Charming Town of Fairhope, Alabama

After staying at Turner Marina for a few days to have some routine maintenance done on ITHAKA, we decided to travel the 12 miles across Mobile Bay to the east side of the bay and visit the charming little community of Fairhope. We were not disappointed. One of the two remaining "single tax colonies" in the U.S., this community takes all of its tax revenue and turns it back into the community. It shows in its community pride, it's parks, schools, churches and thriving downtown, and just general appearance of the whole town. One of the locals referred to it as "Mayberry on steroids".

Eating out is always such fun. Wintzell's has become one of our favorite restaurants for fresh oysters and seafood. Carolyn House, on POURHOUSE, first introduced us to this place in Mobile. We found another one right on the bay in Fairhope!

Can't get enough of the beautiful Live Oak trees throughout the South! 

Several of the branches of the Live Oak are covered in Resurrection Ferns, as you can see on this limb. It's called that because in times of dry weather, the fern will appear to wither, dry up and turn brown. Once the rains return, it magically turns lush and green again, until the next dry spell.

The public park on the edge of the bay in Fairhope. We were about 15 minutes too late to see the sun go down.

Downtown Fairhope in the evening, all dressed up in her Christmas decorations.

Even the smallest stores get dressed up.

Every tree in the downtown area is wrapped in Christmas lights. The pictures really do not do it justice. Just beautiful!