On a sunny day in January, I walked in the footsteps of Alabama's first settlers when I had the opportunity to visit the preserved site of the original colony of Mobile. I was there doing research for a book, little realizing I would soon be called to draw on my studies to jump into the debate about whether Alabama or Louisiana was the site of the nation's first Mardi Gras celebration.
This view of the Mobile River is one colonists in Old Mobile would have had from Fort Louis at Twenty-Seven Mile Bluff.
The question is moot to some extent, considering that Mobile was part of Louisiana when it was founded by the French in 1702. But these days, bragging rights are a tourism draw so the claims in a story on NOLA.com saying Louisiana's Mardi Gras celebration predates Mobile's by four years are, to put it mildly, fightin' words. (The report comes after the Alabama Tourism Department erected billboards in New Orleans laying claim to the first Mardi Gras. Click here to see the billboards.)
So whose claim is correct? It's really a matter of semantics - and how you define "celebration." (Spoiler alert: Mobile wins)
Twenty-Seven Mile Bluff
Located 27 miles north of present-day Mobile, the bluff where the French founded a colony in 1702 remains much as it was 300 years ago, thanks largely to the fact that it is located on private property with limited access. It was the first settlement in an area that would later become part of the Mississippi Territory, then Alabama Territory and then, in 1819, the State of Alabama.
I was escorted to the site by University of South Alabama archaeologist Dr. Greg Waselkov, who spent years excavating footprints of former homes and barracks at what is now called Old Mobile. I won't give directions to the spot because it is protected and requires an escort by owners of the industry located there. Waselkov and other historians, understandably, are concerned trespassers may loot any historic relics that may remain.
The items Waselkov and his students unearthed at the location are displayed at the USA Museum of Archaeology (see photo gallery), illustrating the often harsh lives of colonists who were at the mercy of King Louis XIV for supplies, including food, fabric for new clothing, weapons and building materials.
The colonists at Mobile were protected from Indian and English attack by Fort Louis, the first building constructed at the site. Eventually, the colony had more than 80 homes and 350 residents before it was moved south in 1711.
New Orleans wouldn't be settled until 1718 - 16 years after Mobile was founded and 15 years after Mobile's first Mardi Gras celebration.
But the first French presence on the Gulf Coast was at Fort Maurepas in present-day Biloxi, Mississippi, which was built in 1699. However, Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, explorer and first governor of the colonies, later decided Massacre Island, present-day Dauphin Island in Alabama, made a better port of entry and Mobile was founded nearby, becoming the capital of French Louisiana.
Origins of Mardi Gras in the colonies
Waselkov said the first mention of Mardi Gras in this country can be found in Iberville's journals. (His brother, Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, was overseer of the Mobile colony and would later be named its governor. Two other brothers, Joseph Le Moyne de Serigny and Antoine Le Moyne de Chateaugue, also held important roles in founding the colony.)
Waselkov said the 1699 Mardi Gras mentioned in the story on NOLA.com was not a celebration. It was not even much of an observance but it was noted in Iberville's journal as he was exploring the Mississippi River near present-day Plaquemines Parish.
"Iberville noted on March 3, 1699, 'Mardy Gras day,' that while ascending the Mississippi River they 'spent the night at a bend it makes to the west, 12 leagues above the mouth, on a point on the right side of the river, to which we have given the name Mardy Gras.' That's it, no party or special feast mentioned," Waselkov said. In other words, the explorers named the point merely to honor the day it was discovered.
A journal entry quoted in the book "Old Mobile: Fort Louis de la Louisiane, 1702-1711," by Jay Higginbotham, says Mardi Gras was celebrated at the Mobile colony in February 1703 "for the first time in two years." It had not been celebrated in 1702 because of the move from Maurepas, he wrote.
Letters written from the colony of Old Mobile back to France are on display at the USA Archaeology Museum.
The reference was found in a journal written by Jesuit priest Father Paul Du Ru, who accompanied Iberville on his initial explorations of the Mississippi River. Du Ru reported Mardi Gras had been observed in 1700, in the most rudimentary manner, with a meal of corn stew, according to Waselkov.
"In Du Ru's journal entry for February 23, 1700, he visited the village of the Bayagoula Indians, again on the Mississippi River but north of Lake Pontchartrain, where he said 'we do not have very much in the way of food. Sagamite is put on the fire. This is our only dish for Shrove Tuesday.' The next day, 'I said Mass before daybreak. I administered ashes and preached a short sermon.' Sagamite was a general term for corn soup with other stuff thrown in, fish, venison, whatever."
In 1703, with the Mobile settlement underway, colonists held the first real Mardi Gras celebration but without the revelry they'd known in France. Higginbotham wrote: "The merrymaking, of course, was nowhere near as elaborate as that which they had enjoyed in France. Dancing would not become a part of the celebration until 1705 and except for a few exuberant souls who donned masks and painted their faces red, the merriment consisted primarily of group singing and excessive eating and drinking."
The first ball, parade
Mobile colonists are credited with forming the first mystic society, a Mardi Gras organization, and holding the first masked ball in 1704. However, given the feast-or-famine state of the colony at the time, based on the whims of administrators in France, it could not have been a very lavish affair. In fact, only a handful of homes in the colonies had more than two rooms, and only Fort Louis would have been large enough to hold the colonists, so it was certainly not a "ball" by traditional definition.
The "ball," so to speak, is back in New Orleans' court when it comes to the first Mardi Gras parade. Although some historians say there was a rudimentary parade with papier mache figures in Mobile in 1711, the first modern-day parade with floats was held in New Orleans in 1857 when the Mistick Krewe of Comus was founded. But there's another twist: the krewe was founded by businessmen from, you guessed it, Mobile.
A historical marker tells how the Order of Myths paraded in Mobile on Feb. 25, 1868. (Source: XPtwo via Waymarking.com)
In 1868, after Mardi Gras was re-established by Joe Cain following the Civil War, the first parade was held in Mobile. A historic marker at Royal and Government streets tells how the Order of Myths paraded there on Feb. 25, 1868.
So where was Mardi Grad first celebrated? Mobile, of course. But let's just agree that the tradition is pretty well intertwined in both states. After all, there are plenty of parties to go around.