Saturday, January 7, 2012

Welcome to Semmes, Alabama

Yesterday, while cruising into Mobile on US-98, we came across a town named Semmes, just west of Mobile.  I'd never heard of a Semmes, Alabama, but imagined with a name like that, it would have something to do with the Confederate naval hero.

I looked it up on Wikipedia and found out that it was formerly an unincorporated area that voted to become a city in 2010 and was incorporated just seven months ago, May 11, 2011.

And, it was named for Raphael Semmes, who served in the US Navy from 1820-1860  and the Confederate Navy from 1860 to 1865, best known for his command of the CSS Alabama, but he also commanded the CSS Sumter which also enjoyed a successful career attacking Union shipping.

It is hard to believe that in these tremendously anti-anything Confederate times, that a town would be allowed to name itself after a Confederate.

More Power to Them.  --Old B-Runner

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