Mobile Bay Magazine - September 2020

Mobile Bay THE LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE FOR MOBILE AND BALDWIN COUNTIES

A BEAUTIFUL WORLD

September 2020

DIVE INTO THE ART, MUSIC, FOOD & DESIGN FEEDING THE SOUL OF COASTAL ALABAMA

plus: ALABAMA FOOTBALL

SUPER-FAN DREAM COLLECTION

GUEST CHEF

OXFORD’S CITY GROCERY COOKS WITH FISHER’S GYPSYSPARK

ON THE FARM IN SILVERHILL

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CONTENTS | VOLUME XXXVI / ISSUE 9

SEPTEMBER 2020 50

Unveiling Monica Collage and mixed media artist Monica Beasley is as bold and layered as the art she creates

56

Modern Oasis Step inside the minimalist Spring Hill home of April and Brad Summers

64

Southern Dining

MODERN ARCHITECTURE MEETS SPRING HILL AT THE SUMMERS FAMILY HOME. PHOTO BY JUSTIN CORDOVA

Chef John Currence brings a talented team from Oxford, Mississippi, to the Southern Grace Dinner series at Fisher’s in Orange Beach

 Chefs Bill Briand, John Currence and Vishwesh Bhatt brought a combined 16 James Beard Award nominations to the most recent Southern Grace Dinner at Fisher’s at Orange Beach Marina. Read more about the dinner to remember on page 64.

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CONTENTS | VOLUME XXXVI / ISSUE 9

SEPTEMBER 2020 20

43 ON OUR COVER Folk-rock trio GypsySpark at Perone Creek Farm PHOTO BY ELIZABETH GELINEAU

9 EDITOR’S NOTE

23

10 REACTION 12 ODDS & ENDS 14 MIXOLOGY Check in with Mobile’s favorite barkeeps and learn the secrets behind their Tiki Week recipes

28 THE ARTS Meet Forrest Wilson Jr., a 45-year veteran of the Mobile Opera

32 ARCHIVES History Museum of Mobile Director Meg Fowler 20 TASTINGS takes a close look at a Change with the seasons 1930s Mobile painting at The August House on Old Shell Road 34 SPOTLIGHT Artist Taylor Shaw brings 23 BAY TABLES many people together Brenda and Jeff Bledsoe host a musical evening in with a socially distanced project the countryside 19 THE DISH

38

UA CHAMPIONSHIP RING REPLICAS / PHOTO BY MATTHEW COUGHLIN CHICKEN AND WAFFLES FROM AUGUST HOUSE / PHOTO BY ELIZABETH GELINEAU JIMMY LUMPKIN OF GYPSYSPARK / PHOTO BY ELIZABETH GELINEAU

SPOTLIGHT Talking life and pottery with renowned artist Charles Smith

43 COLLECTIONS Police Chief Jimmie Flanagan’s ‘Bama stash

47 MUSIC Relive some of the biggest concerts in Mobile’s history through the eyes of those who attended 70 SEPTEMBER CALENDAR

74 LEGENDS John Sledge recounts the 18th-century hurricane that altered history 78 LITERATURE Author Audrey McDonald Atkins’s ode to grease 80 ASK MCGEHEE What home stood where UMS-Wright is today?

82 IN LIVING COLOR The Weaver Indian School in color, 1935

 The tiki movement was created in post-WWII southern California by Don the Beachcomber, who had travelled to Polynesia and the Caribbean and became obsessed with the flavors he found. With Mobile’s Tiki Week in question, find some tropical cocktail recipes on page 14.

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Mobile Bay VOLUME XXXVI

No9

SEPT 2020

PUBLISHER T. J. Potts Stephen Potts Judy Culbreth

EXECUTIVE EDITOR Maggie Lacey MANAGING EDITOR/WEB Abby Parrott

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Amanda Hartin

ART DIRECTOR Laurie Kilpatrick

EDITORIAL INTERN Jaimie Mans

ASSISTANT PUBLISHER

EDITORIAL CONSULTANT

ADVERTISING S R. ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE

Joseph A. Hyland Anna Pavao ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Jennifer Ray

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE

ADMINISTRATION CIRCULATION Anita Miller ACCOUNTING Keith Crabtree

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Audrey McDonald Atkins, Meg McCrummen Fowler, Tom McGehee, Breck Pappas, John Sledge CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS

Justin Cordova, Matthew Coughlin, Elizabeth Gelineau ADVERTISING AND EDITORIAL OFFICES

3729 Cottage Hill Road, Suite H Mobile, AL 36609-6500 251-473-6269 Subscription inquiries and all remittances should be sent to: Mobile Bay P.O. Box 43 Congers, NY 10920-9922 1-833-454-5060 MOVING? Please note: U.S. Postal Service will not forward magazines mailed through their bulk mail unit.

Please send old label along with your new address four to six weeks prior to moving.

Mobile Bay is published 12 times per year for the Gulf Coast area. All contents © 2020 by PMT Publishing Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of the contents without written permission is prohibited. Comments written in this magazine are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the ownership or the management of Mobile Bay. This magazine accepts no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, photography or artwork. All submissions will be edited for length, clarity and style.

PUBLISHED BY PMT PUBLISHING INC .

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EXTRAS | EDITOR’S NOTE

Studying the Studio

A

s we interviewed artists this month via Zoom and exchanged emails about paintings, exhibitions and résumés, I felt something was missing. How do you adequately capture the soul and spirit of an artist without ever being in their presence, without seeing their art firsthand? Stepping into artists’ studios gives you a glimpse into their minds, or at least their process. And sometimes I think the method for creating a pot, painting or collage is as fascinatingly beautiful as the finished product. Pandemic social distancing certainly makes sharing the creative process… challenging.

I was thrilled, then, when I finally got the chance to (safely) meet an artist in person while pulling together our annual Arts issue. In early August, I drove across town to help photograph potter Charles Smith at his backyard studio off Michigan Avenue. The window unit running on full blast made a cool respite from the blazing summer heat as we stepped inside the crowded — but very orderly — potter’s workshop. Smith, a well-respected artist both locally and nationally, began unwrapping ceremonial pots for us with enthusiasm, cracking jokes and obliging all our demands as we prepared to take his portrait. Despite floor-to-ceiling shelves chock-full of supplies, completed pots and random bric-abrac, everything had its place, like a chef’s work station before a five-star dinner service. Smith saves anything that might be useful in the creative process or spark inspiration. Amidst this collection of trinkets, we took some time to get to know the man behind the pots — face to face, or rather, mask to mask. And we left feeling like our figurative pots had been filled by the warmth he showed and the time he spent giving us a glimpse into his world.

During quarantine this past spring, I took my kids to gather natural clay along the bluffs in Montrose, and we later sat in our yard forming small pinch pots and generally making a huge mess. We had fun, but the pots were terrible — I now have a serious appreciation for anyone, such as Charles Smith, who can form such works of beauty.

Well done, sir. Thank you and all the artists who shared their art, their studios and their souls with us this month.

TURN AROUND THE POTS THROWN BY CHARLES SMITH ARE INTRICATE, DELICATE AND ON MY WISH LIST! HE SAYS HE DOESN’T OFTEN SELL AT GALLERIES OR ONLINE. POTTERY COLLECTORS LOOKING TO BUY A PIECE JUST SEEM TO KNOW HOW TO FIND HIM. PAGE 38

LOVE THIS ISSUE DRAWING ROOM EASILY ENTERTAIN THE KIDS WHILE DISTANCE LEARNING

BY TRANSFORMING YOUR WINDOWS INTO A TEMPORARY CANVAS. KITPAS WATER SOLUABLE ART CRAYONS, $15 ONLINE

STIR ME UP I FALL FOR ANYTHING TIKI, AND THIS MONTH WE HAD FUN TASTING SOME OF MOBILE’S BEST RENDITIONS OF THE FRUITY CONCOCTIONS. THIS KITSCHY VINTAGE SWIZZLE STICK IS STRAIGHT FROM TRADER VICS, ONE OF THE BIRTHPLACES OF THE GENRE IN 1950’S CALIFORNIA, BUT IT MIGHT NEED A PLACE ON MY BAR. PAGE 14

BIG AND BAD I LOVE COOKING FROM THE “BIG BAD BREAKFAST” COOKBOOK BY OXFORD’S CHEF JOHN CURRENCE. WHAT A TREAT TO MEET HIM IN PERSON AT FISHER’S IN ORANGE BEACH. PAGE 64 BIG BAD BREAKFAST COOKBOOK, $30, PAGE & PALETTE

Maggie Lacey EXECUTIVE EDITOR

maggie@pmtpublishing.com

 Nominations for the 2020 class of 40 Under 40 are now being accepted!

This program is designed to recognize individals younger than the age of 40 who embody leadership, professional excellence and commitment to the Bay community. Deadline for submissions is September 18, 2020.

MORE INFO ONLINE AT MOBILEBAYMAG.COM/40-UNDER-40

ROLLING ON UP THE KRAKEN MADE A NAME FOR ITSELF ON THE FOOD TRUCK SCENE, BUT THE FOLKS BEHIND THIS QUIRKY SEAFOOD RESTAURANT HAVE GRADUATED TO BRICKS AND MORTAR. AUGUST HOUSE, WE’RE COMIN’ FOR YA! PAGE 20

EXTRAS | REACTION

Tell us how you really feel ...

ZOO’RE THE BEST

STOUT RESPONSE

SCOUT ISSUES CHALLENGE

On July’s feature, “Keeper of the Zoo,” about the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo and its head curator, Cyndi Johnson

On July’s investigation, “In Search of the Last Stauter”

From a letter to the editor

I have great memories of going over to “Uncle Lawrence’s” and playing in the big barn/shop behind his house in Midtown. I remember there were always two boats in the barn — his boat and one he was working on.

Great article. Cyndi and the entire zoo staff work very hard for the animals and visitors.

Thank you!

- Sarah Meyer-Paterson

- W. Kirkland “Kirk” Mattei CYNDI JOHNSON PHOTO BY MATTHEW COUGHLIN

It was really incredible when they evacuated for Ivan. I remember announcements on the radio [asking for] any type of animal carrier or cage that you could loan the zoo.

- Debbi Claburn Moore

KEEP YOUR COOL On July’s history piece, “Life Before Air-Conditioning” We didn’t have AC until at least 1956-57. I remember when we first got a window unit that cooled the whole house.

- Karen McIntyre We played outside because a shady spot was usually cooler than any place inside! For cool recreation, we had nearby beaches and a great picnic spot at Johnson’s Lake and rivers for boating, skiing and fishing.

- Sondra Moses

In middle school, I went on a field trip to the shop. The biggest takeaway: One of the boat builders cut every piece of wood from memory!

- Steve Bazor My husband and his friend found the last three Stauter boats in the Delta after Frederic. He was gifted one of the boats

by Mr. Stauter [as thanks] for finding and returning them.

- Pam Davis Godard

SHE’S RIGHT, YOU KNOW On a spelling error in our July issue I really enjoyed the [Stauter] story, but I wanted to point out that you mentioned he “eeked out a living.” That would be “eked” out.

On July’s feature, “Wonder Kids” The editorial team incorrectly referred to Stephen Conrad’s mom, Chris, as his dad.

Stephen’s parents, Chris and Jeff, both enjoy cheering on their gifted St. Paul’s swimmer. We apologize for the mix-up.

- Brody Gwaltney, Boy Scout Troop 47

TAKE A BOOK, LEAVE A BOOK On August’s gumbo, “A Novel Idea,” showcasing homemade community libraries It was such a nice surprise to be told by someone that the Little Free Library boxes my husband made (No. 9) are featured.

He enjoyed making them, and we are both happy the neighbors are enjoying them.

Some have even donated extra books.

Thanks for the recognition.

- Barbara and Leo Reville

FLOOD OF MEMORIES On July’s end piece, featuring a colorized picture of Dauphin Street and the aftermath of the Hurricane of 1916

My daughter and I rented a Duffy for the day and enjoyed exploring beautiful Newport Beach and Balboa Bay. Could not help but think a Duffy would be perfect for tooling around Mobile Bay.

My husband’s family has always known the story of the deaths of his mother’s father and her older sister as he tried to paddle a boat across the flooded Buffalo River in Linden, Tennessee. The school was on the other side of the river from their land, and he had gone to take her home.

The river was usually only a few inches deep. The boat capsized and they were both lost. Only recently we learned that [their drowning] was connected to heavy rains resulting from a hurricane that had hit the Gulf Coast a few days earlier — in July of 1916.

- Brenda Stanton

- Linda W. Phillips, Malibu, Calif.

- Cynthia Lewis

ELECTRIC IDEA

SORRY, MOM AND DAD

I would like to challenge all readers of Mobile Bay Magazine to do their part to conserve our natural resources and to reduce their impact on our oceans. If every person in Mobile and Baldwin counties used just one less plastic water bottle in a year, that would be 600,000 less plastic water bottles that could get into our oceans.

