Rural Life in Southern Alabama

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PHOTO: WILLIAM WALDRON
Joy Lowery from Loxley in agriculturally rich Central Baldwin sells her neighbor's homegrown produce out of the back of her truck.

Cream of the country: Rural Southern Alabama. The continuing series of the best sections of America to live a rural lifestyle.

Rural Life in Southern Alabama

In recent years, the thought of short, mild winters–even if they’re followed by long, hot summers–has enticed thousands to the nation’s Sun Belt and driven up prices in Florida, Arizona and Southern California. But there’s one spot in the sunny South that’s not only still affordable, but also offers sparkling white-sand beaches lapped by the clear, warm waters of the Gulf; some of the best hunting and fishing in the nation; and a gracious, rural lifestyle set in a landscape right out of a Norman Rockwell painting. It’s that small segment of the state of Southern Alabama just east of Mobile that reaches down to touch the Gulf of Mexico–a gently rolling, productive land of huge rivers and lakes, thick forests of pine, oak and wild magnolia, and an active business community with international connections.

Though nearby counties in both Florida and Alabama can offer many of the same attractions, we decided to focus on Baldwin County (which actually borders the Gulf and was chosen by Outside magazine as one of the 100 best counties in the United States for outdoor recreation) and Escambia County just to the northeast (which–with its friendly and forward-looking people, its easy access to outdoor pleasures and urban attractions, and its bargain prices for houses and land–is one of the best-kept secrets in the nation).

Baldwin County Southern Alabama

  • Published on Jan 1, 1988
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