Daphne, Spanish Fort and Fairhope Real Estate Information on Homes for Sale, Neighborhoods, Relocating to Daphne, Spanish Fort and Fairhope, Alabama

Daphne, Spanish Fort and Fairhope Homes for Sale

Daphne, Spanish Fort and Fairhope

Students from Fairhope, Spanish Fort and Daphne attend schools within the highly rated Baldwin County Public School system. Dealing with Baldwin County's growth has been an ongoing priority for the Board of Education and over the past several years the district has pursued the largest building program in the state. Each new school within this district has at least one computer lab with elementary schools offering labs equipped with reading programs and the high schools featuring labs equipped with business education programs. In addition, there are many excellent private and parochial schools located on the Eastern Shore.

For those seeking higher education, the Eastern Shore is home to Faulkner State Community College and the University of South Alabama - Baldwin. The area is also home to the unique Alabama Oriental Studies Institute in Fairhope that offers classes in oriental medicine and other health care alternatives. The United State Sports Academy in Daphne offers Master's and Doctoral programs for professionals in sports.

As might be expected, lifeblood of the area is Mobile Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. In addition to driving the local economy, the waters provide residents with a variety of cultural and recreational activities. Fairhope's quarter-mile pier is an ideal place for "walkers, talkers and fishermen." The Fair Harbor Marina and Dry Dock, a public boat launching facility, is located near the pier. Private and public marinas are located throughout the area. In addition, horseback riding, boat launching facilities, tennis, parks, golfing, spectator sports and cultural events can all be found along the Eastern Shore. One of the highlights of the year is the "Celebrities Golf Tournament" hosted by Kenny Stabler at the Lakewood golf course at the Grand Hotel.

While Daphne's Jubilee Festival takes place on a set schedule, the event for which the festival is named after is a not-so-regular occurrence. Jubilees are caused primarily by upwellings or upward movement of oxygen-poor bottom waters forcing bottom-type fish and crustaceans ashore. Although jubilees have been reported in other areas, Mobile Bay is probably the only body of water in which this phenomenon occurs fairly regularly.

For a jubilee to take place, a very specific set of conditions must exist. They occur only in the summer, usually in the early morning before sunrise. The previous day's weather conditions must include an overcast or cloudy day, a gentle wind from the east, and a calm or slick bay surface. Also, a rising tide is necessary; a change to a falling tide will stop the jubilee. It takes a combination of all these conditions to produce the phenomenon.

The cultural diversity of the area's heritage is celebrated year-round in museums, concert halls, restaurants, and shops located in its many different communities. The very nature of the Eastern Shore's growing popularity as a retirement haven ensures an ever-expanding variety of spectator and participatory activities.

The Jubilee Fish Theater, the only equity theater between New Orleans, Louisiana, and Tampa, Florida, produces a five-play season in the Performing Arts Center, University of South Alabama, in Fairhope. Non-profit Theater 98 Community Theater, active in Fairhope since 1959, offers a regular schedule of performances.

The Eastern Shore Art Center in Fairhope consists of four galleries showing the works of local and regional artists as well as those nationally recognized. Bay Rivers Art Guild in Daphne offers classes and displays works by resident artists. The unique Museum of Sport Art, part of the United States Sports Academy, celebrates sports with its national and international artwork. The Malbis Greek Orthodox Memorial Church houses remarkable inspirational artwork, murals and frescoes by Greek artists.

There are numerous golf courses in the area. Quail Creek Municipal Golf Course in Fairhope and Timber Creek Golf Club in Daphne are public golf courses. Lake Forest Golf Club in Daphne and Rock Creek Golf Club in Fairhope are semi-private, the latter boasting a restaurant, swimming pool, and tennis courts. Lakewood Golf Club, at Marriott's Grand Hotel in Point Clear, has 36 holes open to members and guests only and includes the highly reputed John Jacobs Golf School.

The Eastern Shore is rich in history. Daphne emerged in the early 18th century simply as a gathering point for fur traders from Europe. It was claimed first by the French, later by the Spanish, then by the British, but it was settled finally by the new Americans. It soon became a resort destination for the burgeoning affluency of Mobile and New Orleans and its economy today is heavily dependent upon its recreational facilities.

Fairhope, founded in 1894 by a group of idealists from Iowa seeking a Utopian quality of life focused on common ownership of the land called a single tax colony, now known as The Fairhope Single Tax Corp. The city evolved rapidly into one of the main centers of the Eastern Shore's commercial and cultural activity. Its founders believed that their progressive project had "fair hope" of coming to fruition and indeed the town's prominence in the area may well be due in part to its heritage of fortitude and perseverance. Fairhope has been described as having a "Carmel (California)-like" personality and has been included regularly among respected listings of the top five to ten most favorable retirement communities in the U.S.

Spanish Fort is aptly named and was consecutively occupied by opposing armies during the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the Civil War. In response to its widening popularity as a residential community readily accessible to Mobile across Battleship Parkway, it was recently incorporated and plays and increasingly integral role as a part of the Eastern Shore's economic growth.