· Lighting of the Trees in Bienville Square

· Bellingrath’s Magic Christmas in Lights at Bellingrath Gardens

Mobile & Baldwin Museums

· Museum of Mobile/Exploreum houses a complex of museums in the Old City Hall

o The Gulf Coast Exploreum Science Center is a science museum and I-Max Theater.

o My BodyWorks is a $3 million planned health science exhibit scheduled to open in January 2009 and sponsored by Infirmary Health Systems Foundation, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama and the Ernest G. DeBakey Charitable Foundation

o The Museum of Mobile exhibits the history of the City of Mobile.

· Spirit of Lasalle Mobile Bay Cruises

· conde76.JPG (23266 bytes) Fort Conde Visitors Center

o The Visitor’s Center is a reconstructed portion of Fort Condé built by the City of Mobile in 1976 in honor of America's Bicentennial

o Fort Louis de la Mobile was a cedar log stockade erected by France in 1711. In 1723 the wood ramparts were replaced with walls of brick and stone. It was then renamed Fort Condé. Under the English in 1763, it was renamed Fort Charlotte for the English queen.

o Fort Charlotte was dismantled in 1820. The site was discovered during freeway excavations in the 1970s, and using original plans archived in France, the city undertook a partial reconstruction of the fort, which was dedicated in 1976.

· Marx House Complex: 307 University Blvd. This complex features preserved historic structures.

· The African American Heritage Tour Guidebook

o Underground Railroad Bicycle Trail

o Mobile Black History Museum 269 N Broad St.

o National African-American Archives and Museum: 564 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Ave.

· Mobile Medical Museum: (Eichold-Heustis Medical Museum) 1664 Springhill Ave. In the Vincent-Doan House

· Phoenix Fire Museum 203 S Claiborne St. This 1859 firehouse displays the restored engines, uniforms, and equipment used to battle nineteenth-century blazes.

· Mobile Police Department Museum

· Mobile Zoo & HQH Western World

· The Mobile Carnival Museum, 355 Government St.

o The first room of the tour, known as the "carriage room", contains a few exhibits: float replicas, a platform with an undulating floor where one looks out upon a facsimile crowd for a riders’ eye view, an antique flambeaux, a model of the now-jeopardized Mardi Gras park on Royal Street and a mannequin posing as a street vendor. Past that point, the remaining part of the museum takes a much more regal turn. The trains and lavish costumes of the Mardi Gras royalty take up the majority of space left and visitors are well briefed in the opening film about the royalty and its origins among Mobile high society. Everywhere visitors turn, they see reminders of the royal lineage, the litany of familiar names and multiple generations of blueblood Mobilians who passed along birthrights to not only symbolic rule, but also more de facto versions. It brings to mind an old joke about the "problem with Mobile" being that "half the people think the King and Queen of Mardi Gras are real and the other half wish they were." – Kevin Lee, Lagniappe, 7/5/2006

· Battleship Memorial Park houses the USS Alabama, a World War II-era battleship, along with the submarine USS Drum, a B-52 bomber, SR71 Blackbird and other military hardware, both antique and modern. The park features an aircraft pavilion, housing a varied collection of historic planes, including a plane flown by the Tuskegee Airmen. It opened in 1965.

o Stephens Croom was instrumental in the acquisition and establishment of Battleship Memorial Park and served as the first secretary of the USS Alabama Battleship Commission.

· The Mobile Maritime Museum is projected to open in 2009.

o The 90,000-square-foot interactive museum, with hands-on exhibits such as a simulated glass-bottom boat, and others with names such as "Charting the Gulf" and "You Be the Skipper," is expected to cost $30 million.

o In a public-private partnership, the city of Mobile will take the lead in building the museum, with $10.5 million in federal funds already earmarked for the project. The city will work with the museum to secure the other needed construction funding. $6 million in private funds have been raised, of which $1million came from the Malcom McLean family. – PR 6/8/2007

· Several antebellum homes are open to the public, including the Oakleigh Mansion, the Bragg-Mitchell Mansion, and the Condé-Charlotte House

o The Minnie Mitchell Archives are housed in the Oakleigh Historic Complex

· The earliest examples of local architecture that remain intact are two houses estimated to have been built in 1826: the Vincent House on Spring Hill Avenue and the Toulmin House at the University of South Alabama campus.

· The Battle of Mobile Bay Civil War Trail was dedicated in 2007

· Mobile Area Museums Association

· Mobile Civic Center

· Mobile Convention Center

Mobile & Baldwin Gardens

· The Bellingrath Gardens and Home are in Theodore. The gardens' 60 acres were purchased in 1917 as a fishing camp by Walter Bellingrath, President of Mobile's Coca Cola Bottling Plant. Mrs. Bellingrath began developing the gardens with architect George B. Rogers in 1927, and the home was completed in 1935.

· The Azalea Trail: This 27-mile trail exhibits the region's beautiful flowers. The trails, which date back to the 1930s, are divided into two regions, one downtown and one residential. The pink curbs that once marked the Azalea Trail have faded, but there are still some metal signs that point the way. Plan your trip around February-March. The downtown trail begins at Fort Conde and totals about twelve miles. The West Mobile trail begins at Spring Hill Avenue and I-65 and totals about fifteen miles.

· Mobile Botanical Gardens: Garden Rd. off Museum Dr. Established in 1974, the gardens encompass a 100-acre site of cultivated gardens, woodland trails, and a longleaf pine forest.

Black Heritage Trail Sites

· Caldwell School , Congress and Broad streets: In 1887 the school opened as the Broad Street Academy. It was the first public high school for African Americans in Mobile. The school was razed in 1947 and the existing building was constructed in its place. Renamed as Broad Street School, it reopened as an elementary school and eventually was called Caldwell School in recognition of the first principal of Broad Street Academy, William Caldwell.

· Finley's Drug Store, 1388 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave.: Site of first drug store in chain founded by James and John Finley.

· Dr. James Franklin house , 355 N. Ann St.: Home of early black physician who worked in Mobile starting in 1919.

· Johnson and Allen Mortuary , 600 Chestnut St.: Black-owned funeral home established in 1894.

· C. First Johnson House , 1358 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave.: Home of founder of Mobile's first black life insurance company, also a minister.

· John LeFlore house , 1504 Chatague St.: Home of pioneering civil rights leader, was bombed in 1967.

· St. Martin de Porres Hospital , 735 South Washington Ave.: Hospital built after World War II by Catholics to serve blacks during segregation. Now Allen Memorial Home, a nursing home.

· Most Pure Heart of Mary Catholic Church , 204 Sengstak St.: The Parish was organized in 1899 as St Anthony’s Mission by Creoles of African descent. The Mission was served by Josephite Priests, Rev. Joseph St. Laurent and Rev. Louis Pastorlli. By 1901, a small school was established. The construction of the present church was completed in 1908. The name was changed to Most Pure Heart of Mary in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mother. The Parish continued as a spiritual beacon to black Mobilians during the Civil Rights Movement of the late Sixties and early Seventies. Most Pure Heart of Mary was the public meeting location for the Neighborhood Organized Workers-NOW.

· Dave Patton house , 1252 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave.: Home of noted black builder and developer.

· Union Baptist Church , Bay Bridge Road: Church and cemetery associated with Africatown community founded by survivors of the slave ship Clotilda.

· Roger Williams Drug Store , 600 Dauphin St.: Early black physician opened store on this site in 1911.