On July’s “Three Things to Love,” featuring a California-made Duffy Electric Boat

 Want to share your thoughts and reactions to this issue? Email maggie@pmtpublishing.com.

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[MORE ONLINE]

Find additional local stories on mobilebaymag.com.

Here’s what’s new on the website!

40 Under 40 Nominations Keep those noms coming! The deadline to submit a nomination for the new class of 40 Under 40 is September 18, 2020. Nomination form is available online.

Fall Fun

PHOTO BY SUMMER ENNIS ANSLEY

Events will look a little different this fall, but we’re going to make the best of it! Go online for our list of safe, socially-distanced activities and virtual events the whole family will enjoy.

The Great Outdoors The weather will be cooling off soon (hopefully!), so it’s time to get your outdoor space ready for the fall season. Check out some of our favorite local spaces for ideas and inspiration.

Join Our Email List Get the latest in fashion, food, art, homes, history and events delivered right to your inbox. Sign up for our email list at mobilebaymag.com.

september 2020 | mobilebaymag.com 11

EXTRAS | ODDS & ENDS

Time to Get Creative text by MB EDITORIAL STAFF

(NOT A) WHOLE LOT OF LOVE “This reviewer left half an hour early due to extreme sonic indigestion … the band just isn’t inventive enough or varied enough, to warrant three hours.”

– Music critic for the Mobile Register following a Port City Led Zeppelin concert, May 1973.

Read more about the legendary musical acts to pass through Mobile, and the reactions of local concertgoers, on page 47.

SEPTEMBER 22 THE OFFICIAL START OF FALL

Students who take four years of art and music classes average almost

100 POINTS HIGHER ON THE SAT than students who take only one-half year or less.

GARDEN REPORT September in Mobile is the month to plant broccoli, cabbage and Brussels sprouts.

Your children will not thank you.

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PLAY-DOH RE-PLAY FROM CLEANING WALLS TO SHAPING YOUNG MINDS. In the early 18th century, home heating systems relied mainly on coal, which left a dirty residue on walls. In the 1930s, soap manufacturer Noah McVicker invented a cleaning putty to rub away this soot. After World War II, however, when natural gas heating became more popular, the need for this cleaning putty dissipated. That is, until Joe McVicker (Noah’s nephew) noticed that his sister-in-law was using the putty to make crafts in her nursery school classroom.

The younger McVicker immediately seized the opportunity to turn the old cleaning product into a toy. By 1955, the putty was available on stores’ shelves in three new colors (red, blue, yellow) under its new name: Play-Doh.

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interview by AMANDA HARTIN photo by ELIZABETH GELINEAU

TIKI TALK In honor of Mobile’s annual Tiki Week — our fingers are crossed it happens this year — MB issues a challenge and checks in with local barkeeps to see how they’re doing.

SAILOR’S PUNCH

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KAI KAI

KENTUCKY ATOLL

FOOD | MIXOLOGY

KAI KAI*

MAKES 1

Submitted by Matt LeMond 1/2 ounce Blue Curaçao 1 ounce pineapple juice 1 ounce Tito’s Vodka 1 ounce Malibu Rum edible orchid, for garnish

I

f 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that nothing in life stays the same.

What were once staples on our social calendars, like downtown Mobile’s Tiki Week, have now been replaced — if we’re lucky — with creative and socially-distanced alternatives. At press time, we don’t

know if the Polynesian fest will take place, but one thing is for sure: There’s never a bad time to sip a good drink. As such, MB asked the following

1. Salt half the rim of a 9-ounce rocks glass. Add curaçao, juice, vodka and rum to cocktail shaker and shake until well mixed. Strain into glass filled with ice, and garnish with orchid.

*Kai Kai is Hawaiian for “Ocean Water.”

guys to create a Tiki-inspired cocktail (pictured above, left to right): Noell The Bone and Barrel; Matt LeMond, owner of POST, O’Daly’s Irish Pub and

KENTUCKY ATOLL

Cedar Street Social Club; and Roy Clark, general manager of The Hab-

MAKES 1

Broughton, owner of seven bars and restaurants, including Brickyard and

erdasher. And because they’re each navigating the same storm, figuring out how to keep their businesses afloat amid national uncertainty and panic, we checked in to see how they’re holding up.

Noell: We’re here. We can say that.

Matt and I were just talking about how after the shutdown we got to open back up and things were coming back to life slowly but surely, even at 50 percent. I think all of us were OK with 50 percent, the alternative being closed. Then about three weeks ago, it hit the fan again, and it’s been pretty slow.

Matt: It’s a day at a time scenario.

As business owners, it’s our job to troubleshoot and problem solve as much as possible, so this is a little bit different. We’re still learning a lot of things. Opening up was fantastic, but we had to close again. I think things changed a little after that. Even staff-wise, we were a little bit more serious. We needed to encourage our customers to come back in.

BERRY BASIL

Roy: Yeah, we have our own mask mandate, even outside of the city mandate. We will keep that going

as long as we feel that is the prudent thing to do. We are switching to a table service module from barservice only. That will be the biggest hurdle and challenge for both our staff and our customers.

Matt: The expectations change so much. We’ve been open and are doing table service. To be honest, it’s been incredible on the sales side of things. It is challenging at times though. Half our customers are understanding of why we’re doing it. The other half expect us to be Ruth’s Chris, and it’s tough for us because we’re trying something we’ve never done here before.

Noell: We’re taking all the precautions, just like everybody else.

We’ve got sanitization stations at all the doors. We’ve got one person walking around whose job is just to spray things and wipe them down.

Everybody wears a mask. Kitchen guys are gloved and masked. The

Submitted by Roy Clark 1 ounce Old Forester 100 proof Bourbon* 1 ounce Plantation OFTD (Old Fashioned Traditional Dark) rum 3/4 ounce Rum-Bar White Overproof Jamaican rum 1/4 ounce allspice dram 1 1/2 ounces ruby red grapefruit juice 1 ounce fresh lime juice 1/2 ounce cinnamon syrup 1/2 ounce honey mix (1:1 honey to water) 1/4 ounce passion fruit syrup 1/4 ounce cold brew concentrate 2 dashes Angostura bitters

1. Add all ingredients plus 12 ounces of crushed ice to a tin, and flash blend with a spindle blender.

Another method would be to “whip shake” all ingredients with 1 ounce of crushed ice until ice is completely diluted.

2. Pour all contents into a mug or glass and add more crushed ice until full.

Garnish as you’d like. * Bourbon isn’t a total stranger to tiki.

It will never dethrone rum as the tiki standard, but that doesn’t mean it can’t star in a fine tropical tipple.

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tables are separated. We have a clicker at the door, so we know when we’re at capacity. The bars are a little bit different than the restaurant because people get a little looser as the night goes on.

delivered pizza. Whatever tip money we got, we gave to staff. It worked to keep everyone motivated. We even recorded the deliveries. We made about 44 videos.

Matt: Our customers here [at POST], come to sit at a table together. Over there [at O’Daly’s], people go to mingle; that’s part of the business.

Noell: That’s great. You know that stuff ’s out there forever.

Noell: Everybody wants to drink and mingle. You know, we remind them, “Y’all, break it up.”

Matt: We provide masks. We try to think of any excuse they can think of.

We try to think of ways we can accommodate our 10 percenters, the ones who are a little unruly.

Noell: Those who are anti-mask.

Matt: Yeah! Anti-everything! How can I make them part of the 90 percent?

We try to think of the positive ways to reinforce it. We were all there, we were all young.

Noell: I say it 100 times a day. If the choice is to put on a mask or we all close, put a damn mask on, man. It’s easy math. I wish there was light at the end of the tunnel.

Matt: I remember having a conversation with someone and we were like, “Alright, this will only be for two or three weeks. We got this! Let’s keep our staff motivated.”

Noell: Our number one focus is the staff. We want to make sure that everybody is able to work in a safe environment. We brought everybody back; we weren’t even open at the time.

We cleaned and had everybody doing whatever we could. During that time, you find a lot of loyalty in folks.

Matt: We had not a single employee who would not come back to work, except for one who had low immune system concerns. For two months, Luke Peavy and I dressed in drag and

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Roy: In April and May we did a series of crawfish boils on Sundays. We partnered with The Merry Widow. One hundred percent of the profits went to staff of both businesses. [The past few months] it’s been all about communication. We’ve had a series of meetings so everybody knows where we’re at and

SAILOR’S PUNCH MAKES 1

Submitted by Noell Broughton 1 1/4 ounces Malibu Rum 1 ounce Sailor Jerry Rum 1/2 ounce Amaretto orange and pineapple juice, to taste store-bought tropical punch, for topping

1. For this layered drink, pour each ingredient over ice in a rocks glass, one-by-one, starting with the rum and ending with the punch.

so we also know where their head is and how they’re feeling. We’re a small staff; it’s very much a family atmosphere.

MB: What do you miss about the “old days,” pre-COVID? Noell: They’re already the old days? (laughs) I miss the business, that’s for sure. I miss that safe comfortable feeling of going to my favorite bars and restaurants and enjoying myself. I feel like wherever you go, there’s a cloud.

Matt: The carefree aspect is something

we took for granted before. Even this morning, I walked to the door and realized I didn’t have my mask.

Roy: Yeah, approaching somebody you haven’t seen for a while. It’s kind of awkward.

Noell: I don’t know what the protocol is. Do we shake hands, do the elbow?

Matt: We need wristbands. If it’s green, it means you’re shaking hands. If it’s red, it means you’re not. (all laugh) Noell: You’ve put some thought into this.

Matt: Yeah, I’m such an embracer; I’m a hugger. I feel that we are going to go through this and be able to take away some positive things. We have this time period where there’s an asterisk on what we’re doing, like table service. If it doesn’t work, we can say, oh that was COVID. Now is the time to be a little daring because we have an excuse for doing things that are a little outside the box. Why not?

Roy: Not necessarily speaking from personal experience, but I think a lot of places will realize they can get by and thrive on a smaller scale or not being open so many days of the week.

Matt: People get innovative. To-go cocktail kits are something we’re continuing to do even though we’re open.

But we could sit here and talk about all the bad things and the things we miss, but it’s not going to help us get to the next phase.

Noell: Some changes in my business structure will remain. I’m not going back to the way things were. Like Matt said, it’s day by day.

Matt: It’s our job to get people Downtown. I’m big on closing Dauphin Street [to traffic] on a more regular basis, which would allow more square footage for businesses and safer distances for people. Now is the time to

get creative and try these things.

MB: What’s your favorite drink?

Noell: It was Rumple Minze until last October. (laughter all around) Matt: You gave up Rumple Minze?

Wow! Noell: It’s over. It was a good run. (slaps belly) Matt: I gotta hear Roy’s answer before I give mine. (laughing) Roy: That is the hardest question. If it’s a boozy cocktail, I always go back to the Negroni classic. If I want something a little more refreshing, a 1944 Mai Tai. It’s versatile. Or a delicious craft beer.

Noell: Good answer.

Matt: We’ve got some good craft beers around here. I’m a big sour beer drinker. We have a drink here, Without a Paddle, that has been my go-to for a long time.

Noell: What’s in it?

Matt: It’s basically like a cherry-flavored Old Fashioned. It’s really good.

It goes down a little too easy. Or I could take a shot of Jameson and a High Life.

Noell: (To the magazine staff ) Thank you for thinking of us and putting it out there that we’re in this together.

We’re shooting for the same goal.

Roy: I know it’s cliché at this point, but we truly are all in this together.

Matt: It has always felt like that down here, more so now because we understand what each of us is going through.

We are thankful for our customers and their patience. MB

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FOOD | THE DISH

Bite of the Bay MB’s contributing food fanatics share their go-to local dishes.

BANANA BREAD AT GUNCLES

RYAN BALTHROP, Singer, songwriter, musician

GLUTEN-FREE BANANA NUT BREAD AT GUNCLES “Quickly becoming a Midtown staple, Guncles is a healthy, delicious choice for gluten-free goodies made from scratch with love. I am not generally one to seek out gluten-free food, but I am a banana nut bread junkie, and Guncles makes one of the best I’ve ever had. They’re now offering nationwide delivery, so send your loved ones some gluten-free love!”

GUNCLES GLUTEN FREE • 1252 GOVERNMENT ST. • 800-1348 • GUNCLESGF.COM

CADE KISTLER, Program Director, Mobile Baykeeper

CHARLANA QUIOVERS, Owner, BackFlash Antiques

ANN-BROOKS MORRISSETTE, Executive Director, Fuse Project

FRENCH TOAST AT VON’S BISTRO “Expect the unexpected at Von’s Bistro, a winning combination of traditional Asian foods with Southern flair. I was surprised with a delicious brunch, offered on Saturdays, with my choice of strawberry or grapefruit Bellinis accompanied with a twist on my favorite, French toast.

It was drenched with cream cheese sauce, berry compote and fresh fruit, and topped with a thick, tender slice of pork belly. It was an indulgent sweet and salty treat.”

