Saturday: from Alabama to Mississippi and into Louisiana

Mobile was the original home of Mardi Gras and there was still a lot of evidence about of the festival, which ended on Tuesday.   In downtown Mobile, trees and lampposts and even parking meters were still festooned with beads and ribbons and the few non-tourists in evidence had a subdued air, as if still recovering from the excesses of the previous weeks.

We parked near the Old Fort and caught the free bus to Dauphin Street.  After coffee at Serda's ('best coffee house in town'), we browsed along Dauphin Street awhile, then detoured off up Jackson Street to find Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard and the African American Archives and Museum.  According to the displayed opening hours it should have been open, but the door was firmly locked.

On the way back to Dauphin Street we came across an ominous, fort-like building, guarded by gold, sphinx-like  figures.  One of the great black doors - which must have been at least eight feet high - stood open, but didn't invite entry.

The cornerstone of the building described it as a 'Grand Lodge of Alabama' - which we thought must denote some kind of Klan origins.  Later on, at lunch, Paul asked our waiter about the building.  He described it as the local Tabernacle and said that anyone could go and look around.


I looked for more information on Google, but couldn't find anything.  As far as I can make out though it was probably some kind of Freemason's Lodge.  I read somewhere that these often did have Klan connections in the south.

 We had lunch at Wintzell's Oyster House and Restaurant (established in 1938), where oysters are served 'fried, stewed and nude'.  I had an oyster salad and Paul had his first Po' Boy, with fried oysters.  Our waiter told us that the building is the oldest wooden-structured building in Alabama.  We weren't sure whether to believe him.