Mobile & Baldwin Arts

Mobile-Baldwin Sports

Running

· First Light Marathon

· The Azalea Trail Run is a 10K race held every spring since 1978. The ATR is produced by the Port City Pacers, a local nonprofit organization

· The Tricentennial Running Trail is located downtown

Biking

· Mobile/Baldwin Bike Trails

Canoeing/Kayaking

· Mobile Bay Canoe & Kayak Club

· Bartram Canoe Trail

Tennis

· Mobile Tennis Center (Copeland-Cox Tennis Center) in Langan Park is the world's largest public tennis facility with over 50 courts

· Bay Area Tennis Association

Football

· The Senior Bowl, featuring college seniors playing football in a North versus South game, was first played in 1951

· The GMAC Bowl

· Two North American Football League teams play in the area: The Mobile Sharks and the Port City Monarchs

Baseball

· Four members of the Baseball Hall of Fame were born in Mobile: Hank Aaron, Willie McCovey, Satchel Paige and Ozzie Smith. A fifth Hall-of-Famer, Billy Williams, was born in Whistler.

· The Mobile BayBears baseball team play in the Double A Southern League at Hank Aaron Stadium

· The all-black amateur baseball team Prichard Mohawks played in Mobile from the mid-1950s to the late-1960s. The team was started by local businessman Jesse Norwood in 1957 to keep neighborhood teens out of trouble and became a beacon of community pride.

o References: Here’s to You Jackie Robinson: The Legend of the Prichard Mohawks by Joe Formichella.

o Norwood now runs the Mohawks Foundation.

Auto Racing

· Alabama Motorsports Park, a Dale Earnhardt Jr. Speedway. In 2006, Prichard was selected as its future site. – PR 9/18/07

o This complex of racetracks and entertainment venues will be constructed on nearly 3,000 acres of land near the intersection of Industrial Parkway (Alabama State Route 158) and US Highway 45. While the facility won't be large enough to support first-tier Nextel Cup events like the ones at Talladega, sponsors say, it could become home to Busch-series NASCAR races.

o The site plan will include an oval track, a road course and a karting track, and will accommodate stock car, truck, open wheel, sprint and motorcycle racing

o Mike Dow predicts a total investment of nearly $650 million. He predicts it will create 1,250 construction jobs and nearly 5,000 permanent jobs.

o Investors in Gulf Coast Entertainment LLC include: Mike Dow, former Congressman Sonny Callahan and his partners - local attorneys Braxton Counts and Daniel Cushing; Bob Shallow, owner of REMAX Paradise in Orange Beach; Rick Edwards, a land developer in Point Clear; Richard Schwartz, a restaurant owner and developer in Gulf Shores; and Rick Skelton, who owns the Hyper-Sport team that competes in the Grand American Road Racing Association and a developer of Bon Secour Village; Fairhope real estate developer Cabell Outlaw; John McInnis Jr. and John McInnis III of The McInnis Co. of Montgomery; Warren Williamson, attorney in Greenville; Armando and Mimi Fitz, who own four NASCAR Busch Series teams and two teams in Mexico; and Professional football players and Hall of Famers Willie Lanier and John Stallworth.

o The original track site plan with 6 tracks would have altered more than 3 miles of stream and fill 175 acres of wetlands. When the Corps of Engineers told developers that an impact statement would be required, the group responded that it would reduce the size of the project by cutting the drag strip, dirt track and motocross track. Reconfiguring the number and layout of tracks reduced the wetlands impact to about 87 acres, according to Thompson Engineering. – PR 9/18/07, 5/1/08

§ Mobile BayKeeper hired gopher tortoise expert Mark Bailey of Conservation Southeast to do an "audit" survey of 25 acres and he identified 43 gopher tortoise burrows. Engineers for Gulf Coast Entertainment indicated that there were only 26 gopher tortoise burrows on the 2,500 site. The Sierra Club and Mobile BayKeeper, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency called on the corps to require that the investors to do an Environmental Impact Statement for the property.

§ Motorsports Park Revised Site Plan (PR) Original Site Plan (PR)

Greyhound Racing

· The Mobile Greyhound Park opened in 1973

o Seven Mobilians, chosen by the Mobile County Racing Commission, formed the partnership that built and operated Mobile Greyhound Park: Franklin D. Brown, Lum Morrison, E. L. McDonald, Aldon L. Smith, Herman Maisel, Joseph C. Martin and Joe Wilson

o Mobile Greyhound Park, in accordance with the enabling legislation, provided generous contributions to institutions of higher education and various agencies.

Mobile/Baldwin Golf Courses

· Mobile Area Golf Courses

· Cotton Creek/Cypress Bend

· Kiva Dunes

· Peninsula

· Gulf Shores Golf Club

· TimberCreek

· Rock Creek

· Lost Key Golf Club

· Soldiers Creek

· Glenlakes

· Steelwood (private)

Restaurants and Local Foods

Flotte’s Restaurants by Neighborhood

· The Eat Alabama Wild Shrimp Committee is dedicated to promoting Alabama wild domestic shrimp. The campaign started in 2003, after prices dropped to 30 year lows, partially due the influx of below-market priced foreign shrimp imports.

· Mobile Dining Guide

· MBCVB Where To Eat

· Lagniappe Cuisine

o Lagniappe Restaurant Listings

· Dom Soto’s Dining Out in Mobile

· www.gulfcoastlocalfood.org

· Fruit Stands: Burris’ Farm Market (Loxley), Jimmy Lowe’s Fruit Stand (Theodore, Old Shell Rd)

· Farmers markets: Cathedral Square and at the Museum of Art

o The Alabama Farmers Market Authority began an initiative to match local farmers with local chefs. – PR 12/1/08

· Mobile Brewery history according to Kip Sharpe in Kevin Lee, Lagniappe, 8/12/08:

o Gelbke Brewery ran from roughly the end of the Civil War until the 1880s in a Springhill Avenue location just west of Broad Street for about 12 to 15 years. They had a brewery, a saloon and a gunsmith shop all in one.

o Mobile Brewery was founded by A. Sidney Lyons in 1890.

o Bienville Brewery was founded in 1901 by several key employees of Mobile Brewery. Lebaron Lyons was a chief officer. The four-story building at St. Joseph and Bloodgood streets was completed in 1902 and had an annual capacity of 50,000 barrels. The brewery was a union shop that employed 75 men. E. A. Engler and then Joseph Friedhoff were brewmasters. Improvements were being mulled when it was damaged by a hurricane in 1906. In 1907, the state legislature passed a prohibition that effectively sealed the brewery’s fate. Equipment was sold to a Georgia facility and when the state’s prohibition was lifted in 1911, they were unable to resume operations. The chief officers of Bienville Brewery returned to similar corporate positions elsewhere around town. Lebaron Lyons resumed presidency of Alabama Corn Mills Company. The Bienville building was next used for lumber storage, then acquired by Fosko Bottling Company in 1946. It was converted to a Dodge auto dealership in the 1950s and razed in 1991 to make room for an interstate highway

· Flea Market Mobile

Mobile Mardi Gras and Mystic Societies

· 2010 Mardi Gras Schedule

· The 2007 Mardi Gras season was attended by an estimated 878,000 people, with a crowd of 105,600 along the streets for Fat Tuesday

· Mardi Gras festivities yield more than $227 million in direct spending in Mobile and Baldwin counties with an economic impact estimated at more than $408 million per year.

Mobile Mardi Gras History

· 1703 Mardi Gras in Mobile is the oldest traditional Carnival celebration in America, having begun in 1703. The masked ball, Masque de la Mobile, began in 1704, and the first known parade was in 1711, when Mobile's "Boef Gras Society" ("fat beef society") paraded with a cart carrying a large papier-mache cow's head.

o The Boeuf Gras procession on Mardi Gras was to continue until 1861 when it ceased due to the outbreak of the War Between the States

· The Spanish took rule of Mobile in 1780 and in 1793 the Spanish Mystic Society, attired in costumes of white and pushing a cart on which a statue of the Blessed Virgin sat, began its torch-lit procession on Twelfth Night.