SHRIMP TACOS AT THE AUGUST HOUSE “Nestled in the heart of Spring Hill, The August House serves up shrimp tacos for lunch that will become your new go-to. Fresh Gulf shrimp, corn, black beans and a house-made aioli are wrapped in a warm, crisp tortilla. The aioli brings a spicy note to round out the smoky flavors of the grilled shrimp and give it a Tex-Mex flare. Oh, and major bonus: There is plenty of room to social distance with a wraparound porch and large courtyard.”

NICHOLS AVENUE, FAIRHOPE • 928-7223

VON’S BISTRO • 69 ST. MICHAEL ST.

THE AUGUST HOUSE • 4513 OLD SHELL ROAD

WAREHOUSEBAKERYANDDONUTS.COM

375-1113 • VONSBISTRO.COM

287-0976 • FACEBOOK.COM/CHEFAUGUST82

FRY FRY CHICKY CHICK & WAFFLE AT WAREHOUSE BAKERY & DONUTS “The chicken in this fried chicken and waffle dish is so crispy and dang-near addictive, and the golden-brown Belgian waffle is a perfect complement. It’s served with a side of spicy Sriracha butter and syrup. These two are a match made in heaven, and your taste buds will thank you. If you’re quarantined, take home a few of their ever-tempting baked goods! Order online or by phone and beat the line.”

WAREHOUSE BAKERY & DONUTS • 759

 What dishes made you drool and left you hungry for more? Share them on our Facebook page! september 2020 | mobilebaymag.com 19

FOOD | TASTINGS

The August House text by JAIMIE MANS • photos by ELIZABETH GELINEAU

N

othing says Southern comfort food quite like being served by family. This speaks for The August House chef, Adam Alford, and his family of four. Teamed up with wife Jennifer, these two strive to create a familyfriendly experience at their restaurant in the crux of Spring Hill, all while taking your taste buds for a ride.

The Alfords got their start in the food truck business, driving “The Kraken” around the Alabama Gulf Coast for the past few years. Their first day on the road to culinary success, however, didn’t go as planned. Adam shares, “When we parked, we were ready to take on the world and sell food like crazy. But by the end of the day, Jennifer and I were on the floor of the truck bawling … we had only sold two meals!” Needless to say, their determination to stick with it paid off, and the big brown truck with the octopus strapped to the hood became a local mainstay. Unlike your typical taco, burger and other fair-fun food trucks, the Alfords sold locally sourced seafood in hopes of bringing the ocean to the streets. After pounding the pavement for months, Jennifer and Adam started

dreaming of taking the next step. “We were looking to settle down to a brick-and-mortar style of serving, so when we found this building, I sold the food truck, and the rest is history!”

Although the team decided to pump the brakes on their mobile business, this didn’t stop their adventurous menu. Every few months sees a different dinner menu, all catered toward the ever-changing Mobile seasons. This fall? Get ready for more gamey bites like elk, bison and duck. Not everything disappears with the changing temperatures, however, as Jennifer assures that the brunch menu stays fairly constant. Those fabulous chicken and waffles will be available all year round.

From selling seafood by the seashore to planting roots on Old Shell Road, the Alfords know how to please a crowd. “We’re located in a very supportive neighborhood, so we like that people can just walk over and share a meal with us. But what we really love is when people find us online and just decide to come on by.” If you’re looking to shake it up, pop by the blue Victorian house for a little family love and a lot of good food. MB

 The August House • 4513 Old Shell Road, near The Holiday boutique • facebook.com/chefaugust82 11 a.m. - 2 p.m., 5 p.m. - 9 p.m., T - Sa; 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. Su; closed M

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FOOD | TASTINGS

[ ON THE MENU ]

KAN KAN CHOP This pan-fried pork chop oozes flavor, topped with a tangy peach bacon jam and served with fresh greens and sweet corn.

GRILLED SHRIMP SALAD Succulent shrimp straight from the Gulf serve as the centerpiece for a fresh bed of greens, hand-grated Parmesan cheese and smoky bacon bits.

TOP OF THE HILL Bacardi, St. Germain, grapefruit soda and a spritz of lime fill to the brim of this glass to remind you how to have a good time!

CHICKEN AND WAFFLES Unlike your typical breakfast, this rendition of the traditional Southern day-starter is smothered in a special homemade spicy syrup to give you that little zip we all crave. To top off a spectacular meal, wash it all down with a brunch-favorite Bellini.

KAN KAN CHOP

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FOOD | BAY TABLES

text by AMANDA HARTIN photos by ELIZABETH GELINEAU

RUSTIC RESPITE Finding food for the soul on a secluded Baldwin County farm

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T

he gentle loll of gravel churning beneath the tires breaks the otherwise tranquil drive down the mile-long private road to Perone Creek Farm. The path, flanked by a sea of leafy peanut plants, is shaded by century-old oaks whose sturdy arms offer sweet succor to those caught in a hurried world.

By the time the drive opens onto Brenda and Jeff Bledsoe’s homestead, an inward change has already occurred. Now, under a late afternoon sky, an unseen invitation of peace winds its way like a ribbon ‘round knotted, hundred-year-old structures, under the ticklish canopy of fruit and pecan trees and through downy chicken feathers before softly landing on the veranda where tonight’s sunset dinner is served.

“This is the last of the Baldwin County frontiers,” Jeff says, cocktail in hand, noting the couple’s complete insulation from the outside world. But being secluded hasn’t kept the Bledsoes from sharing their gift of hospitality or the unrivaled serenity of their farm — it’s become a place of inspiration and respite for the Southern Americana trio GypsySpark, of which Brenda is singer, songwriter and musician.

“This place is like a sanctuary,” Jimmy Lumpkin, the couple’s friend and Brenda’s bandmate, says of the 40-acre farm, which was established in the early 1900s by Swedish immigrants. The Bledsoes agree there’s

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something special in the air here.

“When we drove up the driveway, we were already looking at each other,” Brenda recalls of the first time she and her husband of 33 years visited the property. “We didn’t even care what the house looked like.” In addition to a home built in 1986, the farm boasts cellars, barns, a woodworking shop, chicken coop, pond, wooded trails and a guest house, which the couple operates as a bed and breakfast.

Jimmy sinks into a chair next to the fire pit and laughs. “It’s like a little village.”

And it’s a village he and wife Talia, the third member of the band, had a hand in rejuvenating, alongside the Bledsoes and friends, Leslie Dunlap and John Hadley.

“All six of us have put blood, sweat and tears in this place,” Brenda says of the group who gathers regularly. “We all kind of isolated together.”

Talia pinches off a sprig of mint, part of the herb bundle she brought from her garden, and freshens her drink. “We get together about once a week,” she says, her blonde hair tossed to one side. Dora, the barn cat, emerges from under the table’s cloth and darts off toward the stage for tonight’s music session.

“This is what we do,” Brenda says, guitar in hand and heading to the Boho barn, the farm’s original homestead. “We’ll have a meal, watch the sunset and play music.”

SPARKLING LEMONADE COCKTAIL MAKES 1

Talia Lumpkin’s refreshing signature drink will awaken both your sweet and sour taste buds.

6 - 8 ounces Spindrift lemon sparkling water 2 ounces Deep Eddy Lemon Vodka 1 - 2 teaspoons organic agave sweetener, to taste sprigs of fresh mint or favorite herb lemon slice

1. Fill glass with ice. Pour sparkling water until glass is 2/3 full. Add vodka and agave, stir and garnish with fresh herb and lemon slice.

Above, left to right Talia Lumpkin mixes refreshing lemonade cocktails.

Garnished with mint and lemon slices, these drinks pack a perfectly pleasing sweet tartness. Brenda Bledsoe, Perone Creek Farm owner, is singer, songwriter and musician for GypsySpark.

GULF COAST FISH CAKES WITH REMOULADE SERVES 8 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon Zatarain’s Shrimp & Crab Boil concentrate 1 pound fresh fish fillets, sheepshead or speckled trout preferred 1 egg 1 box Zatarain’s Crab Cake Mix 2/3 cup mayonnaise 1/2 cup bell peppers, chopped 1 teaspoon lemon juice 2 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil 1 lemon, cut into wedges

1. In a large skillet with lid, bring 1 inch of salted water to a boil. Add shrimp & crab boil concentrate and lightly stir into the water. Lay fish fillets in skillet, cover and poach at a gentle boil for 10 minutes until completely cooked. Remove fish to a platter and refrigerate 1 - 2 hours. When fish is completely cooled, shred it to the consistency of lump crab meat. (Note: The fish can be prepared a day ahead of time).

2. Beat egg in a large bowl. Add crab cake mix, mayo, peppers, lemon juice and fish. Gently toss until well mixed.

Shape mixture into 8 - 10 patties. Refrigerate 30 minutes.

3. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large skillet on medium heat. Add 4 fish cakes; fry about 4 minutes per side until golden brown and cooked through. Repeat with remaining fish cakes, adding additional 1 tablespoon oil as needed.

4. Serve with lemon wedges and Remoulade Sauce (see below).

REMOULADE SAUCE MAKES 1 1/2 CUPS 1/4 cup pickles, chopped, or relish (Wickle’s relish gives it a spicy kick) 1 cup tomato ketchup 1/2 cup mayonnaise 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice 1 - 2 tablespoons horseradish, to taste dash of Worcestershire sauce 1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Chop pickles in a food processor, then blend in all remaining ingredients.

Chill and serve. If using relish, simply stir all ingredients in a bowl. september 2020 | mobilebaymag.com 25

The acoustics of the barn porch provide such hauntingly harmonious echoes that even the sunset seems to pause to listen. For the second song, the trio makes its way down amongst their small audience scattered in cane back and Adirondack chairs. Jeff smiles.

As the evening draws on, the friends head back to the veranda for warm tartlets made with the farm’s freshly picked pears and blueberries. Later they will say their goodbyes, each heading their own way knowing tonight they were filled in more ways than one. MB

LESLIE’S GO-TO SALAD SERVES 10

Leslie Dunlap’s inspiration for this recipe came from the “Fabulous Salad” served at Central Market in Austin, Texas.

1 6-ounce jar marinated artichoke hearts 1 1/2 pounds spring mix salad 1 cup Caesar dressing 1 can sliced black olives, drained 1 can baby corn 1 can hearts of palm, drained and sliced 1/4 pound Parmigiana-Reggiano, grated 1 bunch basil, chopped 4 sprigs Italian parsley, chopped 1 pint grape tomatoes salt and pepper, to taste

Drain artichoke hearts and place in bowl.

In a large separate bowl, combine remaining ingredients. Add artichoke hearts to salad mixture and toss well.

Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.

Serve in chilled bowls.

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PEAR-BLUEBERRY CRUMB TARTLETS YIELDS 4, 5-INCH TARTS OR 1, 9-INCH PIE

Perfect for late summer and early fall evenings, these scrumptious tartlets can be frozen after completely cooling. To defrost, place in 375-degree oven for 45 to 50 minutes.

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon 6 tablespoons butter, melted 1 cup fresh blueberries 1 1/2 cups fresh pears, sliced 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest 1 teaspoon lemon juice 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1 tablespoon cornstarch vanilla ice cream or whipped cream for serving

CRUMB TOPPING 1/2 cup rolled oats 1/4 cup flour 1/4 cup brown sugar 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon 4 tablespoons cold butter

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. In a small bowl, add graham cracker crumbs, cinnamon and melted butter. Using a fork, mix until combined to a sand-like consistency.

Divide the crumb mixture into four 5-inch mini pie tins (or one 9-inch pie pan). Gently press to create a crust.

3. In a medium bowl, add fruit, lemon zest and juice, sugar and cornstarch. Mix until blueberries are coated. Divide the fruit mixture evenly into the pie tins.

4. In a separate bowl, combine all crumb topping ingredients. Spoon topping over fruit mixture, dividing it evenly among the tins.

5. Place pie tins on foil-lined baking sheet. Bake for 35 minutes or until brown and bubbly.

6. Let cool 10 minutes. Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream, if desired.

Clockwise Fresh fruit from the farm makes these homemade tartlets extra decadent.

Jeff Bledsoe enjoys GypsySpark’s sunset performance, while Talia Lumpkin, the band’s percussionist, keeps beat. Perone Creek Farm’s smokehouse.

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MUSIC | THE ARTS

A Song for Everyman In honor of Mobile Opera’s 75th anniversary, Forrest Wilson Jr. recalls the early days of his 45-year stint in the chorus. text by AMANDA HARTIN • photos courtesy MOBILE OPER A

H

e’s always had a song in his heart, a lilt in his voice and a glimmer in his eyes. Even now, at 84, seated in his recliner and surrounded by memories and music, Forrest Wilson Jr.’s persona fills every nook and cranny of his living room.

“I’ve just always enjoyed it,” he says of singing. And he didn’t limit it to the stage. Just ask his wife, Ann. “Oh, he sings in the shower,” Ann says, smiling. “When our daughter was about 3 years old, she liked to go sit on the bath mat while he was singing. He sang the prologue

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to ‘Pagliacci’ so much, she could sing along in Italian!”

But Wilson didn’t start out singing foreign operatic scores.

