Spanish Fort, AL - Meaher State Park

Finally made it to the coast! We are now enjoying 75° weather and a warm breeze on the Gulf of Mexico. We are camped right on Mobile Bay.

Spanish Fort is situated on the Eastern shore of the Bay, across from the city of Mobile. Spanish Fort was an undeveloped area until the 1970's. Rather than get annexed as part of a large city, the area inhabitants banded together and Spanish Fort was formed in 1993. Although the town was created recently, the area has a rich and varied history going back to 1712 when discovered by the French. Over time, control transferred to Britain, Spain, and finally to the US as a spoil of the War of 1812. As part of the Confederacy, the Spanish Fort area saw the last Civil War battle east of the Mississippi, allowing the Union to occupy Mobile.

To see this "new" town, we did a local road trip. Spanish Fort is indeed full of new construction, of very nice homes and busy commercial activities. The town appears to be upscale, and it is close to Mobile, it probably is the bedroom community for the city. All in all, Spanish Fort appears to a desirable place to call home.

Our excursion took us to one of Mobile's "sights to see", the battleship USS Alabama. We did not do the full ship tour, but rather just took in the hugeness of this ship from the outside. We have done a full tour of the battleship USS Massachusetts, and if you have seen the inside of one battleship, you have seen them all. Still just standing next to this ship was an experience. The USS Alabama had the honor of leading the US Naval forces into Tokyo Bay at the end of WWII for the signing of the armistice.Read more