· 1830 A group of young men led by Michael Krafft stayed awake all New Year's Eve, making noise with cowbells, hoes, and rakes. The group became the first parading mystic society, using the name Cowbellion de Rakin Society (at first, the men were going to call themselves The Revelers, but then decided to change), with annual parades each New Year's Eve. The Cowbellions dissolved in 1912, but re-formed in 1991.

o Leaving the Old Southern Hotel with some of his friends after ringing in the New Year, this merry band came upon Partridge's Hardware Store, scooped up hoes, rakes, cowbells, and gongs and proceeded to wander the streets making a fantastic amount of noise. Arriving at the home of the Mayor, they were invited in for refreshments.

o After a few years as the "Midnight Revelers", elected to call themselves the "Cowbellion de Rakin Society"

o In 1840, they staged the very first display of its kind in the United States when they rolled forth a parade with a title and subject. Six horse drawn flats (floats) carried out the theme, "Heathen Gods and Goddesses".

o Circa 1835 the Cowbellion de Rakin Society took their parade into New Orleans. Joseph Ellison and 5 other men from Mobile formed the New Orleans Cowbellions in 1850, and in 1857, that Cowbellion society, renamed as the Mistick Krewe of Comus, held its first parade on Mardi Gras day.

· 1843 Some men who had been refused membership by the Cowbellions formed the Strikers Independent Society with their own New Year's parade. The Strikers is America’s oldest Mystic Society.

o The Strikers stopped parading in 1881 (except in 1884), but still hold an annual ball.

o A life-size wooden goat stands in one corner of the Mardi Gras Museum as a reminder of the society. The goat, more than 100 years old, was used during Striker events around the beginning of the 20th century, although museum officials are unsure of the goat's actual role.

· 1844 “The T.D.S.”, called “The Tea-Drinkers’ Society” but actually “The Determined Set”, was formed.

· New Year’s Day became an important social occasion in Mobile as the wealthy in formal dress made and received calls in their homes on Government Street.

· “The code of upper-class Mobile, on this and on most social occasions, encouraged liberal drinking but demanded controlled inebriation.” - Doyle

· 1866 Joe Cain revived the parades in Mobile on Mardi Gras day. While Mobile was still under Union occupation, Joe Cain paraded through the streets of Mobile, dressed in improvised costume depicting a fictional Chickasaw chief named Slacabamorinico. The choice was a backhanded insult to the Union forces in that the Chickasaw had never been defeated in war.

o The following year (1867), Joe was joined by other Confederate veterans (including Thomas Burke, Rutledge Parham, John Payne, John Bohanan, Barney O'Rourke, and John Maguire), parading in a decorated coal wagon, playing drums and horns, and the group became the "Lost Cause Minstrels".

o Julian Lee "Judy" Rayford arranged to have Joe Cain exhumed from Odd Fellows Cemetary in Bayou la Batre and reburied in Mobile's Church Street Graveyard in 1966. Rayford carried Joe Cain's skull in the pocket of his coat. He established Joe Cain Day in 1967 by walking at the head of a jazz funeral down Government Street to the cemetery on the Sunday before Mardi Gras. It was later discovered that Judy had re-buried Joe and Elizabeth in the wrong plot. So, once again, during 1967, the remains were exhumed and brought back across the graveyard and reinterred in the Cain family plot near his parents.

o This has been called "The People's Parade" due to the fact that it is performed by citizens without being run by a specific Mardi Gras krewe. Originally, anybody who showed up at the parade start on Sunday morning could join in with whatever makeshift float they could cobble together. Eventually, the sheer size and disorder forced the organizers to limit the participants to a preset limit. The parade is preceded with the visit of the "Cain's Merry Widows" to the gravesite of their "departed husband"

o The current incarnation of Joe Cain is Wayne Dean Sr.

· 1868 The Order of Myths, the oldest parading society in Mobile, is founded. Its Emblem consists of Folly chasing Death around the broken pillar of life.

· 1869 The H.H.S. (Heavy Samplers Society) is founded. The H.H.S. is said to have evolved from a young men’s baseball team that followed behind the Lost Cause Minstrels. The H.S.S. collapses in 1873 after a lavish and expensive ball puts them in debt, and the Infant Mystics is founded by H.S.S. members. Its balls are held (appropriately) in Temperance Hall.

· 1872-1897 The first Mobile Carnival Association (the De Leon Carnival Association) is founded by Thomas Cooper De Leon, a Jewish journalist from South Carolina, who manages carnival for 25 years. Daniel E. Huger is crowned Felix I.

· 1874 The Comic Cowboys were founded by Dave Levi from New York City, with predominantly Jewish membership. They dress in cowboy jeans or street clothes on floats that display billboards with humorous jokes or caricatures.

o The Cowboys are led by their Queen "Little Eva", with a toilet plunger scepter. Some of the city's best leaders have been selected to rule over the Cowboys and proudly wore the undergarments of Eva.

o Samuel Eichold wrote the Without Malice history of the Comic Cowboys in 1984.

o Another Jewish organization, the Continental Mystic Krewe, is founded in 1891

· 1874 The Knights of Revelry (K.O.R.) is founded

· 1881 On “New Year’s Eve” of 1880– which was actually on January 6, 1881 owing to an arctic cold front over December 31st– there was the last great New Year’s Mystic Society parade in Mobile, as on the Fiftieth Anniversary of The Cowbellions, that group and The Strikers and the TDS paraded together and jointly celebrated “The Semi-Centennial of Mysticism” in Mobile with a reception in “Temperance Hall”. Beginning in the 1880s, Mystic Societies of Mardi Gras took over - David Bagwell, MBT

· 1881 The Infant Mystics take over management of Mardi Gras from the Mobile Carnival Association

· The Cowbellions began to die out entirely in about 1887 after the failure of an abortive attempt to merge with the OOMs as the “Michael Krafft Association (MKA)”, and after a final abortive parade of twenty floats in 1888; the Strikers thrived but quit parading, and the T.D.S. died out about then, only to be revived in the early 1970s by Max Rogers and his friends on Joe Cain Day. - Ibid

· 1898-1926 The second Mobile Carnival Association organizes Mardi Gras. King is Felix II.

· 1922 The Crewe of Columbus has 6 trademark floats. Three depict the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria, then the Crew's emblem float with a big globe rotating in the center, and that's followed by the title float. It was originally a Catholic organization, but opened to other denominations in the 1930s

· Moon pies adopted were to replace the "banned" boxes of Cracker Jacks

· 1927 The third (and current) Mobile Carnival Association is founded

· 1956 the Incas have the Inca Sun God and all the riders with large feathered headdresses.

· 1977 The Conde Cavaliers is founded as a way for a workingman to join a Crewe that had no way to inherit a membership in any of the old groups. Now they have 13 themed floats and the three usual Emblem floats.

· The Conde Explorers, the first all black Mardi Gras Krewe to parade through downtown Mobile on Saturday night, was established by 20 people in May 2003.

· In 2008, Naomi Williams sued after Fairhope’s Le Crewe De Spaniards representative told her she couldn't attend the Mardi Gras society's toga party because she was black, according to Williams and her lawsuit. "'This is nothing against you. It is just your color. We don't accept black people at our parties,'" the representative said, according to the federal lawsuit.

· The Mobile Area Mardi Gras Association's Mammoth Parade recently returned to The Avenue after a 12 year hiatus

· “The Wisdom of Chief Slacabamorinico”

· The Mobile Area Mardi Gras Association (MAMGA) was founded in 1939.

o Each year, MAMGA presents King Elexis I and his queen, the Mammoth Parade, and the Grand Marshall's Ball. Former Department of Labor Secretary Alexis M. Herman was the Mobile Area Mardi Gras Association Queen for 1974.

o Dr. Wilborne L. Rossell, dentist and civic leader, was president of MAMGA for 50 years, from its very beginnings until 1987.

o Mrs. Frederica G. Evans chose the title of King Elexis I to rule over Mardi Gras. Known as the "Mother of colored Carnival", she died in 1967.

