Mobile, Alabama: Where Coastal Charm Meets Economic Boon
The Gateway City to the Gulf
Mobile, Alabama, is one of the most exhilarating and historic cities on America’s Gulf Coast. This city offers visitors exciting, entertaining, and educational experiences year-round. That’s right, the climate is good, and it’s a city where life is enjoyed.
Translated: Mobile is a great place to live, play, and work! It’s a city with plenty of fun things to do, especially since it’s a beautiful coastal town!
Let’s talk “Business”
Business Alabama says, “The Port of Mobile has seen the second-most growth among U.S. ports since 2013, more than doubling its trade volume with a 124.84% increase in the past decade. (Forbes Magazine.)
“From Mobile to Huntsville, Alabama’s economy is booming, and the Port is proud to be a key player in this growth,” said Port Authority Director and CEO John Driscoll. “With over $1 billion in capital investments planned over the next 10 years and the benefits of major projects such as the deepening and widening of the ship channel yet to be realized, the sky is the limit for what the Port and the State of Alabama will accomplish in the coming years.”
That sums it up for you if you want to move to a vibrant coastal city with exciting job opportunities and growth. But what about the time you have away from the office? Grab a beach chair, wear your walking shoes, get ready to hear classical music, and dine in style.
Now for the Fun!
Perhaps Mobile’s rich history, the city’s Southern charm, or the lure of fresh seafood have you considering a move to Mobile, AL. Whatever the case, this city is worth considering!
The city’s website underscores this fact: “There’s a certain magic in the air in Mobile.” Maybe this is because Mobile offers so much and is a melting pot of people, flavors, cultures, and traditions. The city celebrates life and southern hospitality.
Mobile’s warm climate and proximity to the Gulf of Mexico make it a perfect place to enjoy the outdoors. It is the cultural center of the Gulf Coast, and you’ll find an authentic living experience like nowhere else. It is funky, feisty, festive, historic, hip, colorful, and cultured. In fact, it was once called the “Paris of the South.” Its vibrant 300-year history is filled with plenty of stories to tell and many long-standing traditions.
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Local Food is a Destination
Anywhere you stop in Mobile, you’ll find a delicious dining experience waiting for you: Wild-caught Gulf shrimp, blue crabs and oysters are as bountiful as succulent. Stack cornbread beside Southern fried chicken, collards, cheese grits, and other soulful delicacies are as good as your Momma’s.
Slow-cooked pit barbecue is also a prized local favorite. There are local breweries to choose from and locally sourced, farm-to-table meals shared with friends. “Food is art,” says the city’s chamber president, and “in Mobile, well, we’re all artists!”
Here’s a concise list of great things to do in Mobile
- Explore the Water Ways If water is your thing, you’ll discover water-based adventures that bring you eye-to-eye with giant gators or have you shaking ‘fins’ with gentle stingrays.
- Kayak or paddle along waterways in canoes. You may find yourself paddling toward an ancient Indian mound accessible only by water or sipping wine on a sunset cruise on Mobile Bay—after all, being on the water is simply a part of life around here.
- Visit Mobile Bay During the Civil War, Mobile Bay was a key port for the Confederacy; its fall was a significant victory for the Union. Today, the shallow inlet – the average depth is just 10 feet – offers a variety of aquatic activities for the whole family to enjoy.
- Airboat Adventures For a unique experience on the Mobile-Tensaw River Delta, check out Airboat Adventures in Spanish Fort, a little more than 5 miles east of Mobile. A ride on an airboat can bring you up close to some of the delta’s diverse wildlife, which includes alligators, egrets, turtles, snakes, eagles, and many other species.
- Meaher State Park is the second largest delta in the contiguous U.S. It is a great place to experience the Mobile Bay wetlands for a day or an overnight. The park is also a famous stop on the Coastal Alabama Birding Trail, so you can hike, boat, picnic, and enjoy the wildlife there.
- USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park The USS Alabama made its first voyage during World War II and was deemed “Heroine of the Pacific.” The federal government planned to scrap the battleship in 1962, but Mobile residents and other Alabamians found a way to save it. Today, visitors can tour the inside of the USS Alabama and the USS Drum, which is currently the oldest U.S. submarine on display to the public.
- Mardi Gras festival North America’s first known unofficial celebration of Mardi Gras took place in 1699 near New Orleans. But Mobile’s first Mardi Gras festival, which took place a few years later, kicked off what’s considered the oldest annual Carnival in the U.S.
- Gator Boardwalk This half-mile boardwalk in Daphne is just a 10-mile drive across Mobile Bay. Visitors can see alligators, fish, and other wildlife native to the area as they walk over D’Olive Creek. There’s also a butterfly garden to browse while you’re in the area.
- Mobile Botanical Gardens: Established in 1974, this breathtaking 106-acre Garden claims to have the largest collection of plants on the Gulf Coast. The garden trails contain many azaleas, Japanese maples, camellias, and more.
- Tour Bellingrath Gardens and Home Located about 25 miles south of Mobile in the town of Theodore, Bellingrath Gardens and Home is a 65-acre estate that includes a conservatory, an Asian American garden, a rose garden, a bayou, a boardwalk and more. You’ll be able to visit the Bellingrath Museum Home, where Walter and Bessie Bellingrath, who established the gardens, lived until 1934.
- Visit Clotilda: The Exhibition at Africatown Heritage House. In 1860, a ship carrying 110 Africans illegally entered the U.S. in the middle of the night—more than five decades after the international slave trade had been outlawed. Artifacts from the Clotilda are on display at the newly opened Africatown Heritage House in Mobile.
- History Museum of Mobile Originally built in 1855 to house the city market and some of the city’s government departments, the Italianate-style History Museum of Mobile today maintains more than 117,000 artifacts from the city and surrounding region.
- Wintzell’s Oyster House This legendary Oyster House began as an oyster bar with six stools in 1938. More than 80 years later, the restaurant is a Gulf Coast tradition.
(Editor’s note: some of the material used in this blog was taken from U.S. News and World Report.)
Photo by: By Altairisfar of The Old Marine Hospital (now houses the Mobile County Health Dept.) in Mobile, Alabama.- Public Domain taken from wikimedia.org
