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South Alabama has some of the most beautiful sites and scenery you could imagine, but its also home to so much history.

 South Alabama’s most historical site is that of Mobile Bay.

 Mobile Bay has been the home to many battles, and has recorded history going back to the early 1500’s.

 Mobile Bay was defended by 3 forts

 Fort Conde

Fort Gains

Fort Bowyer (Later to be rebuilt as Fort Morgan)

 We visited Fort Morgan today and wanted to bring this history to you.

 A few miles west of the hustle and bustle of downtown Gulf Shores is the historical site of Fort Morgan. For over 100 years, Fort Morgan played an important role in the defense of Mobile Bay and the state of Alabama. Fort Bowyer was built in this area during the War of 1812 to protect the entrance to Mobile Bay from possible British attach. Fort Bowyer was actually built out of logs and sand, which were the best materials that could be found in the area at the time. The fort was attacked twice, and once seized by British troops, but was turned back over to the American people as the result of a treaty signed at the end of the war. After that, Fort Bowyer was responsible for defending Mobile Bay into the 1820s.

 War of 1812-Fort Bowyer

 Fort Bowyer was constructed by the U.S. Army during 1813 to guard against possible British attack. This small log and sand fortification was attack twice by the British during the War of 1812. The first attack made by four British warships and a combine force of British Royal Marines and Creek Indians came on September 15, 1814. The ensuing battle was total American victory. One warship, the H.M.S. Hermes was sunk and the marines and Creek Indians were forced to withdraw. During a second battle which took place during early February 1815, a combine British land and naval force forced the vastly outnumbered American troops to surrender the fort. By the terms of the treaty that ended the War of 1812, the British had to return Fort Bowyer to the United States. Fort Bowyer defended Mobile Point until the early 1820's.

In 1819, construction on a much bigger and stronger fort was ordered. Although mortar and brick were available in the area, construction materials such as finished granite, iron works, sandstone, and cement had to be brought in by boat from New York. Construction of what would become Fort Morgan took years, led by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. For years, this project was only known as "Work on Mobile Point" until it was formally named after Daniel Morgan, a hero of the Revolutionary War, in 1833. Construction was completed, and Fort Morgan opened in 1834.

Fort Morgan was seized by the state of Alabama and turned over to the Confederate Army in early 1861 and soon became a pivotal defensive station throughout the American Civil War. Blockade runners entering Mobile Bay to convey materials to and from the Confederacy relied on Fort Morgan for their protection. Despite attempts by the Confederate Army to defend this point, Fort Morgan found itself under siege by Union forces and was eventually captured late in 1864. After the Civil War ended, Fort Morgan continued to be used to defend Mobile Bay from potential attacks. In 1895, refortifications and improvements were made to the area. Between 1900 and 1923, Fort Morgan was the largest permanent military installation in the entire state of Alabama and house in Baldwin County.

During World War I, Fort Morgan was again put to use when 2,000 troops were stationed there. After the war, Fort Morgan was ordered closed and abandoned in 1923. Despite the belief that the military was done using Fort Morgan as a defensive point, the area was once again called into use by the U.S. military during World War II. In 1941, units from the 50th Coast Artillery Regiment renewed their defenses at Fort Morgan and remained there until 1944 when Fort Morgan was closed for good.

Today, Fort Morgan is a protected historical site which attracts thousands of visitors every year and hosts living history events throughout the summer months. Visitors have the chance to explore Fort Morgan on guided tours and even, at times, to visit at night to hear stories from experienced guides about what life was like within its walls. Fort Morgan's distinctive star-shaped design continues to be an object of interest for American history enthusiasts who come from all over the country to see it. 

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Did you know that Thanksgiving was a Yankee holiday and not celebrated in Alabama until 1858 – here is why

  Thanksgiving was not observed as a holiday in Alabama until 1858 when the governors of Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and North and South Carolina declared, Thursday, November 25th to be a day of Thanksgiving. On that day, the Daily Confederation reported that in Montgomery, Alabama that “church services were well attended, but ‘the streets were almost unusually crowded with wagons, and that business houses had to work whether ‘they would or not.’ Our country friends overlooked the day, and came to town to trade, in great numbers. Cotton is King, and everything has to give way before his pale-faced majesty.”

 Thanksgiving was actually a Yankee holiday, birthed in New England and adorned with that region’s symbols and traditions: pilgrims, turkey, pumpkins, and cranberries.

