Magnolia Springs

History

Magnolia Springs is located at the headwaters of the Magnolia River, which was originally called River de Lin, Cataract Creek, or River del Salto by local residents. The origins of the community date back to the 1700s with the plantations of French and British settlers lining Magnolia River and Weeks Bay. Cattle, fishing, and masonry were commonplace industries at the time. Later, the largest enterprise in the area was turpentine distillation. These stills were burned by their owners in 1865 to prevent them from being captured when Union soldiers began amassing in the area. One leaves "the Old Spanish Trail at the eastern head of the Cochrane Bridge, and drives south through Fairhope along Mobile Bay. Ten or fifteen miles beyond is the pleasant little village of Magnolia Springs, and one is in the sandy Gulf Coast soil where these people have their farms and community life. They call themselves 'Creoles', and their white neighbors qualify the term by calling them '[expletive deleted] Creoles.' The question of Negro blood has long been a sensitive spot with the Creole population of Louisiana and other southern states, but in Baldwin County it means only one thing to the dominant white class: some degree of Negro extraction." "A stop at a little crossroads store where the young Creole clerk volunteered more information led us still farther into the intricacies of life among the Magnolia Springs Creoles. The clerk was a small man whose complexion had a hint of reddish brown, and he was one of the few men in the community who bore a French family name. He claimed to be the great-grandson of an officer in Napoleon's Grande Armée. He had come to the Baldwin County community from across the bay. He gave as his reason the decay of the Creole community in Mobile County, and…

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  9,748
• Northern Mockingbird

  Mimus polyglottos (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  8,706
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  8,017
• Carolina Wren

  Thryothorus ludovicianus (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  7,980
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  7,780
• Red-bellied Woodpecker

  Melanerpes carolinus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  6,330
• Red-winged Blackbird

  Agelaius phoeniceus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  5,637
• Carolina Chickadee

  Poecile carolinensis (Audubon, 1834) · Aves
  5,624

Largest nearby schools

• Fairhope High School
  High · Fairhope · 1,629 students · 16.3:1 ratio
• Foley High School
  High · Foley · 1,578 students · 18.3:1 ratio
• Foley Elementary School
  Elementary · Foley · 992 students · 14.2:1 ratio
• Florence B Mathis Elementary
  Elementary · Foley · 915 students · 16.1:1 ratio
• Magnolia School
  Elementary · Foley · 894 students · 16.3:1 ratio
• J Larry Newton School
  Elementary · Fairhope · 827 students · 16.2:1 ratio
• Foley Middle School
  Middle · Foley · 783 students · 16.7:1 ratio
• Fairhope Middle School
  Middle · Fairhope · 777 students · 16.2:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 3.8 — 2020-09-03
  1 km W of Pollard, Alabama
• M 2.6 — 2019-04-12
  13 km NW of Flomaton, Alabama
• M 3.1 — 2019-04-11
  6 km NNW of Pollard, Alabama
• M 2.5 — 2019-04-11
  8 km NW of Pollard, Alabama
• M 2.7 — 2019-03-24
  2 km ESE of Century, Florida
• M 3.1 — 2019-03-11
  4 km N of Flomaton, Alabama