Bon Secour, Alabama

History

Bon Secour has a rich history. It was originally a French fishing village settlement dating back to the late 19th century. Currently it is a waterfront community that serves as a safe harbor to a commercial fishing fleet. Named by Jacques Cook, a French Canadian from Montreal, a member of Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville's colonizing expedition of 1699. He was a participant in the founding of Mobile in 1702. There are several major seafood industry businesses currently operating out of the Bon Secour estuary. Bon Secour Fisheries, Safe Harbor Seafood, Aquilla Seafood and Billy's Seafood all ship large quantities of Gulf of Mexico seafood to all areas of the United States. Bon Secour Fisheries is the oldest and biggest of them all, having been operating since the 1890s. The primary catch for the Bon Secour fishing fleet ranges from Mobile Bay shrimp to deep water "Royal Red" shrimp. Large shrimp boats line the shores of the Bon Secour River, docked at processing plants for packaging and shipment to all of America. One main point of pride within the community is the "Alabama Wild Shrimp Program". Because wild shrimp caught by the local fleet must compete with farmed shrimp from overseas, economic pressures have driven many, multi-generational shrimpers out of the business. As a result, the local shimpers, along with shrimpers out of the Mobile area have formed an alliance, increased their marketing, public relations knowledge and efforts to brand Alabama, Wild Caught Shrimp. Their efforts have paid off. Marine science has indeed proven that wild-caught shrimp from local waters are in fact less likely to contain contaminates than the farm-raised shrimp that have been imported from other countries. Still, the commercial shrimping industry in Bon Secour is hanging on by a very thin line.

Bon Secour is characterized by a coastal, Southern Gothic scenery with huge water oak trees covered in Spanish moss, great blue herons, brown pelicans, bottle-nosed dolphin pods and the smell of salty gulf waters. The local commercial fisherman that make their living from the Gulf are no less salty but also friendly. Other than the relatively small, family owned, seafood processing plants, Bon Secour is primarily made up of many rural neighborhoods, some of which have views of the Bon Secour River and Bon Secour Bay. Brown Pelicans are everywhere and locals sometimes see alligators, plying the waters of the estuarial system from the head waters of the Bon Secour River to the bay. One can see baby bottle-nosed dolphins playing near the mouth of the river at any time.

Homes in the Bon Secour area are some of the oldest along the eastern Alabama Gulf Coast. With the arrival of the current development boom, post Hurricane Ivan, property/houses in the area range anywhere from US$100,000 for an older, inland house, to over several million dollars for a brand new mansion on the Bon Secour River banks or Bon Secour Bay. New, affluent, gated communities are growing. Those with the financial resources can purchase pristine, unadulterated land with million-dollar views of a wonderful ecosystem, complete with access to Mobile Bay, the Intracoastal Waterway, and the maritime travel opportunities that such waterways provide. All that is needed is a yacht and the means to travel anywhere the Intracoastal waterway extends. One can go from their own dock in Bon Secour, Alabama to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida by water. Boaters can circumnavigate the island or even pursue a trans-Gulf crossing, with a big enough vessel and enough seamanship experience for the voyage. Some local vessels have been known to travel from the Alabama Gulf Coast, across the Gulf of Mexico and Bay of Campeche to Cozumel (Mexico), Playa del Carmen, Cancún, etc.

Many seabirds, tree frogs and other natural fauna still live in the area of the pristine environment that is Bon Secour.

Hurricanes

The location of Bon Secour on the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico makes it especially vulnerable to hurricanes:

• In September 1979, Bon Secour received the full brunt of Category 3 Hurricane Frederic, which leveled most of the beachfront of the town.
• In September 2004, category 3 Hurricane Ivan made landfall only a few miles from Bon Secour, causing extensive wind and flooding damage. Nearby Orange Beach suffered even greater damage from its location east of Ivan's eyewall. Over 800 homes (mainly condominiums) were destroyed by Ivan.
• Hurricane Katrina (August 29, 2005) flooded Bon Secour with a large storm surge, which had extended over 120 mi eastward from the eye, also flooding the Florida Panhandle (such as Navarre Beach). Waves near Bon Secour were 22-feet (6.7 m) high, in Mobile Bay.

2010 Gulf Oil Spill

The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill drastically reduced the availability of Gulf shrimp, so many people lost their jobs with the fishing industry. In June 2010, oil globs and submerged oil began washing ashore on the beaches of the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge, killing many fish and crabs.