· Black mystic societies in Mobile include: Order of Doves, 1890-1914; Original Utopia Club, founded in 1814; Original Dragons; Comrades Social Club; Midnight Maskers; Dragons; Strikers Social Club; Krewe of Elks; Emerald Social Club; Sauvettes Social Club; Athenian Valentine Sweetheart Ball organization; Knights of Ebony; Sophisticated Ladies Social Club; Krewe of Don Q; Utopia Club

· The Mobile Carnival Association was founded by Thomas Cooper De Leon, a Jewish journalist and writer from South Carolina who managed Mobile Carnival for 25 years.

Mardi Gras Traditions, from the Press-Register, 2/17/2007, by Dan Murtaugh

· Vernadean: This giant fire-breathing, smoke-spewing dragon float has been the hit of Saturday night's Mystics of Time parade since the organization first hit the streets in 1949. Originally 45 feet long, the dragon has since grown to its current 150-foot long incarnation. Along the way, it sired two offspring, smaller dragons named Verna and Dean, which also ride in the parade. A replica and full-size model of Vernadean sit in the Mobile Carnival Museum on Government Street.

· The Goat Man: The Saturday before Fat Tuesday each year is designated "Goat Day" in Prichard. The Krewe of Goats formed in 1995 and is based in Prichard but is not affiliated with the Prichard Mardi Gras Association. The society held its first parade in 1996. The Goat Man portrays a resident of the Bullshead area of Prichard who in the 1920s tended a small herd of goats. At the time, when Mardi Gras was mostly for the rich, he began hitching goats to a homemade cart and traveling up and down the narrow dirt roads, singing and tossing homemade trinkets, such as cookies, wooden whistles, marbles and popguns, to the crowd.

· Joe Cain: Joseph Stillwell Cain is widely credited as the father of Mobile's modern Mardi Gras. Mobile denizens had taken part in Mardi Gras festivities as early as 1704, when the city was the capital of the French colony in America. But the Civil War put an end to the celebrations. In 1866, while Mobile was still occupied by Union troops, Cain, who was a town clerk, dressed up as a Chickasaw Indian chief and drove a coal wagon through the city streets. The costume had a rebellious symbolism, as the Chickasaw tribe had never been defeated in battle. Cain took part in Mardi Gras until his death in 1904. In 1966, Cain's body was removed from a Bayou La Batre grave and reinterred in the Church Street Graveyard, where Joe Cain Day celebrations begin every Sunday before Fat Tuesday. The celebration is known as "The People's Parade," because originally anyone was allowed to join the procession. Police have since capped the number of participants.

· Chief Slacabamorinico: The fictional Chickasaw chief that Joe Cain invented for that 1866 procession. Only four men have played Old Slac throughout Mobile's Mardi Gras history. Cain dressed as the chief until 1879, then Old Slac went dormant for nearly 90 years. The chief was reincarnated in 1967, when Julian Lee "Judy" Rayford -- a Mardi Gras historian, enthusiast and folklorist who had arranged to have Cain reburied at the Church Street Graveyard -- donned the headdress while leading the first Joe Cain Day procession. Rayford turned over the role to J.B. "Red" Foster, chief inspector for the Mobile Fire Department, in 1969. Foster stepped down in 1985 and was replaced by the Rev. Bennett Wayne Dean Sr., pastor of the Excel and Megargel United Methodist Churches in Monroe County, who will lead the parade Sunday.

· The Merry Widows: Old Slac leads the procession, but it's the Merry Widows who kick off Joe Cain Day. Starting in 1974, every Joe Cain Day, the "widows" don black gowns, hats and veils and gather to go to the entrance of Church Street Graveyard early Sunday to weep and moan near the grave of their departed "husband," Joe Cain. After the mourning, they start dancing and partying, and then move on to Cain's former home, at 906 Augusta St., to toast and eulogize the man. During the actual Joe Cain Day procession, the widows -- there are between 10 and 20, and their true identities are kept secret -- ride in a trolley-like vehicle tossing cups, beads and black roses to the crowd.

· Comic Cowboys: Every Fat Tuesday, the Comic Cowboys forsake fancy floats and costumes and instead parade through Mobile on flatbed trucks festooned with satiric handmade signs mocking newsmakers of the previous year. The Cowboys were founded in 1884 under the slogan "Without Malice" and take pot shots at everyone from local football heroes to national politicians.

· Mardi Gras Royalty: Every year, the Mobile Carnival Association (a traditionally white organization) and the Mobile Area Mardi Gras Association (MAMGA, a traditionally black organization) anoint kings and queens to rule over their Fat Tuesday parades and other festivities. The Carnival Association chooses King Felix III. The two are chosen nearly a year before Mardi Gras, crowned Saturday night, given the key to the city on Monday and lead the King Felix parade on Fat Tuesday. MAMGA chooses its King Elexis I and queen. The pair are crowned Sunday evening, have a Royal Feast on Monday and lead the MAMGA Mammoth Parade on Tuesday. Both sets of royalty have courts of knights and ladies, or maidens, who accompany them. King Felix III and King Elexis I both arrive in Mobile on royal yachts each year from the Isle of Joy after crossing the Sea of Lemonade. Both monarchs rule until midnight on Fat Tuesday.

· Folly chasing Death: The Order of Myths always has one float that features a jester named Folly, armed with inflated pig bladders, chasing the skeletal figure of Death around the broken column of life. Most agree the scene symbolizes that laughter is the only way to deal with the imminence of mortality, although some say Folly and Death -- who debuted shortly after the Civil War -- also represent the South and the North, respectively. Whenever Folly hits Death with a pig bladder, it's a strike against the Union army, some claim. In the Knights of Revelry parade earlier on Fat Tuesday, Folly is also played by someone on a float, and he vigorously beats his inflated pig bladders against the float.

· Mardi Gras parades are also known as “boomalatta” or “boom boom”

· 2007 Videos: Pharoahs, Mystic Stripers, MOT, MOT (2), Joe Cain Procession, MOM, Neptune’ Daughters, KOR

· Local Legacies - History of Mardi Gras Originated in Mobile Alabama
Mardi Gras Ball Schedule
Mardi Gras History Museum
Toomey's Mardi Gras
Mobile Popcorn
The Mother of All Mardi Gras
Mobile Carnival Museum, a Museum full of Mardi Gras history
Mobile & Alabama Mystic Societies & Organizations
South Coast USA
University of South Alabama Links

Official Moonpie Website

Religion

· In differentiation between Mobile and the rest of predominantly Protestant Alabama, Mobile was declared a diocese of the Roman Catholic Church.

· The 1860 census listed the following churches as being in Mobile: 16 Methodist, 11 Baptist, seven Catholic, six Presbyterian and three Episcopal. There was also a Jewish synagogue.

· Congregation Ahavas Chesed was organized in 1894

Roman Catholic

· The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mobile comprises the lower 28 counties of Alabama.

o It is the metropolitan see of the Province of Mobile, which includes the suffragan bishopric sees of the Diocese of Biloxi, the Diocese of Jackson, and the Diocese of Birmingham.

o The Archbishop of Mobile is the pastor of the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception

o The archdiocese was originally established in 1825, as Vicariate Apostolic of Alabama and the Floridas. It was erected as Diocese of Mobile, May 15, 1829. The diocese was elevated to Archdiocese of Mobile in 1980.

· Catholic Parishes: St. Mary’s, Old Shell Road, formed 1868. St. Catherine of Siena, Crichton, 1914. St. Joan of Arc, 1920.

