A narrow barrier island at the mouth of Mobile Bay in Alabama, known for white-sand beaches and a major bird migration stopover.
Geography
Dauphin Island stretches about 22 km along the Gulf Coast at the entrance of Mobile Bay. The island is divided into a developed eastern end and a narrow, undeveloped western end shaped by storms and currents.
Wildlife
The Audubon Bird Sanctuary protects 65 hectares of maritime forest and freshwater ponds. The island is a critical first landfall for trans-Gulf migrants such as warblers, tanagers, and orioles each spring.
History
French colonists settled the island in 1699 and used it as the first capital of French Louisiana. Fort Gaines, a masonry coastal fort completed in 1861, guarded the bay during the Civil War Battle of Mobile Bay.