He says his vocal talent was first recognized as a youngster while singing in the adult church choir’s Christmas Eve program. “‘Get that boy some lessons,’ is what my parents were told,” he says, the lines around his eyes crinkling. And they did. After Wilson received some introductory instruction, his parents were put in touch with Madame Rose Palmai-Tenser, founder of Mobile Opera and, today,

a legend of the Mobile arts scene. It was Palmai-Tenser’s mission to remove the intimidation surrounding opera as an art form and to make it available to the everyday man.

Established in 1945 as the “Mobile Opera Guild,” the city’s performing arts organization is still going strong 75 years later, making it the oldest of its kind in Alabama. That longevity and its esteemed reputation is testament to Palmai-Tenser’s vision and leadership.

“When Madame Rose found out how old I was,” Wilson says of his introduction as a 13-year-old to the Czech concert artist, “she said she didn’t take male voices that young. But she said she’d be happy to listen to me sing. After I sang, she said, ‘I’d be happy to take him.’”

Wilson began performing with the Mobile Opera Workshop, doing small productions throughout the year, then ending the season with one full-scale opera. “We only had one big show in those days,” he explains, “and it was in March. On my 15th birthday, I sang for the first time in the opera chorus.”

“The chorus is a very special thing,” explains Mobile Opera’s general and artistic director Scott Wright about the allvolunteer group whose importance is oftunsung. Unlike the main actors who are paid, and often brought in from another city, the chorus is comprised of community members — neighbors, teachers, doctors — “regular” people sharing their love of song and performance.

For 45 years, one of those “regular” people might have been Wilson. He smiles recounting how his development in the Opera paralleled with his growth as a young man. His teenage years, he remembers, were filled with performances at the “old, old Joe Jefferson Playhouse,” back when there was only one dressing room. He laughs about the Left Mobile Opera founder, Madame Rose PalmaiTenser, with Forrest Wilson Jr. at the 1965 production of “Aida.”

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eye-opening experience of seeing, for the first time, a woman in her bra and slip in that dressing room, and even after all this time, the accidental encounter brings traces of a blush to his cheeks.

As a teenager, Wilson “aged” in other ways, too, like the time he was cast as Antonio, the gardener, in “The Marriage of Figaro.”

“I was 16 when they gave me that part,” he says. “Antonio is an older man, stooped over with a drinking problem.

They put a wooden folding chair frame around my neck to make me stoop over and totter.” He and Ann laugh.

Through the years, there were many laughs on stage, some successfully restrained and others not so much. “We were doing ‘Carousel,’ and Jim Blackwell was sitting on a bale of hay waiting for the boat captain to come along; we 30 mobilebaymag.com | september 2020

were going to rob him. Jim says, ‘Let’s play some cards.’ But on the very last night of the show, instead of a deck of real cards, he had a deck of cards with naked women on them. It was all I could do not to tear up.” More examples of humor follow as Wilson recounts four decades’ worth of shows and behindthe-scenes pranks.

Lighthearted humor and backstage antics may not be the first things that come to mind when thinking about opera. For some, there may be a preconceived notion that the opera is only for a certain sect of people. But Mobile Opera’s sheer duration is evidence of Palmai-Tenser’s mission of making the opera accessible and haughtiness-free.

“We are fighting the idea that opera is something only for rich people,” Wright acknowledges. To that, he adds,

“Just go to the opera. Go find out if you like it. Some are harder to get into, I suppose, just like novels or anything else. But it’s not opera unless somebody dies. You can’t avoid that.” How’s that for a selling point?

“Our patrons are very loyal,” says Stacey Driskell, Mobile Opera associate director and director of education and outreach. “We’re very communitybased, and you’re likely to know someone on stage, in the chorus.” MB

Clockwise from top left Forrest Wilson Jr., lower left, in the chorus for “Rigoletto,” 1987. Wilson on stage in his favorite opera “Faust,” 1971. Some choruses are quite large, requiring as many as 40 people, like the one seen here in Mobile Opera’s 2012 “Turandot” performance.

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HISTORY | ARCHIVES

Integrity of Craft “Blacksmiths,” a painting from the archives of the History Museum of Mobile, affords a closer look at Great Depression-era Mobile. text by MEG MCCRUMMEN FOWLER • photos courtesy HISTORY MUSEUM OF MOBILE

E

dmond de Celle (1889 – 1972), best known in Mobile for his fanciful Mardi Gras imagery and especially for his Order of Myths float designs, also painted some striking images of Mobile workers in the Great Depression era. “Blacksmiths” (c. 1930s), in the collection of the History Museum of Mobile, is one such painting and a rich demonstration of what one critic called his “honest, straightforward vision and integrity of craft.”

Seeing the depth of this work has everything to do with understanding the moment in which he’s painting.

Archival sources confirm de Celle received funding in the mid-1930s from the Works Progress Administration (WPA), one of the New Deal “alphabet soup” programs, and it is probable that this canvas was produced as part of that commission. Moreover, as the country struggled to pull out of the Great Depression, numerous WPA projects were underway in Mobile at this time. Many such projects would have needed blacksmiths — the construction of the Bankhead Tunnel comes to mind — so it is very possible that the blacksmiths de Celle painted here were employed by the WPA. If that is all true, then this painting claims the special designation of being itself a WPA project depicting a WPA project, the artist funded in the same manner as his subjects. It is certainly in the style of other WPA artwork, and the very nature of such funding would have shaped the themes and subjects of the resulting work. The government agencies who employed artists across the country desired an emphasis on the “American scene” and encouraged artists to churn out work with the efficiency of the laborers they so often depicted.

What is sure is that “Blacksmiths” is a stunning example of the Social Realist style, which developed in the 1930s. Working in flat, intense colors and angular forms, Social Realist artists sought to create images of the “masses,” a newly popular term for the laboring class. Many such artists, dissatisfied with the elitism of the French avant-garde, sought to elevate and honor the working man. De Celle does exactly that in this 1930s painting of Mobile blacksmiths. MB

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Above Edmond de Celle puts the finishing touches on a Mobile Mardi Gras float, circa 1958.

Meg McCrummen Fowler is director of the History Museum of Mobile. She earned her M.A. in History of Art at Tulane University, where she is currently completing a Ph.D. in Art History & Society.

EDMOND DE CELLE’S WPA-FUNDED PAINTING, “BLACKSMITHS” (c. 1930s)

Known for his artful contributions to Mobile Mardi Gras, Edmond de Celle was also a commissioned artist for the WPA. Below, art historian and History Museum of Mobile Director Meg Fowler breaks down some of the finer points of this painting from the museum’s collection.

MOOD Drama comes from the stark contrast in colors. The vibrant yellow — presumably the blacksmiths’ fire — silhouettes the laborers’ bodies and emphasizes their hard work.

ANATOMY Social Realist paintings often emphasize the grueling physicality of the work depicted.

Here, witness the men’s musculature, coarsely defined with a few contrasting strokes.

TECHNIQUE The bold, simple brushstrokes are meant to appear roughhewn, a parallel to the heavy, straightforward materials with which the blacksmiths accomplish their work.

STOP MOTION The hammers at the top — at least 10 of them — and the jumble of arms and legs accentuate the repetitive nature of the work. Like a stop motion film, every position of the hammer is depicted.

MAN-MADE Square-jawed and firmfaced, these anonymous everyday workers are heroicized as symbols of persistence and strength and the backbone of an increasingly industrial society.

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PEOPLE | SPOTLIGHT

Patchwork Quarantine was the perfect opportunity for one local artist to bring people together with a collaborative project. text by MAGGIE LACEY photos by ELIZABETH GELINEAU

W

hen a crisis hits, some people run for cover. Other people make stuff. Taylor Shaw is definitely the latter, and quarantine proved the right opportunity for this University of South Alabama art professor to bring together his fellow artists and friends in Mobile and across the country to work on an uplifting project, all at a safe social distance.

The Destin, Florida, native has long been inspired both by street art and the nostalgic souvenir culture of touristy beach towns like Destin and Gulf Shores. By combining those two (somewhat disparate) aesthetics, Shaw has created throughout his career a number of exciting works used to beautify buildings and add a pop of happiness and color where he found blight.

“They are mostly small works,” he says, “and I prefer them to blend in or add to the building, as opposed to what you would get from typical graffiti with spray paint. It’s wood and adhesive, almost like a giant sticker.” Shaw explains that he tracks down the owners of the property, gets permission ahead of time and never focuses his art on working businesses. A recent street art installation can be seen on St. Louis Street Downtown. And while the owners of the derelict properties may know that the art is coming, to the passerby, it is a surprise and a delight.

Once the pandemic hit, Shaw’s classes moved online, and his students no longer met in person. “For someone who enjoys hands-on stuff, it was kind of a nightmare. And you feel like you’re failing at teaching the whole time because — I was not prepared for this at all.” He expresses his concern for the students and explains the challenges everyone had to overcome, but when pressed, Shaw admits quarantine treated him pretty well. “I hate to say that I was thriving, but maybe it’s because if I stop moving, I would go crazy! But I just stayed busy. I built a farm table. I restored six wooden mid-century chairs. I painted a mural.” And he cooked like crazy. The former food truck owner and participant on the “Amazing Food Truck Race” laughs that quarantine gave him the opportunity to take “a culinary journey around the world.” A whole leg of lamb for Easter, old

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FIVE THINGS THAT INSPIRE TAYLOR 1. Getting in the Kitchen As a former restaurant owner and chef, I really feel at home in a kitchen. Especially since quarantine took place, it gave me a chance to spend more time working on dishes I haven’t tried before. There’s something creatively similar between cooking and making art. They both fuel each other.

2. Play Some Tunes My tastes run everywhere. Hip-hop, classical piano, punk, blue grass, funk, and chill hop all occupy my Spotify playlists. Whenever I need a boost, there is something inherently uplifting and mood altering about a good song that really gets creativity flowing.

3. Watch Other Artists Most of my Instagram feed is other artists.

Seeing what they are creating and learning tips and tricks from graffiti artists or wood workers always gets my gears going. I love painting murals, so I’m always looking at muralists, graffiti artists and street artists. These all fuel my art practice.

4. Connection to Family I’m constantly drawing on past experiences and my childhood as inspiration. Whether it’s woodworking and painting that I saw my mother doing growing up (her quilt piece is in the show titled “Family”) or the graphic nature of military insignias and patches that adorned my Dad’s plane and uniforms, a lot of these memories constantly influence my work. Sometimes it is in subtle ways, sometimes blatant, but I believe all artists are rooted in their upbringings.

5. Southern Culture I was born and raised in Florida. I’ve lived in Texas, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, and spent so much time in Louisiana it felt like I lived there. I believe the South has an amazing array of cultures, aesthetics and culinary masterpieces that are often overlooked. We are somewhat the underdog in America, but I truly love it and believe in a better South.

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PEOPLE | SPOTLIGHT

school ham and scallop potatoes, myriad ethnic dishes, the list goes on.

“I’m kind of all over the board with my interest in cooking,” he admits. Shaw even helped prepare Southern biscuits and Waffle House hash browns over Zoom with friends in Brooklyn. “The theory is, I go to a friend’s house, take whatever they have in their fridge and make a meal out of it. So we did that, but via Zoom meeting!”

But his most impactful creation during the pandemic was the quarantine quilt.

Teeing off his small wooden street art installations, which were inspired by the shapes of traditional quilts, Shaw began a virtual quilting bee. He cut hundreds of small triangles from one-eighth-inch beech plywood and shipped them out, six pieces at a time, to anyone willing to paint them.

“The US Postal Service became the backbone of the project,” he explains, as quilt pieces migrated to and from Shaw’s home studio in Mobile. Each set of six fits perfectly together in the shape of the Omaha star, a traditional quilting pattern. The stars are then curated by Shaw into a larger quilt section that is installed as one piece, creating a beautiful work of art that connects many hands and hearts during a difficult time.

Several of the works are currently on display at the Mobile Arts Council, with room for the quilts to grow on the walls as new manila envelopes of wooden triangles arrive in Shaw’s mail. The postmarks crisscross the USA, but the needle and thread virtually sewing everything together has its roots along the Gulf Coast, leaving a little unexpected happiness and beauty in its wake. MB Top One of Shaw’s quarantine quilts hanging in the Mobile Arts Council, “Kaleena Stasiak, Guadalupe Navarro, Meme Loftin, Kelsey Wishik, Kiley Aguar, Jessica Nasca, Taylor Shaw, Tatiana Veneruso, Jeremy Smith, Bailey Ratner, and Kelsey Stasiak.” Middle “Abandoned Church,” 2019, Albuquerque, New Mexico. PHOTO COURTESY TAYLOR SHAW Bottom “Boardwalk,” 2020, New Orleans. PHOTO COURTESY TAYLOR SHAW

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PEOPLE | SPOTLIGHT

The Test of Fire Potter Charles Smith, known the world over for his meticulous Afrocentric and ceremonial vessels, sits down with MB to reflect on his purpose, passion and legacy. text by AMANDA HARTIN • photos by ELIZABETH GELINEAU

It’s an honor to meet you. I’ve read a lot about your artistic process and watched several of your demo videos on YouTube. I’m curious, how would the man behind the potter’s wheel describe himself?

