Bo Nichols

Close your eyes and imagine a cool bay breeze, the sound of children’s voices ringing down from the bluff at Bayside Academy, a small sailboat just barely in sight, and sand between your toes as you listen to the swishing waves of Mobile Bay. Olde Towne Daphne is synonymous with many things: moss-draped oaks, some of the most beautiful public bay access points, jubilees, precious schools, and tons of history. This spot, tucked away in what feels like a movie set, is a quintessential Southern town, dripping in Southern charm.

Duck inside Daphne Museum, a former quaint Methodist Church in the heart of Olde Towne, and hear the Foster ladies tell many great Civil War stories involving bay boats and sleepy Union soldiers, and tales of the area’s Italian heritage, giving rise to places of worship (Christ the King) and the Italian names of buildings and streets…maybe even a ghost story or two.

Walk with Bo Nichols, realtor for Nichols Real Estate, for a few minutes, and he will probably tell you he’s a “bay rat”…a term coined by many rats before him…who spent their mornings, afternoons, and nights throwing cast nets, entertaining (and getting their first kisses) on piers, listening to the hoot owls as they went to sleep in hammocks tied between Bay pilings, where piers once were before the storm that “claimed them”, and anxiously awaiting the trout run in this tiny bit of the bay that happens in July and August. He recalls Trione’s grocery store, once where Guido’s restaurant is now, a one room, small business, with all the things you needed in stark comparison to the supermarkets of 2018 (which was also a bank, see photo). That same “memory lane” highlights neighborhood baseball games in Olde Towne’s Lott park where you could get dirty and walk home to get cleaned up for dinner. And, what are those rusty old ship bells on the beaches of Olde Towne Daphne used for? To let your neighbors know that a jubilee is occurring, of course. It has been a few years since a large jubilee has taken place on the Eastern Shore of Mobile Bay, but Bo recalls one so great that his mother, Claudene, had a small aluminum boat tied to her waist with a rope to collect the seafood that would become part of her famous, award-winning gumbo. These are reminiscent of stories you would hear a grandfather tell, but instead this and many other sweet, small town remembrances are but a couple of decades ago.

With all of those memories not to be parted with, Bo purchased his childhood home, and all the fun he wanted to pass on to his four children, from his parents 11 years ago. Knowing the home would need to be updated, as so many Olde Towne properties do, did not hinder him in the least. Olde Towne’s footprint is so special, the extra TLC is worth it. This little part of the world now boasts beautifully renovated historic homes and cottages and also new construction with the same warmth and welcome as those built long ago.

The residential serenity and camaraderie remains, but Olde Towne now has a budding night life and social center with restaurants, bands, cigars, wine, and a mean brunch on Sundays. Shops cater to the tiny feet of Daphne’s children, the plunderer looking for unique interiors and gifts, and brides looking for gorgeous wedding cakes. Sidewalks that meander by fountains and children’s parks provide a leisurely stroll or a path to fitness, but either way, those sidewalks lead you all the way back to the water, where you’re reminded of the original reason why this square mile is so special and loved. As EE Cummings wrote: “For whatever we lose (like a you or a me), it’s always ourselves we find in the sea.”---or Mobile Bay as it were.

*Bo Nichols is a realtor for NICHOLS REAL ESTATE, which has been in business in Daphne for over 40 years. 251.604.9705 nichols-re.com