Columbus, MS to Mobile, AL

We ended up staying an extra day longer in Columbus and it was worth it.

We saw several of the Antebellum homes in the area. These large plantation style homes were built prior to the Civil War. Columbus served as a place to bring both wounded Confederate and Union soldiers. The large homes in town were converted into hospitals and thus Columbus was spared from burning and destruction, unlike most other cities in the south.  

Inside the entry to Waverely.

Columbus’s Friendship Cemetery was quite interesting to walk around and it is the resting place for those going back to Confederate and Union soldiers. In 1866 four women set out to decorate the Confederate graves. They understood that whatever side you were on a grave was someone’s father, son, husband etc. and decided to decorate the Union graves as well.  The story of their gesture of humanity and reconciliation is now told and retold in Mississippi as being the occasion of the original Memorial Day.

Weeping Angel statue.

From Columbus we made our way to Demopolis, stopping at yet another fantastic set of anchorages along the way. We’ve been traveling with John and Gina (Alysana) and reconnected with Mike and Mary (Forever Friday), enjoying great company when on the hook.

Glenn showing off his fishing skills.

Happy hours and sunset at anchor are the best. L to R: Heather, Kent, Gina, Mike, John, Glenn, Mary (behind the camera).

We waited out some weather in Demopolis, which is a small town (~7,000) so there are limited points of interest to explore but we made the most of it.

Founded in 1817 – wow!

Gainswood mansion – seemed a bit odd to see Greek revival architecture but apparently it was pretty special in 1861.

South = cotton fields.

A lot of Loopers were happy to have good weather to head south – this lock was full!

As we continued south from Demopolis we were now on the Black Warrior River which connects Demopolis with the Mobile River. It is approx. 225 miles from Demopolis to Mobile Bay (depending on what you determine your end point to be). Unlike the Tennessee River and TenTom Waterway there are no marinas and limited anchorages. This means we were putting in longer days, sometimes covering 60 miles but not missing any key points of interests because there are very few along this stretch. This section of the river twists and turns, where you are literally moving in all directions while trying to eventually really just go south.

Rivers do not run in a straight line.

One stop on this stretch of river however was Bobby’s Fish Camp. Here we rafted with 10 boats to a short dock, stretched our legs, walked Penny and enjoyed a catfish meal.

Alligator gar fish that was hanging above our table at Bobby’s Fish Camp. Not a pretty sight.

Entering into the Port of Mobile was a drastic change to the relative tranquility of the rivers. A lot of large container ships coming and going in multiple directions, cranes loading and unloading ships and shipyards building large scale vessels. We felt (and were) very very very tiny on the waterway here.

This captain called us on the radio previous to this pic and suggested that it be “best” to move to port as he will be “pushing a lot of water”. No kidding! 🙂

There appear to be several boat builders in town.

Now that we are in Mobile we are no longer in the muddy rivers, it will be salt water for us for some time to come.

Just before entering Mobile, the scenery changed rather quickly – we were now in blue water.

Total number of days on The Loop: 41
Total distance traveled: 1,154 statue miles