For many, the quaint town of Point Clear, Alabama represents the Old South rooted in tradition, charm, and grace. Halfway down the bay and nearly hidden among oaks adorned with Spanish moss, Point Clear was founded in the early 1800s. Today, the city continues to honor its role in the Civil War, perpetuates the memories of its residents, and evolves as a greater and better place.
Following the coast line, early Spanish explores first discovered Point Clear situated on the Bay of the Holy Spirit or as it is known today, Mobile Bay. The town was named "Punta Clara" in 1800 by the Spanish explorers because it was an easily identifiable landmark along the bay that marked the halfway point from the bay's southern edge to Mobile (Havner). In the years following a group of cottages were built by wealthy Baldwin planters and Mobilians. As Mobilians and Southerners continued to vacation in Point Clear the city began to take its shape, and in 1847 with the erection of the Point Clear Hotel by affluent landowner, F.H. Chamberlain, Point Clear became a social center for the South (Sulzby). The Point Clear Hotel, suitably renamed The Grand Hotel, has been the epicenter of the town since its erection and has carried it to the twenty first century.
Point Clear’s part in the Civil War lies within the walls of the Point Clear Hotel and its nearby residence, the Gunnison House. The Point Clear Hotel, celebrated for its hospitality, primarily hosted wounded Confederate soldiers as a hospital throughout the Civil War, and members of Alabama's 15th and 21st Regiments were stationed in Point Clear to protect it. Although it mainly served as a recovery facility, during the Battle of Mobile Bay the Point Clear Hotel and Gunnison House did receiv...
... middle of paper ...
...any Southern areas but flourished and thrived. Primarily founded as summer escape for the rich in its beginning, Point Clear has continued to uphold its legacy and its roots in tradition. Although Point Clear continually faces new issues and is evolving daily, the city is an eclectic and exquisite place to call home.
Works Cited
2010 Census Redistricting Data (Public Law (P.L.) 94-171) Summary File—Point Clear CDP/prepared by the U.S. Census Bureau, 2011.
Havner, Rena. "Point Clear." Mobile Press-Register 15 June 2003.
Kirby, Brendan. "Point Clear : Shrinking island in a sea of growth ." Mobile Press-Register 26 March 2001.
Sulzby, James F. Historic Alabama Hotels and Resorts . Montgomery, Alabama: University of Alabama Press , 1960.
Walker, Alyce Billings, ed. Alabama, A Guide to the Deep South. The Alabama State Planning Commision , 1941.
In 1863, the small town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, was awoken to the beginning of what was to be the turning point of the Civil War for the Union. It began as a small skirmish, but by its end it involved so many Americans to which would become one of the bloodiest battles ever taken place on Unites States soil. The Battle of Gettysburg was not only a turning point in the war.
What The South Intends. THE CHRISTIAN RECORDERS August 12, 1865, Print. James, Edward, Janet James, and Paul Boyer.
Hover, John C., Joseph D. Barnes, and Walter D. Jones. Memoirs of the Miami Valley. Chicago: Robert O’Law Company, 1919. Print.
Heidler, David Stephen, and Jeanne T. Heidler, eds. Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: a
Calhoun, John C. The Papers of John C. Calhoun. Robert L. Meriweather, W. Edwin Hemphill, et al., eds. 16 vols. Columbia, SC, 195
The Battle of Gettysburg took place in a town called Gettysburg, located in Pennsylvania. In the mid-1860s, the town had 2,400 citizens. Nearby, there are several landmarks that would prove crucial throughout the battle. There were four hills; Round Top (now known as Big Round Top), Little Round Top, Culp’s Hill, and Cemetery Hill. For the Confederates, taking position on any of the hills could have proved important for the rest of the war. The battlefield is open to the public, as a National
Curtin, Philip D: The rise and fall of the plantation complex:essays in Atlantic history (Cambridge, 1990).
Santa Catalina Island, often known as Catalina Island, is located off the coast of Southern California, southwest of Los Angeles. Catalina Island forms part of the Channel Islands archipelago. Catalina is the only island, out of eight, that has been significantly developed. There are two major settlement location within the island - the city of Avalon and the unincorporated town of Two Harbors (“Visit Catalina Island,” 2014). Beyond the town boundaries the island is covered by wild life that it is owned and operated by the Catalina Island Conservancy ("The Official Catalina Island Website,” 2013).
Joseph Taylor, “The Rise and Decline of a Utopian Community, Boley, Oklahoma,” Negro History Bulletin 3 (March 1940), 92; and Joseph Taylor, “Mound Bayou – Past and Present,” Negro History Bulletin 3 (April 1940), 105.
Whether you call it the Heart of the Shoals, the Renaissance City, the Bible Belt, or Flotown, about forty thousand people call it home. Florence, Alabama is located at the foot of Muscle Shoals on a hill overlooking the Tennessee River. Life is simply beautiful in Florence, from the beautiful University of North Alabama campus to the historic downtown area to the view of the Tennessee River. Florence is one of the oldest cities in Alabama being established in the early 18th century. But how did this historic city begin and grow into what it is today?
Within a traditionally black neighborhood, visitors to Atlanta will discover the home where Martin Luther King, Jr. was born. This section of town is placed along several blocks of Sweet Auburn, and the Ebenezer Baptist Church is placed at 450 Auburn Avenue. In 1929, King was born in the city of Atlanta. As he grew up, he excelled academically and received his
One half of the story was of a man named Daniel Burnham, who was a famous architect of his time. It’s in this half of the story that can you see the good part of the city. Pride can be seen mainly throughout his story. His life in these pages was based on the construction of the World Columbian Exposition which was a fair held in Chicago in 1893. This magnificent fair was in honor of one of America’s most well known discoverers, Christopher C. Columbus. This was the 400th anniversary of his discovery of the new world. Through Burnham’s pride and his determination, he was able to complete the fair in almost a year. However, it was not truly ready for opening day due to a few construction issues, such as the world’s f...
Imagine a historian, author of an award-winning dissertation and several books. He is an experienced lecturer and respected scholar; he is at the forefront of his field. His research methodology sets the bar for other academicians. He is so highly esteemed, in fact, that an article he has prepared is to be presented to and discussed by the United States’ oldest and largest society of professional historians. These are precisely the circumstances in which Ulrich B. Phillips wrote his 1928 essay, “The Central Theme of Southern History.” In this treatise he set forth a thesis which on its face is not revolutionary: that the cause behind which the South stood unified was not slavery, as such, but white supremacy. Over the course of fourteen elegantly written pages, Phillips advances his thesis with evidence from a variety of primary sources gleaned from his years of research. All of his reasoning and experience add weight to his distillation of Southern history into this one fairly simple idea, an idea so deceptively simple that it invites further study.
United States Census Bureau, (n.d.). U.S. Census Bureau: State and county quickfacts. Data derived from population estimates, American community survey, census of population and housing, county business patterns, economic census, survey of business owners, building permits, census of governments United States Census Bureau.
-“Sense of Place” philosophy- each hotel has a local character and culture of the given location. Architecture and history in implemented in each individual hotel which is very different approach than chain-like competitors. This was a power tool that Rosewood had!