· The chief benefactors of the diocese were Messrs. Felix and Arthur McGill -- the McGill Institute, a high school for boys, bears their name. The Hannan Home for the aged poor is a tribute to the generosity of Major P. C. Hannan, who built it along the lines of Bishop Allen's choosing.

· The Sisters of Charity arrived in Mobile in 1841 to care for orphans and by 1851 were managing the City Hospital. False charges of mismanagement forced the Sisters out of the hospital during a period of anti-Catholic sentiment. Yet, the Sisters regained respect by service to Mobile during the 1853 yellow fever epidemic.

· The Knights of Peter Claver, the largest African-American lay Catholic organization, was founded by four Josephite priests and three lay Catholic men in 1909 in Mobile. The organization is located in 34 states. The Order is named after St. Peter Claver, a Jesuit priest from Spain who ministered to African slaves in Cartegena, Colombia.

· The current Archbishop is Most Rev. Thomas J. Rodi. In 2008, he succeeded Most Rev. Oscar H. Lipscomb, who had been archbishop since 1980.

Episcopal

· In 1862, Richard H. Wilson was consecrated as bishop of the Episcopal diocese of Alabama and delivered his first sermon at Christ Church.

· Episcopalian minister Leonidas Polk became known as the "battling bishop" when he rejoined the military at the start of the Civil War. He also designed a Civil War battle flag for Mobile.

· Richard Wilmer, the second Bishop of Mobile, founded Wilmer Hall in 1864.

· The Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast was founded in 1971 from the southern portion of Alabama and the Florida panhandle. At that time, Wilmer Hall Children's Home became an agency of the new diocese, while maintaining close ties with the Diocese of Alabama. The new diocese, bishop, and staff were housed at Wilmer Hall until they moved to Pensacola in 1989.

Methodist

· The St. Francis Street Methodist Church was founded in 1840

Presbyterian

· Although the Presbytery of Alabama was organized in 1821, in Mobile the number of Presbyterians was so small that they formed a union church with local Episcopalians in 1822.

· A Presbyterian congregation was formally organized in 1831 and in 1837 built the Government Street Presbyterian Church.

Mobile Media

· Mobile Area Media List (MBCVB)

Mobile Newspapers

· The Mobile Gazette began publication shortly after Mobile was captured by US troops in 1813.

· The Mobile Commercial Register began in 1821, published by Jonathan Battelle and John W. Townsend of Montgomery. In 1822, the Gazette was taken over by the Register

· The Register was purchased by Thaddeus Sanford in 1828. Under Sanford, the Mobile Patriot newspaper was bought out, thus becoming part of the daily Mobile Daily Commercial Register and Patriot in 1832.

· The Register was sold in 1837 to Epapheas Kibby and Mobile attorney John Forsyth Jr., who would have a 40-year relationship with the paper until his death in 1877.

o The New York Times' eulogy for Forsyth included the phrase, "most important Democratic editor of the South". Forsyth combined the Register with the Merchants and Planters Journal, resulting in The Mobile Register and Journal in 1841. The telegraph became the Register's means of receiving news in 1848. After C.A. and C.M. Bradford's purchase of the Register's one-half interest, the paper was renamed The Mobile Daily Register in 1849. Forsyth once again bought back the Register in 1854. Swiss-born Confederate propagandist Henry Hotze worked for the paper before the Civil War.

· In 1861 the Mobile Daily Register and competitor The Mobile Daily Advertiser combined to form The Mobile Daily Advertiser and Register. About three years after the war, the Register was sold and combined again, this time to William d'Alton Mann of The Mobile Times and The Mobile Daily Register.

· John Forsyth, Jr. formed a partnership with John L. Rapier to operate the Register. After Forsyth's death, Rapier became principal owner. Rapier organized the stock company The Register Co. to publish the paper in 1889. Erwin S. Craighead, who would later be known as "Mobile's newspaperman" began his long career at the Register as the city editor in 1884 before earning the position of editor in chief in 1892.

· Photographs began appearing in the Register during the 1890s.

· In 1905, Rapier died, and his son Paul changed the paper’s name from The Daily Register to The Mobile Register. Five years later, Frederick I. Thompson became the new owner, and he began publishing the afternoon paper The Mobile News-Item in 1916.

· Publisher Ralph B. Chandler's afternoon newspaper The Mobile Press began publication in 1929 inside a former church on Jackson and St. Michael Street. Chandler bought out The Mobile Register in 1932. The Mobile Daily Newspapers Incorporated was established to publish the Register as a morning paper, the Press as an afternoon paper, and both papers are combined as the weekend paper The Mobile Press Register. The Mobile News-Item was discontinued. In 1944, The Mobile Press Register began publication at its new facility on 304 Government Street after years on St. Louis and Hamilton. From 1948 to the end of the 1950s, the Press Register owned radio station WABB. Longtime TV partner WKRG-TV went on the air in 1955.

· S.I. Newhouse's newspaper group bought out The Mobile Press Register in 1966. Ralph Chandler died in 1970, and William J. Hearin became president and publisher. The Baldwin Press Register began publication in 1988.

· Howard Bronson became publisher of the Mobile Press Register in 1992 and Stan Tiner became editor and vice president of news, until managing editor Michael Marshall succeeded him in 1999. Both came from Shreveport. In 1992, the Alabama Press Association declared the Register to be the state’s most improved newspaper.

o “Genesis of an Independent Newspaper” by Bailey Thompson.

§ “I had not been at my post long until the former publisher’s wife appeared before my desk with a bank executive in tow. She demanded that we write a story about the bank’s donating money to some worthy cause. I suspected that other banks were doing similar good deeds, so I responded courteously but with no commitment. The woman seemed appalled that she could not summon such a story upon command.”

§ “We had to learn how to cover environmental stories. We had to endure a fierce counterattack from some of the industries involved, whose executives apparently had trouble believing that a good newspaper was supposed to be a watchdog for the community. Soon word got around that we were preparing to publish the first installment of our project. Several representatives or friends of the industries showed up one day uninvited, looking over our shoulders as we worked. I can only imagine what Bronson, our publisher, was enduring at his country club or other places he frequented in the company of influential people.” “An ugly whispering campaign commenced in private, with the clear intention of discrediting the newspaper.When these rumors reached Bronson, he became furious. If critics had something to say, he demanded, then they should say it to our faces. Thus our little investigative team joined the publisher and the editor around the big table in the Chamber’s board room. Across from us and representing the companies were more than a dozen executives, public relations people and technical experts. Bronson said something to the effect, “Now, I understand you have some criticisms of our project. I have brought our people here for you to question, and we won’t leave here until you are satisfied with their answers.”

· In 1997, the afternoon Mobile Press ended publication. Hearin died in 2001.

· The Mobile Register moved to its current facility on Water Street in 2002. In 2006, the Register restored the Press-Register name.

· The Press-Register circulation just over 94,000 readers for Monday to Saturday and 111,368 on Sunday.

· The Press-Register is owned by Advance Publications, which is controlled by the Newhouse family. It also owns the primary newspapers in Birmingham and Huntsville, as well as newspapers around the country and Conde Nast publications.

Baldwin County Newspapers

· Gulf Coast Newspapers owns seven Baldwin County Newspapers.

o The Onlooker – Foley

o The Islander – Gulf Shores

o The Baldwin Times – Bay Minette

o The Bulletin – Daphne

o The Fairhope Courier

o The Independent – Robertsdale

o The Elberta/Lillian Ledger

o Gulf Coast Newspapers was owned by Dothan-native Terry Everett, who sold the newspapers in 1988 to become U.S. Representative from Alabama’s 2^nd District in 1992. It was then owned by Worrell Enterprises of Boca Raton, Fla., who sold it in 1996 to former executive Dennis E. Thomas of Heritage Newspapers Inc. In 2000, it was sold to Crescent Publishing Co. of South Carolina, a new company formed by William DeBerniere Mebane.

