Alabama Gulf Coast · AL
Bayou La Batre
The Seafood Capital of Alabama, and Bubba's hometown.
- Population
- 2,204 (2020 census)
- Settled
- 1786
- Katrina surge
- Nearly 16 feet
Then
- 1786
Joseph Bosarge receives a Spanish land grant on the bayou, the first permanent settlement on the south Mobile County mainland.
- 1970s onward
Vietnamese, Cambodian and Laotian refugees join the shrimping fleet after the Vietnam War.
- 1994
Forrest Gump makes the town famous as Bubba's home and Forrest's shrimping port.
- 2005
Hurricane Katrina's surge throws shrimp boats and a cargo ship ashore.
Now
Bayou La Batre packs seafood from hundreds of boats and builds them too; a local yard built the Black Pearl for Pirates of the Caribbean. The Grand Bay reserve lies to the west.