Thursday, December 5, 2013

Downtown Mobile


We spent the day in downtown Mobile.  It was a foggy day (the picture was taken in the afternoon) but otherwise fine. 

I had to laugh at the Welcome Center.  They pushed using a shuttle instead of using our personnel car for a driving tour.  After we looked at the map, we realized it wasn’t that long.  So we ended up walking the 2 mile route.  Much easier so we didn’t have to worry about parking or waiting for a shuttle (we never actually saw a shuttle), we got to see more details in architecture, and we got exercise.  Worth it!

Fort Conde has been occupied by the French, British, Spanish, and Americans.  I thought the fort was well preserved until I found out it was a replica of the original fort and was built in 1976!  The museum has many artifacts found while building the new fort that include older pieces like this cool pipe bowls with faces up to semi-modern bottle caps (semi-modern since now we use aluminum cans or plastic bottles).
 
The Church Street Cemetery reminded me of New Orleans.  The graves are raised and iron fences are frequently used.  One of the graves was for Old Joe Cain.  He was the man who renewed the Mardi Gras parades after the Civil War, a tradition that the occupying Northerner troops weren’t familar with.  His grave is covered with Mardi Gras beads and coins.
 
The Phoenix Fire Museum is small but full of equipment and Mobile history.
 
We enjoyed the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.  An organist was practicing Christmas music on the large organ while we were there.  Very nice!
 

No comments: