Dauphin Island

Dauphin Island is a barrier island in the Gulf of Mexico in Mobile County, south of Bayou La Batre and at the mouth of Mobile Bay. The town on the island had about 1,610 residents in 2020. Its history runs from a Native American shell mound (about 1100 to 1550 CE) through Spanish and French exploration to Fort Gaines, built from 1821, and today it is known for the Dauphin Island Sea Lab and as a landfall for migrating birds.[1]

Names and early history

A shell mound dating from roughly 1100 to 1550 CE shows long Native American use. Spanish explorers mapped the island by 1519 as Isla de San Feliz. In 1699 Iberville and Bienville named it Ile du Massacre after finding about 60 skeletons, and in 1704 the ship Pelican landed 23 women, called the Pelican Girls, on the island. By about 1711 the French had renamed it Ile Dauphine. A storm in 1717 cut a channel that created Petit Bois Island. Control passed among France, Spain and Britain, then to the United States in 1813, and the island became part of the Alabama Territory in 1817.[1]

Fort Gaines and the bridge

Construction of Fort Gaines began in 1821 on the island’s eastern tip to guard Mobile Bay, stalled when funds ran short and was still incomplete during the Civil War; it is on the National Register of Historic Places and houses a museum. Congressman Frank Boykin secured funds for a bridge to the mainland, finished by 1955, which spurred tourism; Hurricane Frederic destroyed it in 1979 and it reopened in 1982. The town incorporated in 1988.[1]

Science and wildlife

The Alabama Legislature established the Dauphin Island Sea Lab in 1971; its Estuarium is a public aquarium focused on the Mobile-Tensaw estuary, and Auburn University’s Shellfish Laboratory opened there in 2003. The Audubon Bird Sanctuary is a stop on the Alabama Coastal Birding Trail, a land trust oversees more than 160 acres of bird sanctuaries, and the 11-acre Indian Shell Mound Park is on the National Register of Historic Places.[1]

Storms and change

Hurricane Katrina in 2005 cut off the uninhabited western half of the island, and Hurricane Isaac in 2012 washed over it and altered its shape. In 2014 the state used Deepwater Horizon compensation money to fill a pass that Katrina had opened. Median household income in 2020 was $65,481.[1]

FAQs

Where is Dauphin Island? At the mouth of Mobile Bay in Mobile County, Alabama.

What is Fort Gaines? A fort begun in 1821 on the island’s east end, now a museum.

What is the Sea Lab? A marine science education and research centre founded in 1971.

Sources

1. Encyclopedia of Alabama: Dauphin Island

Editorially reviewed by Specialty Digest Editorial TeamLast reviewed November 10, 2026Researched and drafted with AI assistanceReport an issue