Final installment of a two-part examination of the events that took place in and around Marlow Ferry.

The Marlow Ferry region in Baldwin County symbolizes the quiet quality of life that has drawn people from all the country to settle and live out their lives. A trip down the Fish River any day of the week is one of the most relaxing and inspiring acts one can enjoy.

The peaceful nature of this quiet community belies its important and active past, as we saw in last week’s article. The Marlow Ferry area has been the center of one of the most defining moments in our history, and it has been the center of the early economic and agricultural success of this county.

The epic struggle to move men and material through narrow waterways and harsh overland trails can be followed today along the Battle for Mobile Bay Civil War Trail. The painstaking effort to locate viable sites that were crucial in the Battle for Mobile Bay can be attributed to the Alabama Gulf Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau in general and Colette Boehm (Director of Special Projects) in particular.

Boehm, in a cooperative effort with the Mobile Bay Convention and Visitors Center, worked diligently to locate sites and then place accurate markers of events that took place at those sites. Sites that have markers depicting the events from the 1865 campaign can be found in both Mobile and Baldwin counties.

Farragut’s Basin (widest point along the Fish River) can be seen about 1,000 yards north of the boat launch at Marlow Ferry. Here, the Union flotilla disembarked the Federal troops and turned around for the Bay. As a result, Marlow Ferry can be considered one of those vital points where action happened that changed the course of the Civil War.

After the Civil War and into the mid 20th century, Marlow Ferry became a center for the agriculture that dominated the early economy of Baldwin County. The Ferry site became the first stop for produce like watermelon, cucumbers and potatoes that made their way to market in Mobile.

At the same location, community members gathered at a country store that attracted children from all over the Fish River area. And true to its name, Marlow Ferry ushered across the Fish River all manner of transportation — from people to automobiles — making it the center of the community.

Today, Marlow Ferry is a quiet, majestic place where one can sit in awe of the beauty of the river and of the animals that make it their home. The neighborhood is calm, and its residents are thankful for their way of life.

But there are echoes of the past at the Marlow Ferry, and if you try, you can almost picture the hundreds of Union troops making their way across the pontoon bridge or a mule-drawn wagon waiting to be ferried across to trade at the store.