2021 quick trips

Fairhope is a city with a small-town feel on the eastern side of Mobile Bay. It’s a principal city of the Daphne-Fairhope-Foley micropolitan area in Baldwin County. We were here 2 years ago as we explored the Gulf Coast and were glad to come back. But this time my draw to this area was a cozy mystery that made Fairhope like a character in the story. We found many of the places mentioned in the book and will be showing them to you as we explore the city.

The story I read is Murder at Royale Court (A Cleo Mack Mystery Book) by G.P. Gardner. As I reread the story on this trip, I made a list of locations the author mentioned and then looked for them. The “Royale Court” mentioned in the book’s title was today’s French Quarter. Much of the story takes place in the courtyard that we enjoyed.

In the story various shops opened out onto this courtyard where the characters could sit and eat their lunches.

A bistro was one of the main locations in the story, and this one was closest to the French Quarter, but it was around the corner and didn’t open up to the courtyard. Also, the food was much more upscale and expensive than in the book. But we’re glad we had lunch at R. Bistro.

Across and down the street from the bistro is this Spanish-looking shopping and dining area. It wasn’t in the book, but we thought it was a good look to capture, especially with the French and Spanish design next to each other.

The entrance to the club with polo fields was closed to us today, but these polo fields were a major location in the story.

single-tax colony?

So what is a single tax colony? Here’s some information from Wikipedia.

“Fairhope was founded in November 1894 on the site of the former Alabama City as a radical, utopian socialist Georgist “Single-Tax” colony by the Fairhope Industrial Association, a group of 28 followers of economist Henry George who had incorporated earlier that year in Des Moines, Iowa. [I’m from Des Moines and never heard of him.] Their corporate constitution explained their purpose in founding a new colony:

“to establish and conduct a model community or colony, free from all forms of private monopoly, and to secure to its members therein equality of opportunity, the full reward of individual efforts, and the benefits of co-operation in matters of general concern.

“In forming their demonstration project, they pooled their funds to purchase land at “Stapleton’s pasture” on the eastern shore of Mobile Bay and then divided it into a number of long-term leaseholds. The corporation paid all governmental taxes from rents paid by the lessees, thus simulating a single-tax. The purpose of the single-tax colony was to eliminate disincentives for productive use of land and thereby retain the value of land for the community.

“The Fairhope Single-Tax Corporation still operates, with 1,800 leaseholds covering more than 4,000 acres in and around the current city of Fairhope. Despite the ideals of the corporation, the town has transitioned from utopian experiment to artists’ and intellectuals’ colony to boutique resort and affluent suburb of Mobile.”

The single-tax system was still the tax system in my cozy mystery, but the characters felt it was beneficial only if those controlling how the taxes are spent are really doing well by the citizens.

Now back to our story.

In my book, The Grand Hotel on Point Clear, a few miles south of Fairhope, hosted a fundraising gala after a fancy car show at the polo fields. So of course we set out to find this hotel. Boy, is it nice!

Back in 1820, a modest hotel was built here. By 1847, the first Grand Hotel was built to greet visitors with its warm hospitality and “good cheer.”

During the Civil War, the hotel was used as a Confederate hospital for the Southern wounded; around 300 of these soldiers were buried in the Confederate Cemetery on the grounds. Union gunboats lightly shelled the hotel as they worked to control Mobile Bay. The hotel burned soon after the war and was rebuilt in 1875. By 1941 the hotel was badly deteriorated and was eventually replaced by this lovely hotel on its spacious grounds.

central sitting area around the brick fireplace

even has an old-fashioned telephone booth!

pier and boardwalk

This pier and the boardwalk on both sides is a backdrop in the story for romantic walks with Cleo and her love interest.

The 1448-feet long pier was well used on this beautiful Sunday afternoon as citizens enjoyed fishing and the sun.

right view of the pier with the boardwalk along the Bay

We so enjoyed exploring Fairhope as a character in a story. The other time we did this was in Bisby, Arizona, the home of Sheriff Joanna Brady in J.A. Jance novels. Another place we’d like to visit is Wyoming to see the area that’s home to game warden Joe Picket by author C.J. Box. Wonder what other places we’ll get to visit that we’ve read about.

Mobile Bay info

When we were on the pier, we saw this large sign about Mobile Bay that we found so informative.

The Delta part of Mobile Bay highlights the city of Spanish Fort that we showed you and Historic Blakeley State Park where we saw the town of Blakeley and the last charge of the Civil War at Fort Blakeley

This view of the Bay shows that Mobile is straight across the water from Spanish Fort.

