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MY
ROUSES
EVERYDAY
SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2015
Old Shell Road
We have a Rouses on Old Shell Road in Lower Alabama
and were curious about how the road got its name.
There’s a seafood (shell) connection, of course.
—Ali Rouse Royster
From Harper’s Weekly Journal of Civilization, New York,
Saturday, September 6, 1866:
From its beginnings, c.1824 until 1850, the picturesque
and tree lined Isabella Street was one of Mobile’s most
popular drives. During this same time, Spring Hill was
rapidly becoming Mobile’s fashionable summer resort
and refuge from the dreaded yellow fever epidemics.
About midway through the 19th century, a group of
Spring Hill’s wealthy summer residents financed from
their own purses the surfacing of the original country
road with shells. To provide for the maintenance of
the road, which had to be resurfaced with shells four
times a year, an act of legislature, February 13th, 1850,
opened Isabella Street to toll and renamed it the “Shell
Road”. A tollgate located near Stickney’s Hollow
(now known as Fernway) charged 25 and 50 cents per
vehicle. Beginning at Broad Street, the “Shell Road”
passed through Stickney’s Hollow, along the fringes
of Summerville (now Spring Hill Avenue) skirting
Ashland, the home of Mrs.Augusta EvansWilson (now
Ashland Place) near Napoleonville (now Crichton)
eventually climbing “The Hill” and ending majestically
at Spring Hill College. On February 10th, 1854, a
second act of legislature authorized the construction of
another shell road along Mobile Bay. It was at that time,
so as to distinguish one from the other, that the original
“Shell Road” was renamed “Old Shell Road.”
At Seafood’s Peak: September & October
Brown Shrimp,
Gulf Coast
Clams & Mussels,
East Coast
Cod,
East Coast
Flounder,
Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Texas, West
Coast, East Coast
Keta Salmon,
West Coast
King Crab,
Alaska
Lobsters,
East Coast
Octopus,
West Coast
Oysters,
Gulf Coast, West Coast, East Coast
Scallops,
West Coast, East Coast
Scottish Salmon,
Scotland
Sockeye Salmon,
West Coast
Swordfish,
California
White Shrimp,
Gulf Coast
Yellowfin Tuna,
Louisiana and Florida
Bill Bayley’s West Indies Salad
The recipe was originally published in 1964 in the Junior League of Mobile
cookbook, Recipe Jubilee.
WHAT YOU WILL NEED
1
medium onion, chopped fine
1
pound fresh lump crabmeat
4
ounces Wesson Oil
3
ounces cider vinegar
4
ounces ice water
(as cold as you can get it)
Salt and pepper
HOW TO PREP
Follow these instructions to the letter! Spread half of onion over bottom of large
bowl. Cover with separated crab lumps. Add the remaining onion. Season with salt
and pepper. Pour oil, vinegar and ice water over all. Cover and marinate 2-12 hours.
Toss lightly before serving. Serve as a salad on a bed of lettuce or on crackers as
an appetizer.
the
Savings
issue