Bay Circle

Bay Circle. . , Front , This area, located along the southern shore of Wolf Bay, was the original 'Downtown' of Orange Beach. Beginning in the 1870's, the two schooners of James C. Callaway anchored near here in the deep-water Boat Basin. The schooners were used for importing supplies and exporting products like oranges, shingles or turpentine sap. They later serviced the lighthouse beacons in the Gulf of Mexico., In 1909, D.R. Peteet bought 3,254 асres here he called Gulf Bay Tract. He built a shingle mill near the community's vital wharf. A school was built here in 1910. It was used on alternating Sundays by the Baptist and Presbyterian congregations until 1953 when both built churches nearby. The Schoolhouse also served as a community meeting place. In 1954, the Home Demonstration Club began their annual 'Community Picnic' on the school grounds. By 1959, they had raised enough money to buy land for the Community Center now located one mile east of here., Reverse , Elsie E. Diehl was the Postmaster of the first Orange Beach Post Office in 1901, and at a second location in 1921. Just to the west, the Orange Beach Hotel was built in 1923 by Hilda Callaway Dietz. She operated the hotel until the war began in 1941 when the coast was essentially closed to tourists and fishing. Just east of here, Captain Dan Callaway's c.1907 home and summer kitchen are still in use. The kitchen was a store in the 1930s, operated by Emmons Brown. It had gas pumps serving boats and the few cars in the area. In 1937, this became the third post office with Minnie Lee Callaway Brown as Postmaster. In 1971, Capt. Dan's properties became the retirement home of David DeJarnette, 'Father of Alabama Archaeology'. The Orange Beach Hotel was demolished in 2015 with a new building of similar design built in its place to operate as the Coastal Arts Center of Orange Beach.