Grand bay, Al

[shern_0711]

I have a friend who lives in Grand Bay, AL that lives on a large piece of land. On the back of his property is what's left of a railroad. Only the mound is left their. I have not seen his land only going off of his account. I have searched and can't find any info on this. Does anybody know anything about this area? Not only about the railroad but any historical happenings there? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

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[MichaelB]

I was born and raised there. The original town, in the late 1800's, was down Potter Tract road. The town sat on the edge of the swamp. The town used to have a train depot and an offload track. All of that was torn down years ago. Where abouts is your mound?

Michael

 

[shern_0711]

I can't remember the road he lives on, but I will find out. We work offshore so it's harder to contact him. I'll email. Thanks for your help.

 

[fencepost]

Grand Bay logging line.

I have a friend who lives in Grand Bay, AL that lives on a large piece of land. On the back of his property is what's left of a railroad. Only the mound is left their. I have not seen his land only going off of his account. I have searched and can't find any info on this. Does anybody know anything about this area? Not only about the railroad but any historical happenings there? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Shern, in 1909 a logging line was put in from the L&NRR south to the bay at Grand Bay, McInnis and Knot was the logging company that did this. The line was used for about 2 years and then removed after logging operations were completed. There is still some road bed left in a couple of places. It appears that this line may have run west at the drop off at sessions creek but im not sure yet. There was road bed which paralled Miller Lane but was removed when it was paved. South of that is still some road bed left as well as a side track farther south. There was only a couple of buildings and a short warf built at the end on the water. My anchestor, George Cassibry was one of the first settlers in Grand Bay around 1845 and my Grand Mother was Cora Castlen a direct decendant of George. For some reason over the years people have come to believe that Grand Bay was located farther south from the present location, this is completly untrue. No town was ever located down there but, there was a turpintine plantation called the Tally place located down there where the pascagoula/mobile road intersected with the bayou la batre roadway. I also have a Confederate Corps of engineers map showing the old roads and important intersections in 1863. In 1874 the town of Grand Bay sprung up around the railroad station and there are many photos of the development at the turn of the century. The remains of that station is directly across from the soon to be library on Potter Tract Rd. There are no pictures of the (town on the bay) because it never existed. I think where the notion of a town being down there was because of an investor from Illinois wanted to develop that area, the proposed town was to be called Resurection City, this was about the time that Grand Bay was famous for its citrus crops untill the freeze in the 20s destroyed this boom. I have always been interested in the history of the area since my family was here from the very beginning, they even married into the indians located in the area. as a child i was shown the burial mounds in the swamp as well. Grand Bay has a lot of history and I hope a complete and true history can be completed for future generations. My E-Mail is [email protected]

 

[MichaelB]

Fence post, great info. I have walked through the foundations of many buildings down at the swamp. I assumed it was what was left of the town but I guess it could have been a large turpentine operation. You are correct about the Indian mounds but very little of them exists today. I would love to see the Corps map. Is there any chance you can scan and email? I would have never thought the railroad track turned west at sessions creek. I figured it came all the way up potter tract road. I have found things from Indian pottery to union buttons and dropped bullets down by the swamp so it has always had something going on there. Keep the info coming.

MichaelB

 

[crystalstauter]

I have a friend who lives in Grand Bay, AL that lives on a large piece of land. On the back of his property is what's left of a railroad. Only the mound is left their. I have not seen his land only going off of his account. I have searched and can't find any info on this. Does anybody know anything about this area? Not only about the railroad but any historical happenings there? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I live in Grand Bay and my husband and I live on his grandfathers land off of Hamilton farm rd and on the back of the land is the mound of the old rail road we have used a metal detector there and we get the old rail road spikes my husbands grand father is now passed away his name was walter Hamilton the rd was named after him our home was the first home built on the farm and this rd any historic info would be greatly appreciated my email [email protected]

 

[BamaGirl]

I live in that area also. Grand Bay does have a lot of history to it. I have family all through that area. Hopefully once the library is finished they will have more info on the history of Grand Bay. I have been doing my own research on the area along with Bayou La Batre and have quite a bit. Actually he whole area is very interesting. I had forgotten about the railroad going through there. Thansk for that fencepost. My email is [email protected] if anyone would like some on the info.