Mobile: Recreation
Sightseeing
Visitors to Mobile may want to stop at the Fort Conde Welcome Center at 150 Royal Street in the Church Street East district. Built between 1724 and 1735, the brick fort was demolished 100 years later. 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. Today, a video presentation about Mobile and interactive video screens offer a glimpse of the many sightseeing opportunities that abound in this historic city. Visitors may tour Fort Conde accompanied by costumed guides who will fire period muskets and cannons.
Mobile's colorful heritage has also been preserved in other historic districts. Near Fort Conde, the Conde Charlotte Museum has been furnished in the various styles of Mobile's past eras. Among other historic sites in the Church Street East district are the Bishop Portier House, a Creole cottage from the 1830s, and townhouses dating from the 1850s and 1860s. The Oakleigh Garden historic district, a group of nineteenth-century Gulf Coast and Victorian cottages, centers around Oakleigh, an 1830s residence on 3.5 acres enhanced by azaleas and moss-covered oak trees. The nearby Cox-Deasy house, a good example of Creole Cottage Style, can also be toured.
Seven miles from Mobile Bay, near Spring Hill College, the Spring Hill historic district features mansions dating from the 1850s. The 1855 Bragg Mitchell Mansion on Spring Hill
At Mobile's Battleship Alabama Memorial Park, the USS Alabama, the World War II submarine USS Drum, and the Aircraft Pavilion can be toured. The park also features a nature observatory. The Mobile Botanical Gardens, adjacent to Langan Municipal Park, presents 100 acres of azaleas, camellias, magnolias, roses, and other native and exotic plants. Twenty miles south of Mobile, the 900-acre Bellingrath Gardens estate dazzles sightseers with 65 acres of landscaped flowers, trees, shrubs, and flowering bushes surrounding a luxurious home; 200 species of birds frequent the gardens. Bayou La Batre, a fishing and shipbuilding community near Mobile, affords visitors many sightseeing opportunities, especially during the festivities connected with the annual blessing of the fleet. When Dauphin Island, two miles off the coast of Mobile County where Mobile Bay meets the Gulf of Mexico, was discovered by the Le Moyne brothers in 1699, it was found to be the site of burial grounds termed Indian shell mounds. The island also features Fort Gaines and lovely gulf beaches. Fort Morgan on the tip of Gulf Shores Island is another remaining Confederate fort.
Arts and Culture
Among the community theater groups in Mobile are the Mobile Theatre Guild, the Joe Jefferson Players, and the Chickasaw Civic Theatre. Children's theater is presented by Mobile's Youth Theatre at the Playhouse in the Park. Mobile's colleges and universities also mount stage productions. Mobile audiences enjoy music performed during annual visits of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra and the New Orleans Symphony Orchestra. The Mobile Chamber Music Society and the Mobile Symphony also sponsor concerts. The Mobile Symphony Youth Orchestra completed its first season in 2000-2001 under the auspices of the Mobile Symphony. The following year, a new acoustical shell created a new listening experience for symphony-goers. Mobile Symphony and Mobile Opera jointly purchased a building to be used for rehearsals, teaching studios, and administrative offices; renovations were completed in 2002, and the center opened as the Josephine Larkins Music Center. During warm weather in downtown Mobile a weekly concert series entertains at lunch time on Bienville Square, while pops concerts can be heard in the city's parks. The renovated 1,900-seat Saenger Theatre offers up theater and musical productions. The Mobile Ballet brings exciting dance presentations to the area; its dance school educates residents from toddlers to pre-professionals. The Alabama Contemporary Dance Company trains local dancers and brings contemporary dance to the city.
Mobile's municipal museum system maintains three facilities: the Museum of Mobile, Carlen House, and the Phoenix Fire House Museum. The Museum of Mobile moved to the Old City Hall in fall 2000, where it showcases furniture, silver, arms, ship models, documents, and historical records; its former location will serve as a new Mardi Gras Museum. Carlen House is a Creole cottage where period crafts such as spinning, weaving, and quilting are demonstrated. The Phoenix Fire House Museum is devoted to the city's fire fighting history.
The Mobile Museum of Art is located west of downtown and houses a collection of more than 6,000 pieces spanning more than 2,000 years of culture, including paintings, prints, sculpture, lithographs, silver, quilts, porcelain, seventeenth- and eighteenth-century southern furnishings, and African art. The museum reopened in 2002 after undergoing an expansion costing $15 million, which brought the gallery's exhibition space to 95,000 square feet.
At the University of South Alabama the Museum Gallery Complex consists of Toulon House, a former plantation home built in 1828; Seamen's Bethel, built in 1860 and now serving as a theater; and the Isaac Max Townhouse, dating from 1870.
The Gulf Coast Exploreum Science Center and IMAX Dome Theater features exhibits that let visitors explore aquatic life and human science, and games and puzzles that demonstrate scientific concepts and stimulate problem-solving skills.
Festivals and Holidays
Rooted in ancient Grecian and Roman celebrations and adapted to fit the Christian Church's calendar, Mardi Gras is an outpouring of revelry that precedes the penitential Lenten period observed for 40 days prior to Easter. Mardi Gras practices are thought to have been brought to the first Mobile settlement by its French colonists around 1700, and were later enhanced with traditions added by Spanish and subsequent settlers. Resumed after the Civil War, Mobile's Mardi Gras today is observed with two weeks of balls, floats and parades, costumes, music from bands and minstrels, and pageantry. Mardis Gras is celebrated in Mobile with a variety of citywide events.
