The Judy Niemeyer Team Blog

We can feel the summer starting to wind down here on the beautiful Eastern Shore of Mobile Bay, but one summer tradition is still on the horizon. The 21^st Grand Summer Ball, a fundraising event for the Thomas Hospital Foundation, is this weekend at the Marriott Grand Hotel Resort in Point Clear. This is THE social event of the summer – and a wonderful fundraiser for Thomas Hospital, our great local hospital. You can read all about the hospital and the foundation at www.thomashospital.com. Tickets for the Grand Summer Ball have been sold out for weeks already, and this year it is even more anticipated because it returns to the newly renovated ballrooms at the Grand Hotel.

Any visit to the Eastern Shore is not complete without a stop at the Grand Hotel (www.marriottgrand.com). Have dinner in the dining room overlooking Mobile Bay, play a round of championship golf on a Robert Trent Jones course, or just take a stroll along the resort’s beautiful waterfront. There’s been a hotel on this site since the 1840s – I guess even back then people appreciated luxurious waterfront property!

If you’re looking for something completely different to do this weekend, drive north of Spanish Fort to the community of Tensaw for the annual reenactment of the Battle of Fort Mims. On August 30, 1813, armed by the British during the War of 1812, Creek Indians attacked the fort in what became one of the worst massacres in American history, with more than 500 men, women, and children killed. Two battle reenactments are held each day at 11 am and 3pm. You can expect to see period re-enactors dressed as settlers, backwoodsmen, militia, and Creek warriors. The weekend usually includes sutlers with period merchandise for sale, artisans and period entertainers. A sutler is a civilian provisioner to an army post often with a shop on the post. You can get direction and more info from the Alabama Bureau of Tourism at www.800alabama.com.