First and foremost, I’m a genius. (laughs) No, I don’t know. Sometimes we have to get a third party to answer that. My name is such a common name. There’s probably 20 or 30 Charles Smiths in every county. How am I going to stand out? I had to figure out how to create my own thing, to find my purpose of being. I had to figure a way to have some type of stamp on my name. I wanted to produce something that my grandkids and their kids could look back on and say, my granddaddy was a potter.

And their granddaddy is a gifted storyteller. Could you talk a little about how you found your artistic voice?

When I first started out, I knew I wanted my own design, but that took a long time to develop. Years ago, when my wife and I were doing shows, she asked me why I always brought in pieces with water as part of the design. The same thing started happening with collectors. They’d come back and tell me about elements they saw in pieces that I didn’t see, like serpents and fish. I was born and raised on the Gulf Coast, and we’ve got all this water and marine life around us. [Subconsciously], I had created a story line — this is the story of Mobile.

Opposite Ceremonial wall hanging, the highlights on which were produced by Charles Smith’s repeated handling of the molded, unfired clay. Oil from Charles’ hands oxidized during the firing process, resulting in a shiny, worn appearance.

Left, top to bottom “Blue Marine Acorn Vessel,” glazed, carved, pressed stoneware with sgraffito technique.

Sgraffito involves scratching or cutting away at the surface to revel the layer — usually a different color — below. PHOTO

BY CHARLES SMITH

“Tazza,” unglazed stoneware with sgraffito technique. PHOTO BY CHARLES SMITH

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When you were studying art education at Jackson State University, one of your professors noticed your incredible ability to draw.

Do you make a sketch before you create each pot?

I’ll do a quick sketch now because my mind isn’t what it used to be.

But you definitely have to have a design alphabet in your head in order to bring that image into a real form.

Is it going to have a foot? Where is the face is going to be? How is the lid going to look?

Well, you’ve certainly perfected your technique. Do you ever create the same piece twice?

In all this big old world, there is only one of each. There is no reason for me to copy a piece. Mass production is not my thing. I’m just here to do that one heartbeat and move on.

And with it being carved by hand, each one is different.

Would you consider your works functional pottery?

I don’t do mugs. If I wanted a damn good mug, I’d go to the 99-cent store. There’s a joke I like to tell: Once the check clears, the buyer can do whatever the hell they want with their piece. Seriously though, these pots are more about ceremony.

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How did you wind up throwing clay, so to speak?

I was an angry Vietnam vet with post-traumatic stress disorder. I didn’t want to be a potter; I was just being a renegade. Nobody else was doing it. My folks thought I had gone way, way in left field. Here you’ve got a storm trooper, a ninja, a guy that went into battle and he’s over here playing in clay. What’s wrong with this picture? They didn’t understand because, at that time, it wasn’t part of the community, they didn’t need pottery. They had Mason jars and Tupperware. Even now, do we need potters?

Why would people do this? It’s just a calling. Some things you just can’t explain.

There certainly seems to be a deep connection between you and your pots. Is that why you choose to bury the pieces that don’t turn out correctly?

If I break a pot after I’ve put all this heart and soul and energy into it, I sweep it up

and put it in a brown paper bag or a box and take it out back and bury it. Some people don’t have these guidelines; they’ll just throw it in the trash. No. Shoot, you’ve got to have a decent burial. You’ve got to mourn the pot. It’s not a religion; it’s the thing that you have to come to grips with to keep you in check.

The clay keeps you honest, huh?

Clay is a living, breathing form. You have to know exactly what’s going on at all times.

You can make a nice pot, but it ain’t worth a damn in the raw state. It has to go through the test of fire. The rule is, never fall in love with your work until it’s fired because if you fall in love with something, that’s what’s gonna blow up in the kiln. When things start blowing up, you better know why. But that’s the learning curve; a lot of this stuff isn’t in a book. They don’t want you to be disappointed because you might put the book back.

What are some other things you’ve learned that you didn’t read in a textbook?

You need to keep a junk box. Everything in art is critical: acorns, old nails, glass, stone, hubcaps. Also, your studio needs to have order. Once you’re working and you get inspired, you don’t need to be looking for stuff.

It’s like cooking. You don’t need to be in the bathroom looking for a blender. And it doesn’t have to be pretty. People aren’t buying your studio; they’re buying the end result.

Are you in your studio every day?

No, but I do go there every day. You don’t have to produce stuff daily, but you do have to think about it; it’s always in your head.

Especially now during the pandemic, I’ve got time to reassess some of the things that I thought were flawed, things that I had put in the attic. As you get older, your eyesight goes bad, you can’t hear a damn thing, you find out one leg is longer than the other after all these years. (laughs) Now that I’m “flawed,” I can deal with the pot. It doesn’t have a blemish anymore. It used to be a defect, but now it’s not.

Your creative well has yet to run dry after four decades as a potter. Do you ever experience mental blocks?

I try to work in threes. So, if I get a mental block on something, I let it rest and work on the other two. Then I can come back in

a couple days and approach it from a totally different perspective. I’ve had artists call me and say they have mental blocks. I’ll tell them that they are working too fast, that they’re trying to complete it, but it’s not ready to be complete. What they need to do is set the piece to the side and work on something else.

Speaking of working on other things, tell me about Three Sisters, the sculpture you created in 2011 for downtown Mobile.

Three Sisters is sort of a mystery to Mobile.

The Mobile Downtown Alliance called and asked for a bicycle rack, but I don’t make those. (laughs) Instead, I used the opportunity to create an Afrocentric piece. Those are three African queens. They represent strength, wealth and justice for all. It’s not a racial thing; it’s about strong community. At the base, you see things we are bound by in this area, which is water, alligators and birds.

You’ve said in previous interviews that each work of art documents time and space.

When you return to production, will your

designs reflect the uncertainty surrounding the world today?

No, I’m not going to have any death crosses or cemeteries. History will already document that.

That’s why I put the date on the bottom of my work; the date will tell you that Charles Smith existed during the pandemic. Now is the time for me to stop and smell the roses, to regroup. Why am I still creating art? It goes back to that calling. It’s why I’m here. MB

Above Charles Smith is revered for his intricate face sculptures, as in this ceremonial face vessel, keeping watch in his studio.

Opposite, left to right Ceremonial vessels. PHOTO BY CHARLES SMITH Tripod vessel, unglazed stoneware with sgraffito technique. PHOTO BY CHARLES SMITH

Ceremonial vessel.

PHOTO BY

CHARLES SMITH

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GUMBO | COLLECTIONS

Collector-in-Chief There are many words to describe Police Chief Jimmie Flanagan’s office, but “orange” is not one of them. text by BRECK PAPPAS • photos by MATTHEW COUGHLIN

I

n order to reach the office of Alabama Port Authority Police Chief Jimmie Flanagan, one must pass a security check point and several CCTV cameras (seen and unseen) before being admitted, by appointment only, into the building.

Then, and only then, are you granted access to Flanagan’s very well-protected, and very crimson, office.

“Well, that’s one of the reasons I have the collection here,” Flanagan says half-jokingly. “We’re in a secure, restricted area. I have plenty of cameras to make sure it’s secure.”

The chief ’s office could be described as a college football heaven or hell, depending on your allegiance. A replica Heisman trophy, signed by Mark Ingram, throws a stiff-arm from across the room.

Daniel Moore prints line the walls, and bookshelves are covered with Crimson Tide puzzles, knives, pens, helmets, even an Alabama Rubik’s cube. The cheerful man behind the desk speaks with the directness of a career law enforcement officer but with the smile and self-deprecation of a grandfather. That’s no coincidence — Flanagan has 11 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

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Left to right Flanagan purchased this replica of the famous Heisman trophy from a company in California. With some help from Alabama player Dre Kirkpatrick, a Gadsden native, Flanagan eventually got Heisman-trophywinner Mark Ingram to autograph the trophy.

One of the more popular items in Flanagan’s collection is this set of replica National Championship rings.

This pair of gloves is signed by quarterback AJ McCarron, Flanagan’s favorite Alabama player.

“And I can say all of them are Alabama fans,” he confirms.

No surprise there.

Flanagan’s story, and that of his crimson collection, begins in the Peach State. “I actually was born in and grew up in Georgia,” he begins. “When I was a Boy Scout, I used to usher the University of Georgia football games, but I hated UGA.” One fall Saturday, listening to an Alabama game on the radio, Flanagan says he was captivated by the grit of the team and the cult of personality surrounding its coach, Paul “Bear” Bryant. “And so the next thing I know, I’m an Alabama fan living in Georgia.”

Alabama football and law enforcement have remained two constants in Flanagan’s life; he’s worn the badge for 47 years now.

“Well, my grandfather was a police chief, so I grew up around police all my life. I can remember always wanting to be an officer. My first police job was in my hometown of Toccoa, Georgia, and I found out really quick it’s not easy to work law enforcement in a small hometown. ‘Cause everybody you stop is either a relative or somebody you went to school with.”

Flanagan went to work at a larger agency in Gadsden, Alabama, where he moved up the ranks to commander. With an eye on retirement and sunshine, he moved to Baldwin County and worked two stints (one as chief of the Elberta Department) 44 mobilebaymag.com | september 2020

before joining the Alabama Port Authority 16 years ago.

“We have the third largest police department in the county,” he explains. “We’re a state agency, and we’re responsible for Homeland Security for all the port facilities in the state. We have probably one of the best security systems any facility has.

People would be proud of our port.”

Flanagan says the walls of his office used to be covered with “your usual certificates and plaques of things that you’ve accomplished in your law enforcement career. And one day somebody brought me a [football] picture, and I put it up.

And the next thing I knew, people were bringing me stuff. I’ve been fortunate in that, I’d say 95 percent of my stuff here in the office was donated or gifted to me by friends. And now I’m running out of wall space.”

The collection’s location is handy not just for security’s sake but for the access it’s afforded the chief to former Alabama players. Former Tide quarterback AJ McCarron, Flanagan’s favorite player, has relatives who work at the Port, so naturally the chief of police has been able to add some photos and autographs from the NFL player.

“We’ve got a company out here that hires a lot of ex-Alabama players, so when they come in to get their credentials, I’m able to get pictures with some of them as you can see. So that helps a lot.”

There’s little hesitation when asked which is his favorite

Left to right The Alabama Association of Police Chiefs received permission from the University of Alabama to make these badges commemorating the Tide’s national championships. “I did have an Auburn one in there at one time, too, but it sort of messed up the whole collection,” Flanagan says.

Flanagan’s collection ranges from pricey memorabilia to everyday knickknacks, such as this Big Al piggy bank.

A gift from one of the priests at the port ministry, this handpainted ostrich egg is perhaps the most unique item in Flanagan’s collection.

item in the collection — a football signed by the entire 1978 National Championship team, including coach Bryant.

“My wife actually gave it to me. It used to belong to her.

She says it’s still hers, but I’ve told her that it’s in my office, so it’s mine now.”

Half of the fun, he says, is seeing the reactions of visitors who aren’t expecting to find themselves entering a shrine to the Tide. “The room is really not for Alabama fans,” he explains.

“We’re used to this, okay? It’s sort of like a kid at Disney World if they’re an Alabama fan because they just want to look at everything. Usually the other fans, Auburn or LSU or FSU, they put up with it, but you can see sometimes it really does intimidate them a little bit, which is funny. But they enjoy coming in and looking at the collection also.”

Flanagan says he’s not an Auburn hater by any stretch of the imagination, although he can’t help but make a playful dig at the Tigers. When asked if he’s ever seen an Auburn room like this, he says he hasn’t. “If somebody has one out there, I’d love to see it,” he says, before mischievously adding, “It wouldn’t be a full room, I don’t think.”

Anyone visiting Flanagan’s office is quickly made aware of one thing: He takes the job, but not himself, too seriously. There’s a person with a sense of humor behind this badge. How else would you describe someone whose office contains an ostrich egg emblazoned with a hand-painted Alabama “A”? (“That was

a gift from one of the priests with the port ministry.”)

“You know, football fans all like to have their ‘man caves’ so to speak, and this is sort of my man cave. I spend more time in this office probably than I spend at home sometimes, and it just gives me a good feeling. I feel more comfortable in here with the Alabama stuff than I did with the other stuff I used to have, as far as certificates and plaques.”

The challenge now is deciding which of his five children will someday inherit the collection.

“I don’t think I’m going to disclose who I’m going to leave it to — keep them guessing,” he says with a smirk.