Weeklies

· Lagniappe was founded in 2002 by Rob Holbert and Ashley Toland.

o “I’d like a panoply of transplants arriving from moderate to large cities across the nation, actual cosmopolitan people used to pavement under their feet and tickets in their hands, those who know about being involved and active and progressive. Sophisticated people willing to seize life and not be content with another blasé weeknight in front of the television. People who truly value a wide variety of art and entertainment, who believe interaction is for more than drunkenness and gossip. People who see pre-Lenten parades and pomp as peripheral not pivotal and who believe lifting the community as a whole is the mark of true "civilization."” – Kevin Lee, Lagniappe, 12/18/07

· The Azalea City News & Review was published from 1974 to 1991. It was started by attorney Domingo Soto and later published by Jocko Potts

o Easter Publishing, the parent company of the newspaper, published photograph books by local authors, including "Mobile: American River City" by Michael Thomason and "On Mobile Streets, A Rumor of the City" by Jackson Hill

· The Harbinger was published by the University of South Alabama and edited by E. Tsang

Magazines

· Mobile Bay Monthly began in 1971 as Mobile, Alabama, published by the Chamber of Commerce. Since 1990 it has been published by Jocko Potts. Potts also publishes Business Alabama.

· Southern Breeze Magazine is published by Compass Marketing in Gulf Shores

Television

· WEAR ABC 3 is based in Pensacola. It began in 1954. It is owned by the Sinclair Broadcasting group (since 1997).

· WKRG CBS 5

o Kenneth Giddens and his family started radio station WKRG in 1946, followed by WKRG-TV in 1955. In the 1980s WKRG-TV moved from its long time home on St. Louis Street to its current facility close to Bel Air Mall. The Giddens family sold off both the radio and television divisions of WKRG in 1994 to Ken Johnson’s Capital Broadcasting. It is now owned by privately-held Denver-based Media General, who acquired it from Spartan Radiocasting.

· WALA Fox 10 began in 1953 as an NBC affiliate. In 1996, the FOX and NBC networks switched stations in the market: WALA became a FOX station, and WPMI became an NBC station.

o In 2005, Providence, R.I.-based LIN TV Corp. purchased several stations from Emmis Communications, including WALA and WBPG

o John Edd Thompson is the chief meteorologist for WALA-TV, and has been reporting the weather since 1969.

· WPMI NBC 15 is owned by Providence Equity Partners (see below)

o WPMI began in 1981 as Alabama's first independent station. In 1986, it became a FOX affiliate. WPMI became first television station owned by Clear Channel Communications in 1988. In 1996, the FOX and NBC networks switched stations in the market: WALA became a FOX station, and WPMI became an NBC station.

o WPMI-TV began as a Fox television network affiliate, starting news operations in 1994, before joining NBC in 1996.

· WMPV 21 Trinity Broadcasting Network

· WEIQ 42 is Alabama Public Television/ PBS

· WJTC 44. Independent (was UPN until 2006 when WB and UPN merged to form CW). Began broadcasting in 1984. It is owned by Providence Equity Partners (see below)

· WBPG 55 CW. Began broadcasting in 2001. It was WB until 2006 when WB and UPN merged to form CW). It is owned by LIN TV Corp. (see above).

· Mediacom is the main cable provider for Mobile County and much of the Florida side of the Mobile-Pensacola market. It is headquartered in New York and is the country’s

· Comcast Cablevision, the nation’s largest cable provider which began in Tupelo, Miss. and is now headquartered in Philadelphia, provides cable services to the city of Mobile. The franchise agreement between the City of Mobile and Partners In Communication/Alabama, Inc., adopted in 1987, was transferred to Comcast Cablevision Corporation of Mobile, Inc. in 1989.

· Port City 6 is the local cable access channel

Radio

· WHIL-FM (Gulf Coast Public Broadcasting)

o WHIL began broadcasting in 1979. Offices are located in the Administration Building of Spring Hill College. Licensed to the college, the station is operated under the direction of Gulf Coast Public Broadcasting, Inc., a non-profit community board.

o In the mid-to-late 1990s, Spring Hill College officials took exception to some news reports on NPR about subjects such as abortion rights and homosexuality. WHIL discontinued airing NPR programs for several years. Protests from listeners prompted WHIL to restore Morning Edition, but the station continued to preempt All Things Considered. However, in response to a survey of local public radio listeners, WHIL returned ATC to its schedule in early 2007.

o New WHIL station manager Mario Mazza has implemented more syndicated NPR programming. – Kevin Lee, Lagniappe, 3/13/07

o Catt Sirten, long-time DJ for WZEW, hosts Sunday Jazz Brunch and the nightly Radio Avalon

· WNTM News Radio 710AM

o WNTM, "NewsRadio 710" was started by Kenneth Giddens as WKRG Radio in 1946. In 1994, WKRG-AM became known as WNTM, with call letters standing for "News Talk of Mobile. Clear Channel Communications bought 710 AM and 99.9 FM in 1997. Clear Channel also owns WKRG-TV's rival NBC affiliate WPMI. In 2004, WNTM received another change in call letters to WPMI, which meant the end of affiliation with ABC News Radio. After almost a year with NBC News Radio, WPMI-AM became affiliated with FOX News Radio. Ironically, WPMI-TV was affiliated with the Fox television network before joining NBC in 1996. In June 2007, the call sign reverted again to WNTM.

o Uncle Henry hosts the most popular program on WNTM's current lineup.

· WZEW 92.1 FM

o In the 1980s 92.1 became album-oriented rock station WZEW, 92 Zoo, with a class A signal transmitting from the Eastern Shore. The station went into bankruptcy in 1989. A new owner boosted the station to class C3 status with a new tower in Mobile.

o In 1994, it changed to WGCX classic rock when 104.1 FM became a country station. Longtime DJ Catt Sirten left the ZEW, but returned for a time in 2000. The demise of WZEW brewed furor by a small but vocal group of listeners. In 1997, Washington, D.C. attorney Barry Wood bought the ZEW and put the calls and format back on the air.

o The Zew's transmitter site was once atop the AmSouth Bank Building in downtown Mobile, but with the completion of the taller RSA tower, they moved about 12 miles south on DIP, which helped their coverage around Dauphin Island and the Gulf Shores area.

o By 2002, Wood was in bankruptcy and Johnson bought the station at auction. Although the ownership was tied up in courts for several years, Ken Johnson Sr.’s company .com+ llc (along with Ken Johnson Jr. and Charles Camp) eventually bough the station for $2.5 million.

· WAVH-FM 106.5,

o WAVH was sold by Barry Wood of Baldwin Broadcasting Co. to Donald Bigler of Bigler Broadcasting Co. for $3.6 million. - PR 10/6/07, 4/5/08

§ Bigler is a former president of Teledyne Continental Motors. Bigler is stepfather of radio announcer Sean Sullivan, former disc jockey on WZEW-FM 92.1 who joined WAVH. WAVH will be Bigler's first broadcast property. His other businesses include BBB Industries, an 1,100-employee company that remanufactures automotive alternators and starters.