South of Spanish Ford is Daphne and Fairhope. The Grand Hotel is on the tip of the coastline in the middle of the picture. See the lighthouse?

The Middle Bay Lighthouse was constructed in 1895. The Bay averages a depth of 10 feet, but the ship channel is 45 feet.

At the entrance to Mobile Bay on the Gulf of Mexico is Fort Morgan (on the right) and another fort across the water from it. We didn’t get to the 2nd fort, but the next few posts will show you Fort Morgan.

We went to Bellingrath Gardens when we were in the area 2 years ago.

This picture is from 2 years ago. We’d go back if we had the chance!

As a new French colony, Mobile was first to recognize Mardi Gras in February 1703. While the pre-Lenten celebration was stopped during the Civil War, it resumed in 1866. We enjoyed the Mobile Carnival Museum when we visited 2 years ago.

See the Azalea Trail Maids on the map? This group of 50 high school seniors are chosen each year to serve as “Official Ambassadors” for the city of Mobile. The Maids, wearing dresses meant to look like flowers, make appearances at many local, state, and national events. They often serve as greeters when foreigners and dignitaries visit the city, and are required to be knowledgeable about the city landmarks. They represent the hospitality of the state.

We saw the Azalea Trail Maids 2 years ago at Bellingrath Gardens and they were so friendly and hospitable. .

The Clotilde (or Clotilda) was the last slave ship to deliver cargo in U.S. waters in 1859 or 1860, more than 50 years after slavery was abolished.

Many of the 110-160 slaves onboard the final voyage went on to establish the community of Africatown just north of Mobile after the war. They were joined by other Africans who were already here and formed a community that continued to practice many of their West African traditions and Yoruba language (from southwestern Nigeria) for decades.

The *Louis D’Olive* was one of the 50 steamers that carried people across the Bay before the Bay Bridge was built.

The Port of Mobile ranks #10 in U.S. in total cargo tonnage!

other sights in and around Fairhope

When we looked online for what to see in Fairhope, we read about Tolstoy Park just north of Fairhope in the city of Montrose and about Storybook Castle BNBs. Let’s go find these spots.

Interesting looking “home” that’s in the parking lot of local businesses

This novel was published in 2005 and tells the story of Henry James Stuart who lived in this hut.

This information tells us to say the 23rd psalm or say something else when we stand in the middle of the room, take our shoes off, and breathe deeply and slowly. We did so, and the building amplified and energized our voices.

The book begins in Nampa, Idaho, with Henry Stuart having just learned that he has no more than 2 years to live because he has non-contagious TB. Told he will be more comfortable in a warmer climate, Stuart leaves his 2 grown sons to relocate to Fairhope. When he arrives, he finds that the land he has purchased sight unseen only has a barn, so he decides to build a house on his property that he names “Tolstoy Park” in honor of Leo Tolstoy, who had himself become a wandering ascetic in the months before his death. Stuart sheds his materialism for a life of contemplation and lives much longer than he expected.

When the author, Sonny Brewer, who as a real estate agent, saw this small, round concrete hut in Fairhope sitting adjacent to a parking lot in the 1980s, he became curious to know who had built it and why. Several old newspaper articles filled him in on the history of Henry Stuart, who had built a hurricane-proof concrete shelter by himself in just over 1 year in 1925 and 1926. He set it 16 inches into the ground so his home would have a comfortable, stable temperature from the floor. The 14 feet diameter perfectly matches to the highest point of the roof.

In his late 60s, Stuart climbed a ladder to reach his bed, a hammock strung 10 feet above the ground. Brewer was fascinated by the story of the eccentric Stuart, who lived in his hut for 18 years, convinced he was on the brink of death. He finally died in Oregon in 1946 at the age of 88.

Brewer was on the verge of bankruptcy in 2005 when he learned that his novel about Stuart’s life was purchased for $100,000 ($136,875 today). Since only 20 pages were written, he rented and restored the hut while writing the rest of the novel, living here barefoot—like Stuart—during its revision. Hints about a movie only stayed hints. I can’t find out anything about a movie of Stuart’s life.

Facts about the cottage:

built by Henry in 381 days
floor is 24″ below grade, which keeps the concrete structure cool in the hot, humid summers and warm in the winters
round design may have been inspired by earlier “beehive” kilns located all along the Eastern Shore (we’ve seen these kilns in other places)
concrete blocks for the main walls were hand-made on site. The 239 blocks measured 24″ long x 8″ wide x 6″ tall and weigh about 95 pounds each. Each block is etched with the date it was cast: door lintel is 4/19/26, last block is 9/27/26, and the last step is 10/1/26.