FAIRHOPE, Ala. — “This was the front door to Fairhope,” said Fairhope Museum of History Director Donnie Barrett, as he gestured toward the municipal pier during a lecture on the history of the pier and beachfront parks.

“Eleven bay boats traveled between here and Mobile,” he said in front of a small but rapt audience this week. “It was a two-day trip to Mobile up through Greenville around the delta if you drove, instead of taking one of the boats.”

With sea gulls riding bay breezes and people stretching their legs or relaxing on waterfront benches as a backdrop, Barrett gave a quick glimpse of life on Fairhope’s bay front from its founding in 1894 to when the fountain and rose garden were built a few decades ago.

“There was a baseball diamond and boxing ring here in the 1930s,” he said. “This was the town square of Fairhope.”

Barrett’s lecture was organized to celebrate Public Works Week in Fairhope, and while he spoke, a city truck arrived to water the hundreds of rose bushes that encircle the fountain.

“None of this would exist if public works crews didn’t do all the work here to keep it looking as beautiful as it does,” he said.

Public Works Director Jennifer Fidler said the purpose of the lecture and day’s events were to “celebrate what we have down here and to always remember to keep it beautiful.”

Having grown up in Fairhope and graduated from the Organic School, whose founder Marietta Johnson is forever remembered in a bronze statue overlooking the pier from a bluff not far from where he spoke Wednesday morning, Barrett offered a rare window into Fairhope’s history as he spun tale upon tale of the city’s history.

For people who thought they knew Fairhope’s history pretty well, at least one of the stories came as an entertaining surprise.

“There was a real happening down here in about 1964,” he said, waiting a few seconds for his audience to lean forward to listen better. “A restaurant owner was given the rights to build a small teen hangout over there where the pavilion is now.”

The group looked as one toward the concrete beachfront pavilion just inside the gate to the north beach park.

“He sold just four sodas, I think — Coke, grape, Fresca and orange,” Barrett said. “It turned into a real happening. It would get so crowded here, you couldn’t park a car. Kids would come over from Mobile and all the way from Foley.”

Most in the audience laughed at those last few words, and Barrett paused until the laughter died down before continuing.

“It became a social calamity,” he said. “There were all these kids getting juiced up on pop and doing provocative dances on the beach.”

Now he had to wait a little longer for the audience to stop laughing.

“It made everybody upset, including the preachers who began preaching against it from their pulpits,” he said. “The town eventually shut it down.”

Today, the municipal pier and beach parks are popular destinations for a variety of waterfront enthusiasts out to enjoy a relaxing few minutes or hours on Mobile Bay. Walkers and joggers can be seen at all hours, as can fisherman on a pier whose lights stay lit from dusk to dawn. Purple martin houses stand on tall poles in the water along the bay front paths, and photographers often focus on the coming and goings from those houses that were recently replaced with shining new blue bird condos.

“This place is absolutely a treasure,” Barrett said. “It is what Fairhope is all about.”

He added that everyone should make a point of walking along Fairhope’s many bay front trails, because they are a special place for exercise and a tranquil setting for relaxing and rejuvenation

“If you have a busy day, have a walk to the bay.”