Until then, they can all rest easy knowing the collection is safe, secure and, if Flanagan and Nick Saban have their way, growing by the year. MB

“YOU KNOW, FOOTBALL FANS ALL LIKE TO HAVE THEIR ‘MAN CAVES’ SO TO SPEAK, AND THIS IS SORT OF MY MAN CAVE. I SPEND MORE TIME IN THIS OFFICE PROBABLY THAN I SPEND AT HOME SOMETIMES, AND IT JUST GIVES ME A GOOD FEELING.” – Chief Jimmie Flanagan

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MUSIC | THE ARTS

BOB DYLAN AND THE BAND, 1974

The Beat Goes On Mobilians look back at some of the most memorable concerts to roll through town and look forward to their return post-pandemic. text by JAIMIE MANS

M

usic. Just a few notes of a song is enough to evoke emotions and memories, taking the listener back to a particular place in time. For some, those memories include gripping concert tickets tightly, waiting in long lines and chanting along with — or fainting at the sight of — their favorite musicians. The Port City has certainly seen its fair share of performances, with some, like legends Elvis Presley and Alan Jackson, visiting more than once. The mid-1960’s opening of Mobile Municipal Auditorium — now known as Mobile Civic Center — provided the perfect spot for artists to put on a show, and in 1964 alone, Elvis Presley, Tina Turner and Donnie

and Marie Osmond appeared on stage. The following decade saw rock come rolling into the city.

For a little stroll down memory lane, MB asked readers to share their concert memories from an era known for long hair and shock-rock, hip-shaking and folksy-blues: the ‘70s. For lifelong Mobilian Bonnie McNamee, the decade really kicked off with The Rolling Stones’ June 1972 performance as part of the “Stones Touring Party.” Stevie Wonder also performed that night, as the opening act. “The Stones loved elaborate sets,” she recalls, saying the stage layout was evidence of that. “It was one of the best concerts I have ever seen.”

“I had just gotten out of the Army, so I was amazed to see that everybody but me had really long hair!”

– Joe Langley

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“In the ‘70s, I saw in Mobile Led Zeppelin, the Eagles, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Elvis, The Rolling Stones, Three Dog Night and a bunch others.

All were awesome!”

“If you were really lucky, you’d be able to touch him!”

– Mark Williams on Bob Dylan

– Elise Anderson

“The anticipation of waiting for him to come out on stage was unbelievable.”

– Marion Frizzle on Elvis Presley

“We were amazed by Stevie Wonder and all the instruments he played during his set and wondered how any group could follow that.

When the Stones came on, Jagger strutted out with a Miller beer in the bottle, and then they just took over. Awesome, incredible concert, only rivalled by the Allman Brothers a couple of years later. Springsteen and the E Street Band were also amazing in the era, playing in the 1,500 seat Auditorium Theater.”

- Jocko Potts

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Another act known for extravagance, Alice Cooper and his May 1975 “Welcome to My Nightmare” tour left a lasting impression on Joe Langley. “I remember him hanging in the gallows, a cable strapped to his back,” he recalls, adding that the night’s performance was filled with fog, props and Cooper’s infamous snake. Perhaps just as jarring as the concert was the culture shock Langley felt. “I had just gotten out of the Army,” he laughs, “so I was amazed to see that everybody but me had really long hair!”

The following month, June 1975, the “King” entranced Marion Frizzle with his wriggling hips — she had waited 20 years to see Elvis Presley. “My mom wouldn’t let me go in the ‘50s,” she recalls. “She said it wasn’t a good thing for me to do. But the anticipation of waiting for him to come out on stage and begin was unbelievable.”

While most concerts were performed among hordes of people, Bob Dylan sought a cozier concert venue and chose the Mobile Exposition Hall for his April 1976 “Rolling Thunder Review” tour. Mark Williams says Dylan wanted to connect with his audience — and connect he did. Williams not-sopatiently awaited the door’s opening so he could rush to be up-close-and-personal with the singer. “If you were really lucky,” he says, “you’d be able to touch him!”

Although decades have now passed, each bringing with it new bands, styles and genres, the spirit of music stays the same, providing a temporary escape from reality.

Our new reality now includes buzz words like “coronavirus” and “social distancing,” words that substantially alter the live music experience. But leave it to artists like Alan Jackson to find a way to inject musical relief by way of drive-in concerts. His June 2020 concert in Fairhope brought a sense of community to one that had been deprived of contact with the outside world. And in a time filled with unknowns, one can only hope that this drive-in concert style will be continued, creating a new generation of music and entertainment. Because in the end, whether jammed shoulder-to-shoulder with thousands of screaming fans or on a pick-up tailgate, the beat will go on. MB

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unveiling

MONICA PEELING BACK the LAYERS OF ONE LOCAL COLLAGE ARTIST and EDUCATOR

text by MAGGIE LACEY photos by MATTHEW COUGHLIN wedding dress and veil by BLISS BRIDAL shot on location at CENTR AL ARTS COLLECTIVE Artwork “I Knew One Day You’d Come.” 36”x48” mixed media on board.

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A

long black limousine pulls up to the front door of the Mobile

Museum

of Art, headlights

beaming in the dark evening of early October.

The rear passenger door opens and a foot slides gently to the ground wearing a delicate white

“Nobody Sees Me Like You Do,” 13 1/2 x 15 1/2” collage.

PHOTO COURTESY MONICA J. BEASLEY

satin shoe. Following the foot, a tumble of white fabric, lace and pearls emerges from the back seat. Princess Cupcake — and the woman wearing it — have arrived for their debut.

The woman in question, local artist Monica Beasley, already had the bridal gown in her closet, a leftover from an art film that she made years ago — “A Day in the Life of a Dress.” As the opening reception for the first solo museum exhibition of her career loomed on the calendar, Beasley realized the gown was the perfect choice. “My exhibition was like my debut,” laughs the 51-year-old artist and educator at Old Shell Road School, whose work unabashedly focuses heavily on the themes of love, marriage and femininity. “I named [the dress] because she looks like a cupcake with the dotted pearls on it.” The dress — like Beasley’s art ­— is a shower of frills and femininity covering something deep and complex just waiting to be discovered.

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Mobile Moves Beasley moved to her mother’s hometown of Mobile from Minnesota at age 12 after her parents’ divorce. She experienced culture shock upon arriving. “It was so traumatic to move down here,” she remembers, laughing, explaining she left a culturally diverse suburban community (although she was the only African-American) and moved to her grandmother’s house in the predominantly black Crichton. There, she was raised under the guidance of several strong female figures — her mother, grandmother and aunts — who modelled true Southern femininity and grace enveloping a core of strength and purpose. All of these women would inspire themes in Beasley’s later work.

As she settled into her new life in Mobile, Beasley found the Port City a complicated place. “It took me a while to realize that down here, even though I’m light-skinned, for some people I’m not the right kind of light-skinned. My family wasn’t Creole.”

Interactions with lifelong natives gave Beasley a love-hate relationship with her adopted town, so she was eager to head back to the Midwest for college.

After encouragement from her mother to become a teacher, Beasley got her undergraduate degree from Barat College in Lake Forest, Illinois, and her Masters of Art in teaching from Spring Hill College. After a few short years teaching in Mobile, however, a deeper experience with the arts was still tugging at her heartstrings. She was lured to Chicago once again by post-graduate work at the prestigious School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and following that, she earned a full ride to Northwestern where she received her Master of Fine Arts as one of the first AfricanAmerican women accepted to the program— a course of study which only accepted five students per year.

During this time of free exploration of her art, she created

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“Dreaming of Africa,” 24”x24” mixed media on canvas.

Untitled, 9”x9” mixed media on board.

PHOTO COURTESY MONICA J. BEASLEY

PHOTO COURTESY MONICA J. BEASLEY

works with Afro-Caribbean roots, namely a series of voodoo dolls about 5 inches tall that at one time lined the walls of her home “in the hopes of conjuring up a husband.” The chance to push boundaries and explore other cultures was freeing, but Beasley began to focus her art more and more on the theme of love and marriage. “We had some interesting peer critiques,” she laughs. “Those other art students were so much younger, and they didn’t get it. I was in my 30s and ready for marriage! But they all have kids now.”

Today, Beasley is a mixed media and collage artist who gathers scraps of lace, fabric and beading left over from Mardi Gras trains and applies them to boards, along with cut paper, painted canvas and epoxy. But underneath the girliness and beauty of her exquisite work often lies a smattering of Mobile dirt and clay (over which she says she whitewashes.) “I’m using all these flowers and politeness, but under, there’s all this grit. And so I think that’s what my work is about.” She admits she is not a figure painter, and so uses traditional toile fabric throughout her works. “The toile is my hidden Southernness, daintiness and the narrative of what’s going on in the South.” But it is often hidden amongst flowers, sequins and a smattering of glitter for good measure. This juxtaposition of beautiful and profound is what makes both Beasley and her work fresh and exciting.

Looking for Love In Beasley’s exhibition at the Mobile Museum of Art, in addition to her collage flowers and mixed media abstracts, she showed a work made from of a pile of blue Tiffany’s boxes all wrapped to perfection (she confesses she became fast friends with the manager of the Tiffany’s store in New Orleans through-

out this process) and stuck small powder blue Tiffany’s cards to the wall with mantras about love — “I will marry a man who will keep gas in my car.” She is not embarrassed by her search for her true love and is not disheartened that she has not yet found him. “I once even called ‘Car Talk’ to ask the guys what kind of car I should buy to attract a guy. I’ve bought all three cars they recommended at some point in my life: a convertible, an Audi SUV, now my mini. I do get guys looking at me in my Mini Cooper!” But with age comes an increased confidence in self and a focus on self-love, evident by titles of some of her recent works, like “You Don’t Need a King to be a Queen.”

“There is no love in my life right now. That is why I can freely talk about what I want. The pressure is off to find Mr. Right.”

Beasley is more confident than ever in this stage of life and finds fulfillment not just from her art practice but from her work as an art educator with the Mobile County Public Schools where she recently won Teacher of the Year. And she can honestly say she loves and appreciates the town she now calls her home. “That’s why I call myself a Mobilian, because I didn’t choose to come here as a child. But the second time, I chose to come back home after graduate school. I chose to come back to teach because I believe in all these kids and in the arts.” And she prioritizes being close to family — especially all those strong Southern women that gave her the feminine strength she now exudes.

Perhaps Beasley is a lot like her works of art — beautiful and bright. But if you are lucky, and you get the chance to dig a little deeper, you will find a complex layer of emotions and stories that are constantly being explored and occasionally even shared. But all wrapped up perfectly like that little turquoise present from Tiffany’s. MB september 2020 | mobilebaymag.com 55

MODERN OASIS A MINIMALIST WHITE BOX IN THE HEART OF SPRING HILL STANDS IN PROUD CONTRAST TO THE TRADITIONAL HOMES FOR WHICH THE PORT CITY IS KNOWN.

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text by MAGGIE LACEY • photos by JUSTIN CORDOVA • styling by TRINI BRYANT INTERIORS Left The Oly Studio chairs in white leather in the living room, as seen from the upstairs. Above Homeowner April Summers enjoys life in her concrete and glass modern gem. Children Evan and Carley love to have friends over to play in the courtyard pool.

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J

ust a stone’s throw from the busy traffic of Old Shell Road, deep in the heart of Spring Hill, hides an oasis of calm. Tucked amidst traditional homes, with their verdant Southern yards and friendly picket fences, a modern gem is quietly perched behind frosted glass doors and minimalist landscaping. It is a daring counterpoint to the look and feel of the neighborhood, to be sure, with its expanse of white stucco, glass walls and shiny metal trim. Minimalist architecture never quite won over the Port City when it launched onto the hip international scene in the 1950s and ‘60s, due in part to Mobile’s deep roots in historic design. But there is much to be admired about a home that is akin to a modern work of art and is also completely livable. The artist — or architect in this case — stripped the canvas bare to clear the mind, allowing the cares of the world to slide out the back door and splash into the pool. The result? A vacation oasis in April and Brad Summers’ backyard on Dilston Lane.

The home was built in 2012 by two Mobilians, who, after years of living in traditional and historic homes in Midtown, decided a clean, modern aesthetic would be a breath of fresh air. They enlisted the help of architect Pete J. Vallas, with whom they had worked before, and the brainstorming sessions began. While Vallas may not be known for designing sleek modern structures, he confesses that’s what he would build for himself if he had the chance. “You can’t paint modern architecture with a single brush,” says Vallas, who wanted his clients to narrow their focus to the specific type of modernism they sought. A quick trip to Modernism Week in Palm Springs, California — a treasure chest of residential modernism in pristine condition — gave the homeowners a chance to hone their eye and discard the Brady Bunch architecture that might pop to mind when 1960s homes are mentioned. In the end, they chose a pared-down look that stripped away unnecessary flourishes.

The tricky thing was, in Palm Springs it’s all about the view.

Huge expanses of glass — floor to ceiling — frame vistas over the desert and hillsides. Vallas knew that a glass house less than a block from the front door of Carpe Diem Coffee wouldn’t offer the

Right The backyard oasis of the Summers’ property on Dilston Lane features floor-to-ceiling glass intended to bring the outdoor view into the heart of the home. The four sliding doors that lead into the kitchen and living room are crafted from the largest single panes of glass available at the time, and the five upstairs windows above the four below were designed by architect Pete J. Vallas to mimic a musical syncopation. The side walls and roofline of the home were inspired by a parson’s table — the modernist rectangular tables whose legs are flush with the edges of the top and equal in thickness.