Geography

The town has a total area of 3.4 square miles (8.7 km2), all land, although it lies along the Bon Secour River and bay.

Climate

Bon Secour enjoys a very mild climate throughout the year. High temperatures in the winter average around 65 degrees; summer-time high temperatures average around 87. Bon Secour also averages 61 in of rainfall per year.

Nearby towns

Demographics

1850 1860 1870 1880 1890-1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020

Bon Secour was first listed as a census designated place in the 2020 U.S. census.

2020 census

Education

Bon Secour is served by the Baldwin County Public Schools system, in the nearby town of Foley. An elementary school, an intermediate school, a middle school, and a high school serve Foley.

• Foley High School (grades 9-12)
• Foley Intermediate School (grades 5-6)
• Foley Middle School (grades 7-8)
• Foley Elementary School (grades K-4)
• Swift Elementary School (grades PreK-6) - Located in Bon Secour.

Regional

The Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) is not really located in Bon Secour, but nearby, along Ft. Morgan Road, on the island, over the Intracoastal Waterway bridge. The Bon Secour NWR consists of over 6700 acre of wildlife habitat lying directly west of Gulf Shores, Alabama, on the Fort Morgan peninsula (western sliver of the island) formed by the Intracoastal Waterway, Oyster Bay, Bon Secour Bay, and Mobile Bay. The refuge was established by the United States Congress in 1980 to provide habitat for non-game birds migrating south in the fall and north in the spring. The migration paths from Bon Secour lead south to lower Florida, the Caribbean, Mexico and Central America. The Bon Secour refuge also serves as one of the largest undeveloped parcels of land on the Alabama coast, with sand dunes which are a reminder of the Gulf Coast, as it formerly existed. Consequently, the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge has been named among the ten natural wonders of Alabama. It has become a birding Mecca.

Notes

References

The following are reference sources, repeated alphabetically:

• FWS, "Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge" (2006-08-18), US Fish and Wildlife Service, web: FWS-Gov-BSNWR.
• BrainyZip, "36511 zip code - Bon Secour" (2006), BrainyZip.com, web: BrainZip-36511.

References

1. "2020 U.S. Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau.
2. {{GNIS. 2633314
3. "Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge" (August 18, 2006), [[US Fish and Wildlife Service]], web: [http://www.fws.gov/Refuges/profiles/index.cfm?id=43630 FWS-Gov-BSNWR].
4. "Decennial Census of Population and Housing by Decade". [[United States Census Bureau]].
5. (1850). "1850 Census of Population - Alabama - Population of Civil Divisions less than Counties". [[United States Census Bureau]].
6. (1860). "1860 Census of Population - Alabama - Population of Civil Divisions less than Counties". [[United States Census Bureau]].
7. (1870). "1870 Census of Population - Alabama - Population of Civil Divisions less than Counties". [[United States Census Bureau]].
8. (1880). "1880 Census of Population - Alabama - Population of Civil Divisions less than Counties". [[United States Census Bureau]].
9. (1900). "1900 Census of Population - Alabama". United States Census Bureau.
10. (1910). "1910 Census of Population - Alabama". United States Census Bureau.
11. (1920). "1920 Census of Population - Alabama". United States Census Bureau.
12. (1930). "1930 Census of Population - Alabama". [[United States Census Bureau]].
13. (1940). "1940 Census of Population - Alabama". [[United States Census Bureau]].
14. (1950). "1950 Census of Population - Alabama". [[United States Census Bureau]].
15. (1960). "1960 Census of Population - Population of all incorporated places; and all unincorporated places of 1,000 or more - Alabama". [[United States Census Bureau]].
16. (1970). "1970 Census of Population - Alabama". [[United States Census Bureau]].
17. (1980). "1980 Census of Population - Alabama". [[United States Census Bureau]].
18. (1990). "1990 Census of Population - Alabama". [[United States Census Bureau]].
19. (2000). "2000 Census of Population - Summary Population and Housing Characteristics - Alabama". [[United States Census Bureau]].
20. (2010). "2010 Census of Population - General Population Characteristics - Alabama". [[United States Census Bureau]].
21. "P2 Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race – 2020: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171) - Bon Secour CDP, Alabama".
22. Geography Division. (December 21, 2020). "2020 Census - School District Reference Map: Baldwin County, AL". [[United States Census Bureau]].