 In the 1840s, Thanksgiving was celebrated across the Northeast and Midwest with a traditional Thanksgiving Day menu, but there was no fixed date for the celebration. Instead, each governor from individual states proclaimed the observance of the holiday. A fixed date came about for the holiday observance came about due to the book, Northwood: or Life North and South written by Sarah Josepha Hale, a widow with five children to raise. In her book that was published in 1841, she described Thanksgiving Day on a New Hampshire farm, and declared that the occasion “should be the same as the Fourth of July, a national holiday.”

 A letter writing campaign to the nation’s governors eventually resulted in a specific day set aside to observe the holiday. However, many supporters of Thanksgiving were also ardent abolitionists and some Southerners began to view Thanksgiving as a Yankee abolitionist holiday in 1853 and they refused to observe it.

In 1863, Sarah Josepha Hale continued her crusade to make Thanksgiving a national holiday. She wrote to Abraham Lincoln encouraging him “to have the day of our annual Thanksgiving made a National and fixed Union Festival.” Lincoln agreed and proclaimed a nationwide Thanksgiving Day to occur on the last Thursday in November. Since this was during the Civil War, the Confederate States of America refused to recognize Lincoln’s authority and Thanksgiving was not celebrated nationwide until Reconstruction was over in the 1870s.

 Each succeeding president continued the proclamation until 1939 when Franklin Delano Roosevelt moved the holiday permanently to the fourth Thursday in November to provide retailers with more Christmas shopping days.4 On December 26, 1941, he signed a joint resolution of Congress to officially change the national Thanksgiving Day from the last Thursday in November to the fourth Thursday and the date of the holiday became official.

Because of shortages of food during the Reconstruction period in the South after the War Between the States, Thanksgiving was only celebrated sparsely.

Once Federal rule was over, Southerners began to observe the holiday with a menu much like those in New England, but by the 1890s, Southern families created their own Thanksgiving menus and traditions.

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Flood-stricken southeast Texas struggled Thursday with a new series of blows that left a city without running water, the operators of a flood-damaged chemical plant warning of additional fires and at least one hospital unable to care for its patients.

Nearly a week after Hurricane Harvey slammed into the Texas coast, desperate residents remain stranded without food and water in the wake of unprecedented flooding. Meanwhile, authorities continue to search for survivors and make helicopter rescues from rooftops as the death toll from Harvey and its aftermath climbed to 39.

 Pam Jones said the water crept up on them with shocking speed.

It started to pour in through the garage of her elderly parents' home in Dickinson, Texas, where the family had gathered to ride out Hurricane Harvey. Within hours three feet of it swamped the home, trapping Jones, her 83-year-old mother and 86-year-old father upstairs. They called for help.

That was Saturday.

Jones and her family weren't rescued until Sunday. They weren't found by the Coast Guard but by a volunteer with a boat.

"We're really blessed," Jones said afterward.

Since Hurricane Harvey slammed the region, thousands of residents like Jones have been plucked from their homes. But each rescue has underscored broader questions about the disaster's true scope.

In all, 53 Texas counties issued emergency declarations -- an area that's home to around 11.4 million people. How many people successfully fled their homes ahead of the storm? How many are still waiting to be rescued?

"At this time, we don't know," FEMA director Brock Long said Thursday.

There are compelling reasons for the lack of answers.

On Thursday, six days after the storm first made landfall, the Houston Fire Department was set to begin a door-to-door mission in southwest Houston in hopes of finding residents still waiting to be plucked from the floodwaters.

 People have criticized Houston residents for not evacuating. Plenty did, and with more understanding of the context, you might excuse many of those who didn’t. Evacuating a city like Houston, on these interlocked freeways—where a one-way commute might take two hours on a normal day—can very easily turn into a secondary disaster. The majority of Hurricane Rita deaths in Houston occurred in the evacuation, and two-thirds of flood fatalities happen in cars. Without financial resources, evacuation is a uniquely difficult experience, and 22.5 per cent of the population in increasingly unequal Houston lives under the poverty line. Official messages have also been uneven: Greg Abbott, the governor of Texas, advised evacuation; the mayor of Houston, Sylvester Turner—likely warding off the worst-case scenario of a hurricane hitting gridlock traffic—advised sheltering in place. (In Rockport, the mayor pro tem issued a mandatory evacuation order, telling people who refused it to write their Social Security numbers on their arms.)

