Gulf Coast Historic Sites Are More Than Just Attractions

I’ve always loved the history attractions in Gulf Shores & Orange Beach. They simply fascinating to me—being able to glimpse the past at places like Fort Gaines and Fort Morgan. And some provide history along with a little scenery, like Historic Blakeley State Park and Bellingrath Gardens.

But I now have a new reason to love these Gulf Coast historic sites. My son has been struggling with his history class this year. His reason: he just doesn’t find it interesting or relevant (and therefore not important enough to study apparently).

So during our stay at Gulf Shores Plantation over Christmas break, we dedicated a couple of days to exploring the local history—which we’ve done before, but it’s been a while. So it felt right to re-explore these Gulf Shores attractions once again.

And I have to say, I think it made a world of difference for my son. We spent a good amount of time exploring some of the sights along the Civil War Trail and watching some reenactments, which helped put some of the history into a more “real” context for my son and sparked his interest. The three centuries of history at Fort Gaines Historic Site also helped make things more real for him, and he really enjoyed visiting the National Museum of Naval Aviation and USS ALABAMA Battleship Memorial Park. Even just seeing the various artifacts and exhibits at places like the Gulf Shores Museum and the Orange Beach Indian & Sea Museum helped him see history as a more relevant topic.

I’m happy to say that—so far, at least—the second half of the school year seems to be going better for him as far as his history class is concerned. I think we will have to keep the historic sites on the to-do list for future Gulf vacations.