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Opposite page The monumental fireplace is reminiscent of those found anchoring most mid-century homes in Palm Springs, California. Cross hung the abstract work of art off-center. Above The double-height living room has views out to the pool and is protected from the afternoon sun (and the noise of neighbors) by a thick hedge of bamboo designed by Paul Fontenot of Garden Design Solutions Inc. The Lee Industries sofa in Schumacher Velvet is made for lounging. Below A serene sitting room right off the kitchen makes for cozy TV time. The Verellen sofa, featuring a custom Kravet fabric, sits alongside chairs by Lee Industries and coffee and end tables by Bungalow 5.

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Left The master bedroom may be small in size, but with a wall of glass, it feels anything but. Below The floors are scored concrete in four-by-four-foot sections, and all windows and doors line up along the grid. The axis created by the center hall, running from the front door to the back, is a signature of Vallas.

Opposite The understated front entrance is hidden behind a center-pivot front gate that opens to reveal a minimalist courtyard, again on the four-foot grid.

view — or the privacy — that the homeowner wanted. Flipping the layout back-to-front, he created an ingenious design around a pool and courtyard that makes a natural view where there was none. Tall stands of bamboo add additional privacy, even with neighbors’ homes just feet from the lot line, and the gentle trickle of water from the pool’s fountains drowns out the sounds of any passing cars. It truly is an oasis in the desert of suburban life.

Streamlining Things Just three short years ago, April Summers was spending most of her day in the car, shuttling her two kids to school, football and tennis practice at St. Paul’s from their home in West Mobile and back again. She was overwhelmed and had little time left for anything but sitting in traffic. She and Brad had been looking for a property closer to school, and when the Dilston Lane home came on the market, April was intrigued.

“I had seen modern homes in California and Florida and always really liked them but wasn’t sure I could really live in one.” She enlisted the help of a local designer who also happens to live around the corner, and the two became fast friends. “Before we put in an offer and bought the house, I met with Trini Cross (of Trini Bryant Interiors) to make sure I had somebody to help me. I knew this was totally out of the realm of what I could do on my own.” Cross had worked with the previous owners when the home was first built, and so she knew the floor

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plan inside and out. “Trini had a vision from the beginning, but we didn’t rush it. We wanted to make sure each piece was perfect,” Summers explains. They brought only two pieces of their traditional furniture with them from their previous home, both of which quickly got a fresh coast of white paint under Cross’s trained eye, and the home has been falling into place beautifully ever since.

Summers admits she keeps a tidy house, so a clean modern aesthetic fits her lifestyle, even with kids. The concrete floors, though designed on a four-by-four-foot grid to imbue order and symmetry, are nearly indestructible. And the impressive walls of glass, inspired by the internationally renowned Farnsworth House designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in 1951, truly bring the outdoors in. The result, the Summers kids say, is like living in a tree house.

And the extra three hours Summers gained since leaving that daily commute behind? Step out by the luxurious pool and ask her about it. MB

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SOUTHERN DINING WITH JOHN CURRENCE A night at the Southern Grace Dinner series, hosted by Fisher’s at Orange Beach Marina, brings local diners a sense of normalcy and a taste of Oxford, Mississippi. text by BRECK PAPPAS • photos by MATTHEW COUGHLIN

A

s another day ends outside Fisher’s at Orange Beach Marina, inside, things are picking up.

The cooks work in a row, some assigned one repetitive task in the formation of a dish, others there to simply move the dish from one cook to the next. The result is a culinary conveyor belt of sorts, which ends at the scrutinizing eye of the chef responsible for bringing the dish to Orange Beach.

With this particular dish, that chef is John Currence, owner of the Oxford, Mississippi, culinary landmark City Grocery. Currence inspects the dish, polishes the rim of the plate and nods his approval. Beside him, Fisher’s executive chef Bill Briand coordinates the table service, directing dishes to be served in the dining room from left to right.

As the nearly 100 diners on this July evening finish one of their five courses, their plates are gradually gathered and new glasses of wine are poured, from the left of the room to the right, and another course is seamlessly delivered.

At this point, Briand and his team at Fisher’s have the Southern Grace Dinners down to something of a science. While this is most easily recognized in the smooth

mechanics of the night itself, the months of planning and preparation are no less impressive. Or, as Briand says, “After doing six of these a year for seven years, we’re getting pretty good at it.”

When Briand invited Currence and a handful of chefs from the City Grocery Restaurant Group to participate in the Southern Grace Dinners, Currence was both eager to finally visit Fisher’s and to spend meaningful time with Briand. Though the pair have worked together at events such as Billy Reid’s Shindig in Florence, Alabama, and the Southern Foodways Alliance Summer Symposium, such gatherings often offer little downtime for socialization. Briand, a four-time James Beard Award semifinalist, wanted to change that.

“We started doing these dinners seven years ago when we opened,” Briand says, “and the thought was to do something different, you know, bring another restaurant in. It’s something new and exciting for our guests, and our team gets to see somebody else’s food, how people cook things and how different flavors work. It’s really all about teaching the staff and kitchen crew what these

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chefs have done and why they’ve become successful. To be able to stop in the middle of the summer and do something fresh and different and exciting and to be able to learn something is really great.”

Since the inception, the Southern Grace Dinners have featured some of the country’s best chefs, with an aim to “toast the coast and celebrate the bounty of the Gulf of Mexico.”

The Thursday night events usually feature two to four chefs who have been asked to create a menu reflecting their culinary sensibilities. Briand and his team handle the rest, prepping as much as possible to make the experience smooth and

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hassle-free for his visiting chefs. “Dinners like this are kind of stressful sometimes,” Briand says. “I’ve been through it enough to make sure that we have more than what they ask for. If they need shrimp peeled and deveined, if they need the crab picked, if they need all these vegetables cut, it’s all done before they get there.”

“They could not have been any more ready for us,” Currence says. “I’ve been traveling and doing these events for over 30 years now.

As far as taking care of us, soup to nuts, it’s in the top few events I’ve ever done.”

The Chefs of Oxford It’d be hard to talk about Southern food without talking about John Currence.

Although this Southern Grace Dinner marked his first visit to Fisher’s, Currence, a New Orleans native, is no stranger to coastal cooking. The morning after his high school graduation, he arrived at a Louisiana dock to start his summer job as a deckhand on a light, ocean-going tugboat.

“Congratulations, son,” the captain told Currence, “you’re the cook.” When the 18-year-old protested that he didn’t know anything about preparing food, the captain assured him that he’d be cooking for a bunch of Cajuns, “so as long as you don’t screw up the coffee or the pot of rice, they ain’t worried about anything else.” The captain provided Currence with a copy of “The Joy of Cooking,” and a culinary career was launched.

“I didn’t end up at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico at the end of summer, so it was like, ‘I guess I’m OK at this,’” he remembers with a laugh.

Since settling in Oxford in 1992 and opening City Grocery in a late 19th-century livery stable, Currence has raked in honors such as a Southern Foodways Alliance Guardian of Tradition Award (he’s also the SFA’s culinary director) and the 2009 James Beard Foundation award for Best Chef: South. City Grocery Restaurant Group has since seen a number of openings, including Nacho Mama’s, Kalo’s, Ajax Diner, City Grocery Catering Company, Bouré, Big Bad Breakfast and Snackbar.

As with every Southern Grace Dinner, Currence and his team were given the

freedom to develop the night’s menu of four appetizers and five courses, choosing dishes that showcased each chef’s establishment while also seeking to use the best ingredients Orange Beach has to offer. Aside from Currence, chef Vishwesh Bhatt represented Snackbar, chef Rusty Anderson represented Big Bad Breakfast and chef Ralph Taylor represented City Grocery.

“They come up with the menu to start,” Briand explains, “then I do my best to help them through proteins and seafood and stuff like that. It’s really fun because we have an abundance of great seafood down here, so I call all my heavy hitters to find the best of the best.”

As each chef prepared one appetizer and one main dish, Currence chose a lemon poached shrimp appetizer and a main dish of flounder paupiettes with Parmesan rice grits. “For me, it’s an absolute joy to travel somewhere and know I can get the ingredients I want,” Currence says. “There’s something so elemental about a perfectly boiled shrimp with a good remoulade,” he adds, and the paupiettes are “a take on the stuffed flounder that I grew up with.”

Chef Vishwesh Bhatt echoes Currence’s sentiment about his trip to Orange Beach. “I can’t tell you how wonderful the experience has been,” he says. “The staff at Fisher’s was so prepared that there was actually very little work for us to do when we got there.”

Bhatt, a five-time James Beard Award nominee and winner of the 2019 James Beard award for Best Chef: South, is the executive chef at Snackbar, an Oxford, Mississippi, creation of the City Grocery Restaurant Group.

“We like to call Snackbar ‘Oxford’s living room,’” Bhatt says. “The experience of eating there is about friends and family kind of hanging out and sharing.”

A native of Gujarat, India, Bhatt moved to America at the age of 17 and discovered cooking while in graduate school at Ole Miss. “I started cooking for friends and for beer money,” Bhatt says. He also discovered Currence and City Grocery, where he eventually joined the kitchen staff.

Fast-forward two decades, and he was placed at the helm of the newly formed Snackbar.

For his appetizer, Bhatt prepared a smoked

redfish spread, served with Alabama fire crackers and pickled celery, “a nod to beach culture and eating on the boat.” His main dish — grilled jumbo shrimp with sweet corn, tomato and okra salad and Tabasco curry leaf vinaigrette — Bhatt describes as a “combination referencing my roots but still very Southern.”

The staff at Fisher’s, Bhatt emphasizes, “didn’t miss a beat,” in spite of the challenges presented by the coronavirus. “There was some hesitation initially about traveling, but once we got there, everything was set up so nicely. Everyone went above and beyond the protocols … they made any hesitation disappear really quick.”

Unprecedented times Though, at the time, masks in the kitchen weren’t required by the state of Alabama, Briand’s team wore face masks and gloves to accommodate the Mississippi chefs, whose state did have such a mandate. Hors d’oeuvres were served outdoors to allow for better distancing, and diners were given the option of eating the entire meal outside, overlooking the marina.

“THEY COULD NOT HAVE BEEN ANY MORE READY FOR US. I’VE BEEN TRAVELING AND DOING THESE EVENTS FOR OVER 30 YEARS NOW. AS FAR AS TAKING CARE OF US, SOUP TO NUTS, IT’S IN THE TOP FEW EVENTS I’VE EVER DONE.”” – Chef John Currence Opposite page, top to bottom Chef John Currence says, “There’s something so elemental about a perfectly boiled shrimp.” Currence talks with the Fisher’s staff as chef Vishwesh Bhatt looks on. Currence prepares his main course, flounder stuffed with lemon, asparagus, crab and Parmesan rice grits.

Above The chefs from Oxford’s City Grocery Restaurant Group kick back with Bill Briand before guests arrive. From left to right: Rusty Anderson, John Currence, Vishwesh Bhatt, Bill Briand and Ralph Taylor.

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“AS CHEFS, WHAT WE WANT TO DO IS HAVE A DINING ROOM FULL OF PEOPLE ENJOYING A NICE MEAL AND SHARING STORIES, AND YOU MISS THAT.” – Chef Vishwesh Bhatt

And luckily for the Oxford chefs, Briand’s tradition of taking his visitors out on a boat trip, the day after the dinner, proceeded as usual. “That’s kind of the way we bribe the chefs,” Briand jokes. “When you come out of that marina and head out, people don’t really understand how beautiful Robinson Island and the Perdido Pass are.

“We wanted to make this more of a vacation for the chefs. Events are fun, but they’re work. We’ve always tried to make it a different style. Fisher’s tries to do everything a little bit differently than everybody else, and we’ve been successful in that.”

But most of all, events such as Southern Grace Dinners provide a much-needed

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respite for diners and chefs alike.

“As chefs, what we want to do is have a dining room full of people enjoying a nice meal and sharing stories, and you miss that.

We haven’t been able to do that, and we don’t know when we’ll be able to do it again. So even to have that brief couple of hours was super special,” Bhatt says.

Briand adds, “I hope it shows that the world isn’t completely going to change. As chefs and as restaurants, we’re fighting an uphill battle to get back to the way it used to be, and I think that was the first little breath of, ‘Hey, we can still do things, we can still see people, we can still have chef dinners, and we’re going to continue to have more of them as we fight this battle.’ We pray that we can get back to the way that restaurants were, and I think that was great for the staff to see. So it was like a breath of fresh air and it was also like, ‘Hey guys, there is a light at end of this tunnel somewhere.’” MB

Above The Fisher’s staff successfully plates chef Bhatt’s main course, grilled jumbo shrimp with sweet corn, tomato and okra salad, and Tabasco curry leaf vinaigrette.

