Barrier Islands of Alabama - Dauphin Island, Alabama, Ono Island, Isle Aux Herbes (Paperback)

Chapters: Dauphin Island, Alabama, Ono Island, Isle Aux Herbes. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 18. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Dauphin Island, Alabama - View of the southeastern shore of the island Inside Shell Mound Park Typical elevated house on Dauphin IslandSerpentine shell middens, perhaps 1500 years old, attest to at least seasonal occupation by the Native American Mound Builder culture. Shell Mound Park, along the Island's northern shore, is administered by Alabama Marine Resources Division. In 1519, the Spanish explorer Alonzo Pineda was the first documented European to visit, staying long enough to map the island with remarkable accuracy. The island's French history began on January 31, 1699, when the explorer Pierre Le Moyne, sieur d'Iberville, one of the founders of French Louisiana, arrived at Mobile Bay, and anchored near the island on his way to explore the mouth of the Mississippi River. D'Iberville named it "Isle Du Massacre" (Massacre Island) because of a large pile of human skeletons discovered there. The gruesome site turned out to be a simple burial mound which had been broken open by a hurricane, not a massacre site, but the name stuck. D'Iberville later decided to locate a port for Fort Louis de La Louisiane on the island due to abundant timber, reliable supply of fresh water, and a deep-water harbor. The settlement consisted of a fort, a chapel, government owned warehouses, and residences. The island served as a major trading depot, unloading goods from Saint-Domingue (Haiti), Mexico, Cuba and France, and collecting furs in a short-lived fur trade. Mobile Bay itself, before it was dredged, was too shallow, and its sand bars too shifting and treacherous, for ocean-going vessels to travel up the bay and Mobile River to Fort Louis de La Louisiane. Fort G...More: http: //booksllc.net/?id=104909