In the annals of iconic bars in South Baldwin County, Pirates Cove ranks right up there with the Flora-Bama. But while the Flora-Bama is on the main beach highway, Pirates Cove is, well, … not.
It’s in the boonies down County Road 95 below Elberta near the community of Josephine. Its waterfront location is on Arnica Bay. And where is Arnica Bay, you ask? It’s a recessed body just west of Perdido Bay. Today, it forms a natural section of the Intracoastal Waterway.
For residents of Gulf Shores and Orange Beach, getting to Pirate’s Cove by boat is dramatically shorter than driving.
As a pleasant surprise, I found just this morning an article by Breck Pappas in Mobile Bay magazine. Pappas does a great job of storytelling by interviewing and quoting the owners, employees and quirky customers of the bar. For the colorful story, be sure to read the entire article by following the link below.
Some nuggets:
- Before the Civil War, Mobile’s Rafael Semmes was a pirate, according to the storyteller’s history, and used to hide out in a bayou behind the current location of Pirates Cove.
- The original Pirates Cove building was constructed in the 1930s as a bunkhouse for the Civilian Conversation Corps workers who were digging the Intracoastal Waterway.
- There were always dogs in residence at Pirate’s Cove, with one named Riff Raff as a humorous nod toward the generally agreed-upon characterization of the bar’s customer base.
- Because dogs were always there, many customers brought their own dogs and ordered an extra cheeseburger for the pooch. But the residential dogs always looked askance at those on leashes, considering them, it’s assumed, second class citizens.
To read the very entertaining full article, please click here.
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