This is a scene from what once was the major road to the port area of Blakeley, Alabama. Blakeley has an amazing story. It was a town in Baldwin County, once even larger than its sister city across the bay, Mobile. "Was" is the key word here. All that's left today of Blakeley's once thriving town square are the bases of some building foundations. Shortly before the Civil War a yellow fever epidemic almost wiped out the town. After the war little, other than remnants of the bloody battle, was left behind. The last major battle of the American Civil War took place here in Blakeley, on April 9th, 1865, just hours AFTER General Lee had surrendered to General Grant at Appomattox, Virginia! Unfortunately the word could not travel fast enough from Virginia to avoid the more than 26,000 men savagely colliding in combat at Blakeley. It was pure carnage: a bloody slaughter mostly for the Southern Confederate Army, and all for naught. Before the war, but after the devastating yellow fever epidemic, many of the buildings of Blakeley were disassembled and transported across the bay and re-erected in Mobile. But after the war the locals totally avoided the area. It was rightly so believed to be haunted with the spirits of the deceased Confederate and Union soldiers. So after the armies retreated, and for more than a hundred years it was left as it was after the last body was buried. It was sort of "rediscovered" in the 1970's. Not something you find every day! A "lost" preserved Civil War battlefield frozen in time as it was when abandoned more than a hundred years ago. Today it is the largest National Historic Register site east of the Mississippi River - encompassing 3,800 acres nestled beside the Tensaw River which feeds into Mobile Bay. It also abounds with several prehistoric Indian mounds. Fact is, Blakeley was built on the same site of an ancient Native American village. Was this bad karma? Pure speculation on my part. Who knows? But whatever, it's quite an amazing and beautiful place to visit. Should you ever find yourself on Interstate 10 just east of Mobile Bay, exit at the "Spanish Fort" exit (another story), and head north. You'll find it if you look hard enough. That's more than enough for now! Thanks much, marshall