Also in late winter, Mobile celebrates its Azalea Trail Festival, when 37 miles of azalea shrubs in bloom throughout Mobile are marked out on two driving routes that afford trail followers a spectacular floral display. The festival also includes a 10-kilometer footrace, a historic homes tour, and other events. Spring events in Mobile include the Festival of Flowers on the campus of Spring Hill College, and the Blakeley Battle Festival reenactment commemorating the last major Civil War land battle. In June, 52 contestants in the America's Junior Miss program compete in Mobile for college scholarships and other prizes.
Proximity to the Gulf of Mexico inspires summer events in and around Mobile. Among these is the Blessing of the Fleet in neighboring Bayou La Batre, where fishing boats are decorated for a water parade, arts and crafts are displayed, live crabs are raced, and seafood and gumbo are served in abundance. During the Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo held for a weekend on nearby Dauphin Island, anglers test their skills against each other and such prize fish as shark and blue marlin. In September the Fall Outdoor Arts and Crafts Fair also includes music, food, and games.
October's National Shrimp Festival in Gulf Shores promises seafood contests, a parade, an arts and crafts show, dancing, fireworks, boat racing, and a ten-kilometer footrace. Also in October, the Greater Gulf State Fair features exhibits of commercial, cultural, leisure, military, and agricultural interest. October 2005's BayFest Festival expected a draw of 200,000 for its annual 3-day continuous-music festival. The Mobile International Festival in November showcases food and customs of more than 30 countries. Seasonal celebrations at Mobile's historic locations in December are followed by festivities surrounding January's Senior Bowl, a yearly football event that draws national attention.
Sports for the Spectator
Sports enthusiasts can view a wide range of sporting events in the Mobile area, which annually hosts the Alabama-Mississippi All Star Classic high school football competition. Collegiate sports played in Mobile include baseball, basketball, and wrestling. Ladd-Peebles Stadium hosts the annual GMAC Bowl, started in 1999.
Each January the nation's top-ranking college seniors meet in the city to play football in the prestigious Senior Bowl. The post-season competition, televised nationally, showcases upcoming talent and attracts scouts, coaches, and management representing professional football. Stock car racing and dog racing at Mobile Greyhound Park are also on view in the Mobile area. Mobile's AA baseball team, the Mobile BayBears, entertain fans at the Hank Aaron Stadium.
Sports for the Participant
The city of Mobile maintains 85 facilities that provide a variety of sports activities and opportunities. Langan Park's 700 acres surrounding a 40-acre lake offer golf, tennis, baseball, bicycling, paddle boating, and picnicking. Bowling alleys, skating rinks, swimming pools, and many tennis and basketball courts throughout Mobile add to the city's active life. Mobile's Magnolia Grove Golf Course is a stop on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, the largest golf course construction project ever attempted with a total of 378 holes over 18 courses throughout the state.
Mobile's residents and visitors can engage in many activities on or in adjacent water bodies. The city's proximity to the Gulf of Mexico is appreciated by bird watchers, who have an opportunity to view many migratory species crossing the gulf, as well as an abundance of local species. Sailing, wind surfing, canoeing, kayaking, water-skiing, swimming, and scuba diving are common on the area's rivers, on Mobile Bay, and on the Gulf of Mexico. The Gulf Yachting Association sponsors a variety of racing events around the Gulf Coast. At nearby Gulf State Park, 6,150 acres of park land include a 2 mile stretch of sandy beach, a beach front lodge, cabins, a campground, a swimming pool, two freshwater lakes for skiing, canoeing, sailing, and fishing, and facilities for tennis, cycling, and golf. Among the Gulf area's other sites for sporting activities are Dauphin Island and Pleasure Island.
Fishing and hunting are also popular pursuits in the Mobile area. Freshwater fishing on such waterways as Dog River, Mobile River, the Tennessee-Tombigbee system, and the Tensaw River yield catches of bream, bass, and perch. Saltwater fishing from piers or banks on the Mobile Bay or the gulf brings in trout, flounder, and Spanish mackerel. Deep-sea fishing can be chartered in the Mobile area, yielding land sharks, snapper, amberjack, and sailfish. Hunters in the Mobile area bag waterfowl and game such as deer and wild turkey.
Shopping and Dining
Shopping venues in the Mobile area range from regional malls to specialty boutiques. A district of shops surrounds restored Fort Conde, and recent developments to the downtown waterfront area have brought about new entertainment, restaurant and shopping options. The Bel Air shopping mall also features a food court offering a variety of ethnic and American foods. Mobile restaurants take full advantage of the area's abundant seafood, including gulf and bay shrimp, oysters, soft-shell crab, blue crab, red snapper, flounder, mullet, and trout. Among Mobile's other regional specialties are Creole and Cajun menus, Caribbean dishes such as West Indies salad, and traditional Southern fare such as catfish and barbecue. Ethnic dining is also available at establishments featuring European, Oriental, and Mexican menus.
Visitor Information: Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce, 451 Government Street, Mobile AL 36652; telephone (800)422-6951 or (251)433-6951. Mobile Bay Convention and Visitors Bureau, PO Box 204, Mobile AL 36601; telephone (800)5-MOBILE or (251)208-2000