Gulf Coast Region - Hiking Alabama: A Guide to the State's Greatest Hiking Adventures - page 74

Maps: USGS Bridgehead, AL; DeLorme: Atlas & Gazetteer , page 62 C5; bro-
chure with map available at office
Trail contact: Historic Blakeley State Park, 34745 AL 225, Spanish Fort, AL
36527; [phone]; www.blakeleypark.com
Finding the trailhead: From the intersection of US 98 and AL 225 in Spanish Fort,
take AL 225 north 5 miles. The park entrance is on your left. Once you pay the at-
tendant, travel 2 miles, continuing straight on Old Blakeley Road to its end at the
boat ramp. This is the trailhead for the hike. GPS: N30 44.851' / W87 55.400'
The Hike
The Paleo Indians were the first to live in the area now occupied by Historic
Blakeley State Park some 4,000 years ago. The land changed hands numerous
times over the years and would fall under the rule of several countries during its
history, including Spain in the late 1500s and France in the early 1700s, followed
by Britain, and then the United States in 1813. Soon after becoming a US territory,
Josiah Blakeley stepped into the picture and bought this land and established the
town of Blakeley.
The town, long since vanished, was chartered in 1814 and became a bustling
port city that rose to rival neighboring Mobile. By 1828 a series of yellow fever
epidemics, coupled with the greed of land speculators, forced the city of 4,000 in-
to a spiral of decay, and by the mid-1800s it was abandoned. Today all that re-
mains of the old port town are the 400-year-old live oaks that once lined the city
streets and a recently unearthed foundation—the original brick and wood base of
the town's courthouse.
The town's greatest claim to fame came on April 8, 1865. It was on that date
that 55,000 Union and Confederate soldiers converged in the fields surrounding
the old town. The Union army intended to seize Fort Blakeley and then attack and
capture the city of Mobile from its eastern shore.
The fighting was fierce—216 killed, 955 wounded, and 3,054 captured (3,050
of them Confederates). It was a decisive Union victory, but what made the battle