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HISTORY | LEGENDS

Solano’s Storm Venture inside the 18th-century Gulf hurricane that wrecked a Spanish invasion fleet. text by JOHN SLEDGE

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n Saturday, October 28, 1780, a dismasted Spanish schooner limped into Mobile Bay and worked her way up to town. White-coated soldiers watched from Fuerte Carlota’s battered walls, and curious residents lined the muddy river bank as she anchored opposite the King’s Wharf. The vessel had obviously been through an ordeal — stained, jury-rigged sails hung from her broken masts; fallen blocks, smashed gear and other wreckage littered her deck; and her small crew looked exhausted and hugely relieved to be alive. But only when her captain came ashore did Mobile’s governor, José de Ezpeleta, fully learn what happened.

She was the Jesús Nazareno commanded by Diego Valladares, part of a large invasion fleet that had left Havana on October 16 bound for Pensacola, the capital of British West Florida. According to Valladares, the weather was fair with a light wind when they set sail, but two days later, a terrific hurricane barreled into them. For 80 hellish hours his schooner fought wind and wave, the crew forced to throw all her cargo — provisions for the invading soldiers — over the sides to lighten the vessel.

Almost before Ezpeleta and Mobile’s shocked soldiers and residents could absorb this stunning news, another distressed ship hove into view. She was the San Josef y la Animas, loaded with hundreds of barrels of gunpowder, all waterlogged and ruined. During the coming weeks, four more damaged vessels followed, carrying weapons, entrenching

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Above British ships weather a 1780 hurricane that immediately preceded Solano’s Storm. ELLIOTT, WILLIAM, LT (ARTIST & PUBLISHER); GREEN, VALENTINE (ENGRAVER)

tools and traumatized soldiers. Mobile’s residents knew about the planned invasion, of course, and they expected to support it once the fleet arrived, but with six damaged vessels now crowding local waters and the other ships’ fates unknown, they feared for their King’s elaborate plans.

The 1780 hurricane season was already one of the worst on record when Spanish General Don Bernardo de Galvéz announced his intention to sail that October. Pensacola was the last remaining British post on the northern Gulf rim, and Galvéz was eager to add it to his growing list of conquests. None but a fool doubted his ability to do so. When Spain allied with France in 1779

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and threw its weight against Britain in the widening American Revolution, Galvéz had surprised everyone by rapidly expelling the redcoats from the lower Mississippi River and Mobile. Pensacola’s nervous holdouts could only strengthen their fortifications and await the hammer blow.

By mid-October the formidable Spanish fleet was amassed and ready in Havana harbor. It included seven ships of the line, six frigates, two hospital ships, and over 50 transports loaded with supplies, provisions and 4,000 crack troops. The overall naval commander was José Solano y Bote, a gifted 54-year-old officer blessed with a cooperative nature. Nonetheless, as Galvéz quickly learned, Solano wasn’t about to rashly endanger his vessels to meet the army’s timetables.

The so-called Great Hurricane of 1780 that lashed the Caribbean, killed thousands, and wrecked both British and French ships had barely dissipated when Galvéz wanted to sail.

Solano counseled caution, gathered his captains and carefully assessed the weather. They all agreed it was safe, provided the wind did not veer overnight.

So it was that on October 16, with signs favorable, the fleet sailed north. Solano carefully recorded the momentous events that followed in his diary. Only one day out he ominously wrote, “The wind freshened at NE, scud and heavy clouds closing in upon us.” Alas for the Spaniards, yet another hurricane had churned out of the Caribbean, roared over western Cuba and into the Gulf, where it caught the fleet near the Dry Tortugas Islands, 70 miles west of Key West. “By 9 at night,” Solano continued, “the wind increased, and was then at NE 1/4 E, with torrents of rain and some hard squalls.” Worse was to come. Daybreak on the 18th brought “heavy clouds, rain, wind and sea. Two ships and a brig of the convoy in sight.”

Every vessel was on her own, the crews blinded by lashing rains and heaving waves.

Solano briefly sighted another ship that signaled she was “leaky” before a curtain of rain obscured her again. Solano ordered his men to close-reef (reduce) their sails, so the flagship could better ride the storm. Two horrific days later she was still “sustaining heavy and repeated squalls.” By October 21, a driving head sea broke over the bow, sluiced down 76 mobilebaymag.com | september 2020

Above An 18th-century oil portrait of Spanish admiral José Solano. ARTIST UNKNOWN

the deck and snapped her masts. The crew scrambled to hack away the wreckage lest trailing masts and spars slue the vessel abreast of the waves, causing her to capsize.

Amid the chaos, Solano’s brave sailors managed to improvise smaller sails on the shattered masts — just as the crews of the Jesús Nazareno and San Josef y la Animas would do — and the flagship remained afloat. At last, on October 22, the wind abated, and lookouts spotted other ships, some heavily damaged, others still seaworthy. Continuing the invasion was out of the question. Vessels were scattered from the northern littoral to the Yucatán, several had sunk and hundreds of men drowned. Solano ordered the ships he sighted to return to Havana. Others made whatever port they could reach: New Orleans, Veracruz, Campeche or Mobile.

Back in Havana, the cautious War Council wanted to cancel any further attack plans.

But the indomitable Galvéz urged them to repair the fleet and strike again. “Have we so little constancy that a single tropical storm suffices to halt us?” he asked incredulously.

Thanks to his perseverance, Solano’s cooperation, and the hard work of thousands, the fleet sailed again the following spring and successfully landed the army. Pensacola fell after a monthslong siege. Among the support vessels were the Jesús Nazareno, the San Josef y la Animas and the four other ships that had found refuge in Mobile Bay. MB John S. Sledge is the author of “The Gulf of Mexico: A Maritime History.” september 2020 | mobilebaymag.com 77

THE ARTS | LITERATURE

The Good, the Bad and the Greasy Writer Audrey McDonald Atkins explains that, down south, “greasy” is one slick word. excerpt from the book THEY CALL ME OR ANGE JUICE

by AUDREY MCDONALD ATKINS

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ne of my favorite words is greasy. It must be pronounced gree’ – zee, with long drawn out e’s and a definite z. Not gree’ – see. Say it with me: Greeee-zy.

Greasy comes up a lot in my life. During these last vestiges of a hot and humid summer, which has, as it often does in Alabama, faded into a hot and humid fall, every time I look in the mirror one word springs to mind — greasy. Forehead, nose, chin. All greasy. No amount of Cornsilk face powder can ensure a matte appearance. No amount of witch hazel can combat the shine. No dainty, paper facial blotter can absorb the oil. Alabama humidity will rear its shiny head in victory every time.

Face greasy is bad greasy. And there’s more where that came from. A black smear on your starched, white blouse — bad greasy. Hair that looks like it’s wet when it’s not — bad greasy.

Behavior that is more than a little shady — bad greasy. The orange solids circling the top of a can of tamales — bad greasy.

Then there is ugly greasy. Runoff from sprawling suburban parking lots into our local rivers and streams — ugly greasy. A rainbow of oil concealing tar balls below the surf that wash up on Alabama’s white sand beaches, or any other shoreline for that matter — ugly greasy. If it coats the local flora and fauna in dark brown muck — even uglier greasy.

But greasy isn’t all bad all the time. For instance, if your cast iron skillet is protected from rust with a layer of Crisco,

that’s good greasy. (According to the television commercial that featured Loretta Lynn, Crisco will do you proud “ever time.”) If your biscuit has a little butter oozing out the side and into a puddle of sorghum syrup — good greasy. If your fried egg is lacy and blindfolded from a hot bath in bacon drippings just like my Mama makes them — good, good greasy. That yumminess you lick off your fingers after a Sunday dinner of Mamaw’s fried chicken — good greasy every day of the week.

Then there’s poetic greasy. There is no other word that will appeal to a reader’s intellect, emotion, and reason in quite the same way. While it is rare to find a verse that incorporates this weighty word, I remember fondly a poem from my childhood, one that we recited often, theatrically, with the dignity it demanded.

Yo mama and yo daddy and yo great great greasy granny with the holes in her panties with a big behind like Frankenstein going beep beep beep down Sesame Street.

Take it greasy, y’all. MB

 Born and raised in Citronelle, Atkins shares stories about growing up and living in the South in her book, “They Call Me Orange Juice,” and at her blog folkwaysnowadays.com.

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HISTORY | ASK MCGEHEE

What plantation home stood where UMS-Wright Preparatory School is today? text by TOM MCGEHEE

An antebellum home did stand south of Old Shell Road on Mobile Street, but it was simply a suburban estate much like Oakleigh and the Bragg-Mitchell Mansion. The place was dubbed “Briarwood” in 1839 by its builder, Kiah Bayley Sewall.

Sewall was a native of Maine who studied law in Boston before moving to Mobile to set up practice. According to family history, Sewall had health issues and felt a warmer climate would be beneficial. In April 1839, he wrote his wife that he found Mobile’s “roads lined with cottages and fine gardens, the fences covered in Cherokee roses.” He built his own home soon after his arrival, selecting a location in what he described as being “in the country.”

Sewall soon had a successful law practice established with an office on St. Michael Street. His career over the next two decades included handling some high-profile cases in front of both Alabama’s and the U.S. supreme courts.

A Raised Suburban Villa Architecturally, Briarwood seemed to have borrowed heavily from the design of Oakleigh, which was completed a year earlier. Both are raised cottages fronted by temple-like porticoes. While Oakleigh has a very distinctive curved stairway leading to the front porch, the Sewall home had a straight set of exterior stairs leading to a side door. Also unlike Oakleigh, the house was built with an interior staircase and a kitchen.

According to the 1860 federal census, the Sewall household consisted of Sewall, his wife Lucretia and eight children ranging in age from infancy to 21. Sewall sent his

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Above Briarwood, 1936. PHOTO COURTESY LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

older children to schools in Maine near his in-laws.

Letters back and forth to Maine describe a pleasant summer evening at Briarwood he enjoyed with “all the windows and doors open and everything still except the hum of insects, the distant mill-like sound of frogs and the occasional bark of a dog.”

A later letter contained a very different mood: “I write this in haste. There is great excitement here as the telegram tells us that the batteries opened in Fort Sumter this AM at half past four.” The Civil War had begun.

An Alias and an Escape North Mobile escaped the early years of the conflict relatively unscathed. Numerous blockade runners kept a flow of supplies coming into the port, but that ended in

1864 when the Federal fleet arrived outside the mouth of Mobile Bay. According to Sewall family correspondence that summer, food supplies in Mobile were running low due to the blockade and the 55-year-old attorney feared he would be “coerced” into joining a Confederate regiment. In August he obtained a round-trip pass to Tuscaloosa on business and managed to get all the way to Maine using an alias. Apparently Lucretia and some of the younger children remained at Briarwood.

As early as February 1865, Sewall attempted to return to Mobile via New Orleans where he hoped to get provisions for his family members in Mobile. In May, just a week after the surrender, he was allowed to bring a lengthy list of provisions, as well as books and baggage to Mobile.

Later that summer, Sewall headed back to Maine to visit family, but he never made it. He died in Boston on August 19 at the age of 56. Although the Maine Historical Society had copies of wills he wrote in the early 1850s, his estate was put through probate as intestate that October. His “dwelling house between Dauphin Way and Shell Road, all outbuildings and 22 acres of land” were given a value of $6,500.

The family apparently held onto the house until 1872 when it was lost in foreclosure. The South was in a severe financial decline at the time, and Sewall’s widow and children returned to New England. All are buried in Portland, Maine.

There are no descendants.

From Farm to School Briarwood became a farm and the unique architecture of the house caught the attention of the Historic American Buildings Survey in the 1930s. Those photographs indicate the home was in good repair at the time. The last occupant of 53 Mobile Street was Truman McGonigal, a lumber executive who served as local consul for Bolivia and Ecuador in the 1940s.

McGonigal died in December 1948, and city directories list the address as “vacant” in 1949; it is not listed again after that.

The exact date of the demolition of this distinctive Gulf Coast home is unclear.

In 1953, the land Sewall had once admired for its peacefulness was obtained as a new location for University Military School. Today, its successor, UMS-Wright Preparatory School, occupies the site. MB

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END PIECE | IN LIVING COLOR

Choctaw Schoolhouse, 1935 Photo courtesy Library of Congress • Colorization by Dynamichrome Limited

By the time photographer E.W. Russell photographed this schoolhouse for the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), the structure was already 100 years old. The school, built in 1835, served the MOWA band of Choctaw Indians’ ancestors who settled the area straddling the line between Mobile and Washington counties. When a man named William Weaver donated the building to the Mobile County School Board in 1922, it officially became known as the “Weaver Indian School.” According to the Encyclopedia of Alabama, because the school was “not accredited, Indian children had to leave the state to get a high school education.”

The purpose of the HABS was to catalogue endangered buildings, those that “knew the beginning and first flourish of the nation.” Sadly, the school, once located on County Road 96 — Old Saint Stephens Road — in Mount Vernon, is no longer standing.

Do you know of anyone who attended school here? Let us know!

Email ahartin@pmtpublishing.com.

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