§ Wood, a Virginia-based communications attorney, has owned WAVH since 1992. Wood's Baldwin Broadcasting Co., which previously sold WZEW to Mobile firm Dotcom Plus, had struggled for years to sell both its stations while operating under bankruptcy protection. Previously, there were aborted sales of WAVH to national media groups Cumulus and Styles Media, and Cumulus even operated WAVH for a time before turning the frequency back over to Wood.

o In 2006, WAVH abruptly dropped its oldies format, which emphasized music from the 1950s and'60s, and grabbed attention with a three-day weekend of stunt programming, playing all Jimmy Buffett tunes as "Jimmy 106.5," before relaunching as "The Pirate."

o In 2008, WAVH switched to an all talk format, including local talk show “Wayne and Sean” 6-8am with Wayne Gardner and Sean Sullivan

· WABB (97.5 FM, 1480 AM) began in 1948. J.W. Dittman bought the station in 1959. It was run by his son Bernie Dittman until his death in 2006. Bernie’s daughter Betsey succeeded him at Dittman Broadcasting. 97.5 plays contemporary hits and 1480 is a talk station. 1480 has no local hosts since it canceled Ron Frasier’s show in 2006. Its studio’s are on Springhill Avenue.

· Goforth Media, pwned by Wilbur Goforth, runs Christian stations WBHY (88.5 FM, 840 AM) and WLPR 960 AM.

· Atlanta-based Cumulus Media owns WBLX 92.9FM, WYOK-FM 104.1, WGOK-AM 900, and WDLT-FM 98.3/AM 660. It is privately held, owned by a group led by Lewis Dickey Jr., its chairman and CEO.

· Clear Channel Communications owned TV stations WPMI 15 and WJTC 44, as well as radio stations WKSJ (94.9 FM, 1270 AM), WRKH 96.1 FM, WMXC 99.9 FM, WNTM 710 AM, WNSP 105.5 FM, and WZEW 92.1 FM

o Clear Channel bought its Mobile radio stations from Ken Johnson’s company Capitol Broadcasting. The three-year-old Mobile company owned six local radio stations and operated a seventh.

o In 2006, Clear Channel was bought out by two private capital firms, Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital Partners. The new ownership sold all of its TV stations and 161 of the radio stations to Providence Equity Partners, a private-equity firm, in April 2007, pending FCC approval.

Blogs and Websites

· Mobile Bay Times by Chip Drago

· Coastal Alabama by Robin Delaney, producer of the tricentennial film “We Are Mobile”

· Baldwin County Now

· Mobile WiFi Hotspots

Mobile/Baldwin Media Personalities

Mobile Culture

· “How to Speak Mobile”

Mulattos (“Creoles”)

· Creoles were originally white French men and women born in the New World French colonies such as Louisiana, Saint Domingue (Haiti) and the Caribbean. It was later taken to mean the mulatto descendents of the French and Spanish settlers.

· In the early colonial period, Indian slaves were common in French households, but there was a steady increase in black slaves after the African slave trade began in the 1720s.

· Miscegenation between masters and slaves, both Indian and African, created generations of Métis and mulattos. Some relationships were bonded by marriage and witnessed by the church, while others were common law arrangements.

· Miscegenation was a matter of concern for French and Spanish colonial officials, but was rarely enforced. The Latin culture of French and Spanish settlers was more tolerant of miscegenation than was the Anglo-Saxon culture which followed it.

· “Creoles” were always distinguished by their skin color; some light-skinned people became "white."

· Many of the black Creoles in antebellum Mobile were descendants of early settlers such as Jean Chastang, Hilaire Dubroca, William Mitchell, Frank Mitchell, Simon L'Andre, Honore Collins, Auguste Collins, Nanette Durette, Regis Bernody, Jean Baptiste Laurendine and Julia Villars.

o Carlos Lalanda became perhaps the most prominent mulatto in Mobile. He had bought Belle Fontaine on Mobile Bay in 1796 and he later acquired other properties at Dog River, Grand Terre and Tensaw. In 1811, he commanded the mulatto militia and had obtained a contract to supply biscuit and hard tack for the Mobile garrison.

· The families of Dr. John Chastang and Simon Andry formed the nucleus of a Creole Catholic Community that still exists in the town of Chastang, 27 miles north of Mobile.

· The Adams-Onis Treaty that transferred West Florida to the United States authorized people of mixed heritage, mulattoes, full citizenship rights that included educational advantages, property ownership, the right to own slaves, inheritance rights, the right to buy and sell liquor, and the right to vote. However they were often segregated to separate facilities and had a separate social structure.

o In the 1830s, when Alabama barred free African Americans from attending school, the Alabama Legislature granted ‘free colored Creoles’ in Mobile the right to create their own separate school system.

o The Mobile Diocese created the Cathedral Creole School and the Creole schools located at St. Patrick’s Church and on Mon Luis Island for Mobile’s Catholic Creoles.

· Creole #1 Fire Company was the first volunteer fire company in Mobile, founded in 1819 by member’s of Mobile’s Creole community.

o Creole Fire House #1 was built at 13 N. Dearborn St in 1872. The company remained in the Dearborn Street house until the Central Fire Station was built in 1926

o The fire company was absorbed into the city department in 1888 and finally disbanded in 1970.

o It is said that the Creole #1 was usually the first to get to the fire because they bought rejected race horses, including Jack, the horse who could follow his nose straight to the fire. Horse drawn equipment was used until 1924.

Fire Companies

· The city fire department was created in 1888. Before the Central Fire Station was built in 1926, the fire companies were privately run operations. The small fire houses still used by the private companies were closed and centralized in the new station.

· Creole #1 Fire Company

· In the nineteenth century, the fire alarm was sounded by beating on a metal wagon wheel ring with a hammer. The fire because the company that responded first got paid. By law, every citizen was required to have a fire bucket, and three were required in cotton warehouses, taverns and hotels. The fire wardens were required to carry an 8-foot staff painted vermilion and gold as a sign of their authority. They were also fined heavily if they left the fire before it went out. – Main Street Mobile

Mobile Bay Wildlife Refuges and Parks

National Wildlife Refuges

Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge (BSNWR)

· Bon Secour NWR Habitat Management Plan (2006) (PDF)

· Bon Secour NWR Fact Sheet

· Bon Secour NWR Bird List

· Bon Secour NWR Pine Beach Trail Guide

· The BSNWR was established by the US Congress in 1980. It consists of over 6,800 acres on the Fort Morgan peninsula and Little Dauphin Island. It is administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

· The BSNWR is home to the endangered Alabama beach mouse, serves as an important stop over point for migratory birds, and serves as nesting sites for green and loggerhead sea turtles. Habitats include beaches and sand dunes, scrub forest, fresh and salt water marshes, fresh water swamps, and uplands.

· Foxes, coyotes, bobcats, and more common residents such as alligators, squirrels, opossums and armadillos may be seen throughout the year.

· Houses at the end of Mobile Street belong to private landowners who owned the land before the Refuge was established. These landowners have decided to keep these “inholdings” rather than sell them to the Fish and Wildlife Service. There are a few private “inholdings” within the refuge off the Pine Beach Trail. These landowners have legal access to their property by way of the trail.

