On the beach: Best Place to Be serves big slice of coastal history
For a city that has been incorporated for only 22 years, Orange Beach has a long and colorful history, which has been expertly captured in "The Best Place to Be: The Story of Orange Beach, Alabama."
Written by Margaret Childress Long with Michael D. Shipler, this carefully researched book begins with a description of the first settlers -- the Paleo-Indians -- and concludes with a short recounting of Hurricanes Ivan and Katrina, which the authors describe as "the price you pay for living in paradise."
The historical photos alone, many dating back to the mid-1800s, take us on a sentimental journey. They will help the reader go from taking Pleasure Island's present-day amenities for granted to reliving the past, with its isolation and its hardships as well as its rewards. There are descriptions of early European exploration, early settlers and early wars, and inevitable change and development. The arrival in the 1870s of the area's two prominent families -- the Callaways and the Walkers -- is recorded, with an outline of their descendants appearing in one of the book's appendices.
The authors lay to rest the many rumors of how Orange Beach and Ono Island received their names, and they provide colorful descriptions of the first food stores and gathering places. One of the earliest was the Korner Store which opened in 1938. In addition to selling groceries, the owners had a liquor license, and locals would gather around a small table in the back to trade stories of boat-building, fishing and life on the high seas. The store still sits on the corner of East Canal Road and Wilson Boulevard, and is known today as Snappers Lounge.
Life wasn't easy. Travel was done mainly on foot or horseback on sand trails following the beach line in many places. The military used horses for beach patrols during World War II. Then came the dredging of the Intracoastal Canal and the building of the first bridge over the canal in 1932 in Gulf Shores. State Highway 180, known today as Canal Road, was completed in 1946 and paved within a year.
"The Best Place to Be" details the beginning of tourism in the area with a chapter on the building and operation of old hotels, lodges and restaurants. The popular pub, The Keg, the authors tell us, began life when a group of volunteer firemen built a place where they could relax and hoist a beer or two. It was originally located where the Fish Camp Restaurant now stands on Canal Road.
The book would not be complete without a description of how the famous roadhouse, the Flora-Bama, came into being. Owners Ted and Ellen Tampary had originally planned to open for business in July 1964. However, the place burned to the ground the night before its debut, with arson suspected as the reason. The Tamparys, undeterred, quickly rebuilt, and the rest, as they say, is history.
The authors relate another kind of history in recounting how the early schools, post offices, fire protection and telephone system came into being. The many appendices in this 368-page book include the flags which have flown over the town, ranging from the early Spanish flag, the Bonnie Blue Flag, the Alabama Secession Flag and the Confederate Battle Flag, up to today's state flag and the flags of Baldwin County and the City of Orange Beach. Also included are copies of original land grants dating back to 1832, Perdido Bay sailing directions published in 1908, and a list of major boat accidents occurring in Perdido Pass from 1959 to 1965. For those who take charter boat trips, there is a section on charter trip etiquette, which includes the advice to "avoid heavy rich food and alcohol the night before."
Local citizens began a campaign to incorporate following the building boom brought about by Hurricane Frederic in September 1979. As the population expanded desire grew to gain local control from the county. A vote was held in August 1984, and the referendum passed. A month later, new city officials were elected, headed by first mayor Ronnie Callaway, a civil engineer.
Long, who moved with her parents to this area in 1949, starting collecting material for this history in 1964 while she was still in high school. As part of a project, she collected information and a few early photographs into a notebook. "With the astounding growth and development of the area," she writes in her introduction, "I was determined to expand it and update the information in that original notebook and to make it into a real book available to all the new folks who have joined us here in Orange Beach as visitors and residents."
Sunny David is a freelance writer who lives in Orange Beach.