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About Us
Dog River Clearwater Revival (DRCR) is a all volunteer grassroots nonprofit 501(c)3 organization. Membership is open to any interested individual, family or organization. Members include property owners, recreational boaters, fishermen, businesses and citizens. The group successfully designs, implements and monitors projects that improve the environmental health of the Dog River Watershed in Mobile, Alabama.
Mission
Our mission is to create an environment where the citizens, workers, and visitors work and play in a clean, safe, and accessible Dog River Watershed.
Meetings
Dog River Clearwater Revival Monthly Meetings
Monthly meetings are usually held the second Tuesday of every month from 6:30 to 7:30 pm at the Mobile Public Library, 1924-B Dauphin Island Parkway, at the intersection of Dauphin Island Parkway (DIP) and Old Military Road. Committee meetings may be held 30 minutes prior to the regular monthly meeting. Monthly meetings are open to the public. For more information, contact us.
Directions from Mobile: I-65 South to I-10 East to Pensacola. Move to the right lane and take the first exit, Dauphin Island Parkway (DIP). Stay in the right lane to DIP south.
Travel approximately 1/2 mile. Turn right into Fulbrook Shopping Center (by Checkers).
From South Mobile County: East on Hamilton Blvd, left on DIP, turn left into Fulbrook Shopping Center after intersection with Old Military Road (by Checkers).
Dog River Clearwater Annual Meetings
The annual meeting is held in January of each year, at which time the board of directors is elected. Other meetings are held throughout the year for the purpose of educating the public on the issues, concerns, and solutions pertinent to the watershed. Meetings are announced in the newsletter and on the website. All meetings are open to the public
History of Dog River
Postcard of Dog River
Circa 1908
The First Europeans
The first mention of Dog River by Europeans was in 1704 when Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur d'Iberville (founder of French Louisiana) and his crew camped on the banks of Dog River on the night of February 29th while on their way to the original site of Mobile at 27 Mile Bluff . d'Iberville wrote
The land here is good, elevated: the woods are mixed, pines, oaks, laurels, beeches, elms, with meadows. Up this river I am having some stave wood cut by three workmen I have here... This river goes back only 2 leagues inland, where the land looks good. (McWilliams R. G., 1981)
He observed that there was "4 to 5 feet of water" at the mouth of the river.
Iberville officially named the estuary Riviere aux Chiens (Dog River in English) on March 26, 1702. No reason was given for the name, however, Andre' P'enigault in his reminiscences ( (McWilliams R. G., 1988) notes that another Riviere aux Chiens, located in present day Louisiana, was so named by the French " because a crocodile (alligator) ate up one of their dogs there". It is interesting to speculate on what might have happened here to cause this name to be chosen but, unfortunately, we will probably never know.
At this time d'Iberville's men had already built a warehouse on the shores of Dog River to aid in transporting supplies from Massacre Island (now Daupin Island) to Twenty Seven Mile Bluff. The bar at Dog River almost completely blocked the main channel leading up the bay so supplies had to be transferred to a smaller vessel for the last part of the trip. Supplies would be brought to Dog River in a smack (a small sailboat) and then loaded onto a row boat for the rest of the trip up Mobile Bay and up the Mobile River. The exact site of the warehouse was not noted but a site near the mouth of the river seems likely.
References:
McWilliams, R. G. (1988). Fleur de Lys and Calumet:Being the P'enicault Narrative of French Adventure in Louisiana. Tuscaloosa: Unversity of Alabama Press.
McWilliams, R. G. (1981). Iberville's Gulf Journals. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press.
Waselkov, Gregory A. & Gums, Bonnie L. Plantation Archeology at Riviere aux Chiens ca. 1725-1848 University of South Alabama Arcaeological Monograph 7, 2000
Keep an eye on this column in the future for more information. If you have information on the history of Dog River and the surrounding area we would appreciate your sharing with us. Also, if you are a longtime resident of the area we would love to talk with you about life on the river before the bridge and all of the development happened. We hope that by looking at the history of this river we can better appreciate how fortunate we are to live here. Feel free to contact us anytime at j46miller@yahoo.com or 654-1827. Any errors you find are ours and we hope that you will correct us (nicely, please).
Janet & Tom Miller
History of DRCR
Many community groups form around a single issue of enough concern to bring people together. As that issue fades, so do many groups. In the case of Dog River Clearwater Revival, the group incorporated, became a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization and is going strong today. The first meeting was held in 1991. The group was incorporated in 1994.
Archaeology
The archaeological dig at the Dog River site took several years to complete the field work and lab work that included washing and analyzing nearly 200,000 artifacts. The major part of the dig was completed from 1993 to 1996 by archaeologists and students from the Center for Archaeological Studies at the University of South Alabama. The project was required by the Historical Preservation Act of 1966 because construction of the new Dog River bridge destroyed portions of the site. Funding was provided by the Alabama Department of Transportation. A report was published in 2000 describing the wealth of new information about the material culture of the Native Americans, French colonists, and African slaves who lived on Dog River. The plantation was the home of several generations of the Rochon family, who prospered in many economic enterprises during the French (1702-1763) and British (1763-1781) colonial periods. Artifacts, once personal possessions and household items, include Indian pottery, some elaborately decorated, European goods such as glazed ceramics and glass trade beads of all colors, and local products such as bricks made in a kiln at the Dog River plantation. http://www.usouthal.edu/archaeology/dog-river.html
Memories of Dog River
Share your memories about Dog River, its tributaries and the watershed. Contact Us.
Memories from Barbara Jo Hogan, March 2009
The sandbar at the mouth of the river, where the old bridge was, once was the site of baptisms for many churches in the area. When we were kids, that area was Grand View Park with a nice big bath house and refreshment/restaurant sort of casino...not gambling. There were swings and seesaws and white sandy beaches for swimming. This was during the WWII era.