· Perdue Tract was the first tract of the BSNWR. The Perdue Tract contains the Pine Beach Trail, Gator Lake, and borders the Little Lagoon.

o Skipper Tonsmiere, a local home builder and Baldwin County resident, called Myrt Jones in 1979 and asked how to go about saving land. Skipper gave her a copy of the developer's plan (who had an option on the property) to place a golf course on the sand dune area, home, condos, and businesses throughout. The Nature Conservancy, met with the five leaders: Skipper, Myrt, Nancy Garrett, John Borom, and Jack Friend. They needed congressional support in order to get the necessary funds from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which was used to acquire coastal lands, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Congressman Jack Edwards was approached by the group and said that he couldn't do anything as long as this developer had the option. He told the group that he couldn't give his support if Myrt was in the foreground. The developer lost his option. Chase Manhattan Bank in New York was asking $10,000,000 for the property. The Fish and Wildlife determined it fit all the requirements for acquisition and purchased it for $3,000,000- $6,000,000. – Myrt Jones

· Little Dauphin Island is the only north-south barrier island along the Gulf of Mexico. After Hurricane Frederic hit the Alabama coast in 1979, there was an exit ramp to Little Dauphin Island from the Dauphin Island Bridge being rebuilt. Chris Delaney, a local attorney, was the major owner and wanted to sell the island. The Fish and Wildlife did their study and determined it fit into the requirements, and it was acquired for $2,000,000-$3,000,000 and became the second parcel (Mobile County) in BSNWR. – Myrt Jones

· The Nature Conservancy bought 1,800 acres known as Little Point Clear immediately east of Pilot Town for $410,000 in 1994, with Geo Resources retaining mineral rights.

o Little Point Clear’s owner was an "oil giant," Pace Oil, and its owner (Mr. Page) had determined that the little natural brackish water inlets could be canalized and he could construct Florida-like homes with bulkheads. He requested a permit, but he had to have a deep access channel from Intra coastal Waterway, and this required extensive permits from the state Department of Conservation, Lands Division and Marine Resources, ADEM, Fish and Wildlife, COE, EPA, etc.. Eventually Mr. Page's plans were stopped. This property was acquired and became the third largest parcel of the BSNWR. – Myrt Jones

· The Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge added 105 acres along Oyster Bay to its protected lands which will become part of the Fort Morgan sanctuary's Sand Bayou Unit, which now includes about 1,000 acres bordered by Oyster and Bon Secour bays and the Intracoastal Waterway. The 105 acres were originally purchased for protection in 2004 by The Nature Conservancy, which named the tract the Scott B. Ireland Preserve. Scott Ireland's father, Bill Ireland Sr., is a Birmingham conservationist who summers in Gulf Shores and wanted to preserve the property in honor of his late son, who lived in Magnolia Springs. The Wildlife Service paid $160,000 for the tract. The Nature Conservancy also acquired some of the Gulf-front tracts that eventually became the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge. – PR 11/23/07

· The Nature Conservancy considered buying the Pilot Town tract and another 210 acres the bar pilots had owned nearby, estimating the 300 acres to be worth $87,000. The Nature Conservancy lost interest in the property in 1994 because of its legal problems; in 1998 the price was too high. In 2001 the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, which runs the refuge, offered the Langans $2 million for about 90 acres they had bought in a 1998 auction for $620,000, but the bid was rejected.

Grand Bay National Wildlife Refuge

· The Grand Bay NWR was established by the US Fish and Wildlife Service in 1992. It consists of 14,060 acres in Jackson County, MS and Mobile County. Partners are Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR), Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, and The Nature Conservancy Grand Bay Bioreserve.

The United States Department of Commerce and the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources created the Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. Forever Wild has acquired 2500 acres as a nature preserve near Bayou La Batre. In 1998 the Nature Conservancy acquired through donation approximately 1200 acres from International Paper Company, that was incorporated into the NWR.

· Major habitats consist of tidal marsh on the south portion and pine/pine savanna on the central and north portions. Federally listed threatened species that are on or may visit this refuge include the brown pelican, gopher tortoise, and bald eagle. The pine savannas are managed with controlled burning.

Weeks Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve

· The Reserve is managed by the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, and is also a part of the National Estuarine Research Reserve System of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the U. S. Department of Commerce.

· The Weeks Bay Reserve Interpretive Center is located on U. S. Highway 98 just west of the Fish River Bridge. The Center houses a multitude of exhibits, habitat models, specimen collections and a diorama. Associated with the Interpretive Center are over 5,000 feet of elevated boardwalks and over two miles of primitive ground trails. Some of the special opportunities available at the Weeks Bay Reserve include a native pitcher plant bog, hummingbird and butterfly gardens, historical and archaeological displays, and scenic vistas of the Weeks Bay estuary. A $1.39 million education center on the site of the old Lulu's restaurant will open in 2008

· The Weeks Bay Reserve Foundation supports the Reserve

Wildlife Management Areas

o Mobile-Tensaw Delta WMA

o Upper Mobile Delta Map (2009)

o Mobile-Tensaw Delta and W.L. Holland WMA Map (2009)

State Parks

· Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores consists of 6,150 acres with 2 miles of beaches, modern and primitive camping, cottages, trails, and an 18-hole championship golf course near Lake Shelby, a 900 acre lake with freshwater fishing, skiing and swimming.

· Meaher State Park is a 1,327-acre park is situated in the wetlands of Mobile Bay with modern camping, boat ramp and fishing pier, and two nature trails including a wetland boardwalk.

· 5 Rivers Delta Resource Center opened in 2007 on the north side of the Mobile Bay Causeway. It is the terminus of the Bartram Canoe Trail, while features 6 campsites (4 of which are floating). It also has a visitor’s center, reception hall, and hiking trails.

o The center’s Delta Hall has true heart pine wood was custom milled after being retrieved from the bottom of the Choctawhatchee River. In the 1930s and 1940s, timber was placed on rafts and floated to market. Sometimes an entire raft would sink. Timber can deteriorate for three inches or so when submerged, making a protective crust around the log and what is inside crystallizes. Some people dive for the logs, but it is illegal to remove them from Alabama Rivers. People were caught doing this and the timber was stored and used for state’s evidence. It became a ruling that this was state property and was used for the nature center. – Kathy Ferniany, Spanish Fort Sun, 11/18/07

· Alabama Coastal Birding Trail Map and Pamphlet

· Alabama Scenic River Trail

· Fairhope Boat Company outfitters

Nature Conservancy Reserves

· Splinter Hill Bog is located in the headwaters of the Perdido River along Dyas Creek in northern Baldwin County. It is forested by longleaf pine savanna/seepage bog communities with interspersed sandhill habitats. Much of the site is occupied by some of the largest and most visually impressive white-topped pitcher plant bogs globally. It is open dawn to dusk from March 1-October 15 and can be accessed only by written permission between October 15 and March 1. Forever Wild and The Nature Conservancy have acquired over 2,100 contiguous acres

· The Grand Bay Savannah Bioreserve is part of the Grand Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

o It also includes the Dennis Cove preserve at the mouth of the Fowl River at the southern tip of Mon Louis Island. The Dennis Cove site is inaccessible to visitors and can only be seen by boat.

· Rabbit Island is a 26-acre island off of Ono Island. This preserve can be visited only when prior arrangements are made.

· The Nature Conservancy also protects the, Gulf Islands, Mobile-Tensaw River Delta, Weeks Bay NERR

· The Nature Conservancy purchased 14,119 acres along the Perdido River from International Paper Corporation in 2006. The deal protected more than 15 miles of river frontage. The Conservancy sold 9,300 of the acres to the Forever Wild Program for a total of $13.3 million and has nominated the balance to Forever Wild for future transfer. The tract is adjacent to 4,000 acres owned by the state of Alabama.

This was part of the largest conservation project in the history of the South — a landmark purchase of 218,000 acres from IP of forestland across 10 states. The Nature Conservancy had the money on hand when International Paper Corp. began selling all its timber land and bought it immediately. The nonprofit land preservation group and the state had been planning to work together to help the state buy the land.
The Conservancy is allowing the state to make the entire tract available for public recreation as a Wildlife Management Area.
In a unique partnership among The Nature Conservancy, International Paper, and the state of Alabama, pine plantations on the land will be managed for timber harvests while the plantations are restored to native longleaf pine forests. This will result in improved habitat for the rare animals that rely on longleaf pine forests for their survival.
The Conservancy is working to protect additional lands along the Perdido River to form a corridor of conservation land that will protect the entire river and stretch across southern Alabama to the conservation lands in the Mobile Delta. Florida is working to conserve the other side of the river so that it could ultimately become one of the few rivers that is preserved from headwaters to mouth.
The land boasts some of the state's most rare and precious habitat types, with some pitcher plant seepage bogs, upland longleaf forests and sugar white beaches in addition to the cedar swamps.

Revised 8/17/08

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