Today, I’ll deviate from the Six on Saturday format to share a lovely afternoon I had a couple of weeks ago. A friend invited me to a Home and Garden Tour in one of Mobile, Alabama’s downtown historic districts. Her daughter and son-in-law live in one of the houses listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Actually, most of the homes in the Oakleigh Garden District are listed on the registry, with very few exceptions.

The top photo is the home for which the district is named. James Roper built Oakleigh in 1833 on several dozen acres west of Mobile’s (then) city limits. The complex of historic buildings, still occupying two acres, is open to the public as a museum.

Each street in the residential district takes us back to the 19^th century, with one home built as early as 1820. Most are from the mid-to-late 1800s. I love the architectural details in these older homes. I don’t see this where I live out in the county.

Ordinances protect the large live oaks throughout Mobile to preserve the city’s southern charm. Laws often have unintended consequences, don’t they? But look at the roots on this tree! Gotta watch where you walk here.

Most of the homes have undergone restoration, and there are strict codes for preserving the original quality of the styles. A plaque by the front door identifies background information about each house, including when it was built, the architectural design, and its original ownership.

It’s considered a very bougie place to own a home, but many socio-economic levels live there. So, walking a short distance, one can see very large Southern mansions, three-room shotgun houses, and everything in between. One home appears to be a renovated corner grocery store.

Washington Square is a park that serves as the neighborhood’s central heartbeat and frequently hosts community events.

Some people had beautiful front gardens, and they invited us to come in and look around.

Others were simply “walk-by” gardens.

We were also invited to tour several back gardens of various sizes.

I was amazed by what some people did with very small spaces.

I was so enthralled with some of the spots we visited that I didn’t take pictures of every place we went. And we didn’t make it to every home on the garden tour. By the end of the allotted time, we were hot and tired and were thankful that a former mayor of Mobile was sitting at a table in his front yard offering cups of lemonade and water. This is his home above, but he’s not shown in this angle.

I’ll close with the final house, where we explored the newly renovated interior.

Not usually open to the public, it serves as a headquarters for one of the Mobile Mardi Gras secret societies. However, the organization used this occasion to show how they restored this house after purchasing it following a fire several years ago.

A rooftop patio on this house offers a view of the Mobile skyline.

I live about 15 miles from downtown and don’t go very often. It’s such a different atmosphere that I felt like I’d had a mini-vacation.

Thanks for letting me share my afternoon adventure with you.