Mobile Culture and Recreation

Museum of Mobile
Over 300 years of Mobile history is on exhibit at the Museum of Mobile, housed in an 1857 National Landmark building that was first the Southern Market and once served as city hall.

Mobile Museum of Art
Expanded in 2002, the Mobile Museum of Art, in the city’s largest park, Langan Park, is the largest art museum along the Gulf Coast from New Orleans to Tampa.

The 95, 000-square-foot facility is the setting for a permanent collection of more than 9, 000 works of art spanning two thousand years of culture, as well as world renowned traveling exhibitions and regional art exhibits.

Historic Site at Fort Conde
Official welcome center for the city of Mobile, Fort Conde is a recreation of a portion of the colonial fort that protected the French settlers who relocated to the site in 1711. Recently renovated, the fort replica is about 1/3 of the original fort, recreated in 4/5-scale.

Oakleigh Historic Complex
The city’s premiere house museum, Oakleigh is an antebellum mansion surrounded by archives and campus in the heart of one of Mobile’s most beautiful historic districts. It is the home of the Historic Mobile Preservation Society.

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Five Rivers Delta Center
Five Rivers is located where the Mobile, Spanish, Tensaw, Appalachee and Blakeley rivers flow into Mobile Bay. It’s known for outdoor recreation, conservation, education programs and land stewardship.

Bands from near and far make music for the dozens of Mardi Gras parades.

The George F. Landegger Collection of Alabama Photographs in Carol M. Highsmith’s America, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.

Mardi Gras
Known as “America’s Family Mardi Gras, ” Mobile’s huge celebration is the first-known American Mardi Gras, held even before New Orleans’ celebration. The event includes the sights and sounds of live marching bands, brilliantly colored floats and parade goers. Catch beads, moon pies, doubloons and candy.

GulfQuest – National Maritime Museum of the Gulf of Mexico
Projected to open later this year, GulfQuest will be the first museum dedicated to the Gulf Coast’s rich maritime traditions and only the third interactive maritime museum in the world. It is shaped like a full-size replica of a container ship.

Mobile Carnival Museum
Crowns, scepters, floats, jeweled robes and more are displayed in this unique museum in downtown Mobile. The museum is housed in an historic home.

Estuarium at Dauphin Island Sea Lab
Exciting visual displays and fun interactive exhibits highlight the wonders of Mobile’s estuary system.

Bellingrath Gardens and Home
Experience 65 acres of year-round floral splendor and tour the home. Also available are a river cruise and special events, such as Magic Christmas in Lights.

Gulf Coast Exploreum Science Center & IMAX Theater
Mobile’s premier hands-on, minds-on science and family fun museum. Four exhibit areas, two labs, virtual theater and an IMAX Dome Theater are included.

USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park
The park includes the Battleship USS Alabama and Submarine USS Drum, along with more than 20 rare historic aircraft.

Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail at Magnolia Grove
Magnolia Grove recently was voted into Golf World Magazine’s Reader Choice Top 50 Public Courses. The courses include creeks, marshland and lakes, with a forest of hardwood and pine. The Falls and Crossings courses are listed as two of the nation’s Great Value Courses, and the Crossings course hosts the Avnet LPGA Classic.

Senior Bowl
This game features the country’s best senior collegiate football stars and top NFL draft prospects on teams representing the North and South, coached by NFL coaching staffs.

Celebrating its 19th year, BayFest is Mobile’s annual music festival, which attracts more than 200, 000 guests to the downtown area.

Photo courtesy of Mobile Bay Convention & Visitors Bureau/BayFest Photographer Keith Necaise

BayFest
BayFest, Mobile’s annual music festival and the state’s largest, will celebrate its 19th year this year. Held in October, it attracts more than 200, 000 guests to see some 125 musical acts on nine stages in downtown Mobile. Its family activity area has garnered rave reviews. In 2012, BayFest was named the Top Festival/Event of the Year in the Southeast by Southeastern Tourism Society.

GoDaddy.com Bowl
The nationally televised GoDaddy.com Bowl is played each year at Ladd-Peebles Stadium and features teams from the Sun Belt conference and the Mid-American Conference.

Historic Homes Tours
The city of Mobile’s beautiful historic homes are influenced by different types of architecture. Tours of Mobile’s historic homes showcase true Southern hospitality, including an annual Christmas Open House.

Saenger Theatre
The Saenger Theatre originally opened in Mobile in 1927. Under the guidance of the Center for Living Arts since 1999, the facility has been restored. In March, the control of the facility was turned back over to the City of Mobile. It is the home of the Mobile Symphony Orchestra.

For more information, visit mobile.org


Text by Lori Chandler Pruitt

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