 We want to help, and that’s why Landson Adjusting Group, Mobile County 411, Elite Computer Services & Buzy-Bee Vinyl Creations have partnered together to bring aid to TX.

We will be taking needed supplies like clothing, first aid kits, food, water, diapers etc. to those in the wake of Harvey’s disastrous path.

But we need your help! Stop by our office and donate supplies to help those in need, remember many of these people have lost everything so we want to take even the basic items that are not being donated like toys and diapers.

We do not have a date for when we will be headed to the area since roads are still closed but stay tuned for updates.

If you have a company and want to donate items contact us we would love to give your company a shout out for helping those in need.

Any items you wish to donate are welcome and appreciated but please do not bring items that need to be refrigerated.

 Bring your donated items to 228 Saraland Blvd N, Saraland AL.

 Anything and everything helps for people who have lost everything!

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Mosquitoes are common this time of year, but sometimes their bite gives you more than just an itch – a mosquito bite can give you the West Nile virus.

Mosquitoes spread the West Nile virus. They become infected after feeding on birds that carry the virus. When the infected mosquitoes bite a person, the virus is transferred to the human via the insect’s saliva.

West Nile outbreaks have occurred every summer in the United States since 1999 and in every state except Hawaii and Alaska.

 Many don’t get sick

However, the virus doesn’t make many people sick. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say that 70 percent to 80 percent of people infected with West Nile virus do not develop symptoms.

“The vast majority of people don’t even know that they contracted the West Nile virus because we don’t get sick,” says infectious disease specialist Alan Taege, MD.

About one in five infected people will develop a fever with other symptoms such as headache, body aches, joint pain, vomiting, diarrhea, or rash, Dr. Taege says. Most people with this type of West Nile virus disease recover completely, but fatigue and weakness can last for weeks or months.

A few people – less than 1 percent of those infected with the virus – will develop a serious neurologic disease such as encephalitis or meningitis, which is inflammation of the brain or surrounding tissues, Dr. Taege says. Recovery from severe disease may take several weeks or months, with some of the neurologic effects being permanent.

Most people, however, will simply develop immunity to the virus and never develop a West Nile illness, Dr. Taege says.

Expanding red area

Symptoms of a West Nile virus illness start to develop between three to 14 days after a mosquito bite.

“If you’re starting to run a fever and you have this expanding red area around where you believe you were bitten by a mosquito – talk to a physician,” says Dr. Taege. “If a family member notices your behavior becomes peculiar or you start to vomit, you should seek help immediately.”

There are no vaccines or treatment for the virus. You can use over-the-counter pain relievers to reduce fever and relieve some symptoms. Those with milder symptoms typically recover on their own, although some symptoms may last for several weeks. People with more severe symptoms need to be hospitalized to receive supportive treatment such as intravenous fluids and pain medications.

Reduce your risk

You can reduce your risks of contracting West Nile by protecting yourself from mosquitoes.

Avoid     going outside from dusk until dawn when mosquitoes are most active.

Get     rid of standing water around your house or apartment – wet, murky areas     are where mosquitoes tend to breed. Buckets, discarded tires, and even bird     baths are great places for mosquitoes to lay eggs.

Wear     long-sleeves and long pants if you’re going to be outside for an extended     period of time. Dusk through dawn is when mosquitoes are most active.

Use     insect repellant that contain DEET, picaridin, IR3535 or products that contain     oil of lemon eucalyptus and para-menthane-diol.

Install     or repair screens on windows and doors or use air conditioning.

“The best thing people can do, especially if they’re going to be outdoors hiking or camping, is to put on insect repellant that contains DEET,” Dr. Taege says.

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Mississippi is reporting its first West Nile virus death for 2017.

State Health Department officials say Monday that a person from Grenada County has died.

Nine new cases of the virus were confirmed in Mississippi during the past week, including the person who died. Those bring the state total to 19 laboratory-confirmed cases this year.

Forrest and Hinds counties each have four cases and Rankin has two. Covington, Grenada, Humphreys, Jones, Leflore, Lincoln, Madison, Perry and Scott counties have one each.

In 2016, Mississippi had 43 West Nile virus cases and two deaths.

Most infected people never show symptoms. Some develop a flu-like disease. A few come down with encephalitis or meningitis, which can lead to paralysis, coma and even death.