Dog River to Fairhope, Alabama...

December 7, 2022

 

                  Downtown Fairhope

We slowly worked our way across Mobile Bay from the West side to the East side.  Danny and I found ourselves having to reorient ourselves several times as they call the East side where Fairhope is as the "Eastern Shore".  When we use those words, we are talking about Eastern Shore of Virginia.  The Marina is owned and run by the city and the Harbormaster, Sean does a great job.  Situated across from the Fairhope Yacht Club, we are on Fly Creek.  To walk into town is 3.1 miles which we did the day following our arrival.  We needed the exercise so it worked out well.  When Danny checked his phone for our steps, we were at 22,000 when we returned back to the boat.  The downtown of Fairhope is quite compact, cute and has assorted stores.  The roads, stores, and sidewalks were all decorated for Christmas.  Saturday when I walked into town, I went down to the Fairhope Pier and on the bluff, a group was setting up for the Community Carol Sing Saturday night.  As I walked up from the pier to the bluff, I could hear them singing.  I stood in the back to listen to them practice and a young boy was practicing his lines from my favorite Christmas program....."And that Charlie Brown, is what Christmas is all about."  It brought tears to my eyes.  I tried multiple times to provide video of the people singing but couldn't get it to happen...sorry!  We have enjoyed good meals and drinks here- Sean's for dinner, Red or White- wine bar we had a late lunch, and Tongue & Groover Drinkery for drinks after dinner.

What I knew about Fairhope was what I had read previously in Southern Living and the town was popular with retirees.  There is much more to the town and the area after visiting the Museum of Fairhope.  We had a great guide, Michael, who was from London and came to the States 42 years ago.  The accent was still quite British but he said it was "rounded off" English.  The area was settled in 1894 led by Ernest B. Gaston.  There were 28 people who made it to Fairhope coming from Iowa, Nebraska, Ohio, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and California.  Some stayed and others left but more people continued to move down to the area. Fairhope is often referred to as a "Single Tax Colony."  Gaston's "Fairhope Plan" was based on papers written by Henry George, a political economist in the 1870's, to make land common property.  George did not believe in having colonies but believed the single tax concept needed to be on a state or national level.  He did not feel Fairhope would succeed.  The name of Fairhope is said to have come from one of the settlers who said the colony had a fair hope of being a success.  Those in favor of this idea were considered social reformers.  Gaston belonged to Iowa's Populist Party.  Social reformers in the Populist Party looked at different areas around the US and voted on South Alabama. In 1904, the town incorporated with the state of Alabama as the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation.  The way this works is the community owns the land and leasees charged annual rent.  As the land property goes up, the tax goes up.  The profits go back into the community. Beach property and high bluffs over Mobile Bay were to be parks so no one person would own the property and remains so to this day.  The community developed a railway (called the People's Railroad), public water system, and a telephone system with the profits from the taxes.  The Fairhope Single Tax Corporation has existed over 114 years.  The guide said his home is not technically in the area of the Tax Corporation area even though his address is Fairhope.  After saying this, he was quick to point out that he has benefited from the enjoyment of the city pier, beaches, and parks in town.  Currently, it is a corporate non-profit land trust.  The leases are for 99 years.  There are 3600 leases covering 4500 acres of land.  When we left the Museum we actually walked by the Office for the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation.  I walked in and asked for additional information and they had 2 brochures they gave me.  One about the history and one for those considering buying property in the single tax area.  It walks a person through how the purchase of a home occurs in this special area.  Again, not everyone living in Fairhope, Alabama lives in the Single Tax Corporation area.  

At the top of the cliff looking out of Mobile Bay is a granite statue stating on each of the 3 sides:




The town has a beautiful outlay of flowers along the roads.  Back in 2000, Timothy Kant, who had been hired as a horticulturist in Fairhope in 1983, was elected mayor in 2000.  He remained mayor for 16 years and incorporated into the town the planting of flowers along the sidewalks and road medians.  Kant strongly felt this showed a sense of civic pride.  One of the people here at the Marina told Danny that the city has 4 greenhouses for plantings.  It does look quite impressive and nice to see!

With the large amount of red clay in the ground, bricks were made into an open square and then they were cut around the edge to form something they called a roman brick which looks like a slice of brick as we know it.  Walking through town, we actually saw some of these bricks. Just north of the town is an area known as Clay City where the bricks were made. The picture below shows the brick in the beginning and then after it is cut to be a Roman brick.

The Emperor Clock Company used to be part of the Fairhope Community as an employer but was sold to a company in Amherst, Virginia.  They had a couple examples of grandfather clocks in the Museum.


Many writers lived in Fairhope.  While I recognized some of the names, the most famous to me was Winston Groom.  While he grew up in Mobile, when he returned to the area in the 1980's he settled in Fairhope writing Forrest Gump in 1986.

The  Easycut Lawnmower was produced in Fairhope in 1950.  The Jansen family purchased a patent and  produced these until 1972.  It was made with spun aluminum, 2 wheels on the back and one wheel on the front.  It was known as the lawnmower that would never quit.  The guide mentioned that OSHA had tightened their guidelines on lawnmowers and this required changes to the design, ultimately ending the business. 




Dean Mosher, an American artist, who lives in Fairhope has an unusual house he built and happily allows people to come by for pictures.  On the same small street is his father-in-law's home which was the 1st unusual house built and then a friend who built on the other side.  When I went to get pictures there were others there getting their pictures as well.  Interesting to say the least.  Looks like something out of Dr Seuss......



Dean Mosher's  also has a bridge to go across but I couldn't get that all in the picture.  Mosher's in laws home is here to the left.


Another phenomenon that occurs here is something called the "Jubilee".  I had heard about this in a Southern food podcast a few years ago.  The museum actually had pictures of this event.  When low oxygen water increases at the bottom of Mobile Bay and oxygen rich waters get pushed into the bay and away from the shoreline, crabs and flounder who live at the bottom of the bay, move towards the shore looking for oxygen.  They come up to the surface and near the surface as a group.  The comment made is when you see one, you call all your friends and neighbors to take advantage of the bounty of seafood.  While not 100% usually a jubilee occurs when most of these conditions occur:

  • summer
  • prior to sunrise
  • previous day was overcast
  • east winds
  • bay surface is calm
  • tide is rising

I asked our guide had he ever seen one and he said yes, one night when he was out fishing off a pier.  He told us there were 5 people fishing and within 30 minutes there were 100 people there picking flounder up throwing them in baskets.  Hard for me to imagine!


TOTAL MILES TRAVELLED   521.3 miles
TOTAL DAYS  26

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