by Carolyn Lanier

Created on: December 16, 2008

Home is where you hang your hat. Not for me, Home is a place where I feel safe and happy, and that's how I feel about my home town of Saraland, which is located in North Mobile county.

Saraland's history stretches back to the early 19th century when a Spanish settler named Diego Alvaraz docked his ferry and made a small patch of land along the Mobile river his home and called it Alvaraz Station. A lot of his descendants still live here. Later when squatters began buying property legally, a retired Minister named C.J. Dewitt opened the first post office on the southern railroad, and the community was named after his wife Sara.

When Mobile started its Northward expansion in the 1940's and 50's, it brought about the incorporation of Saraland in 1957, at that time the city had 125 residents, today nearly 13,000.

Saraland's residents come from all different races and religions, and you couldn't ask for a friendlier place to live or visit. There's so much to do here. Civic and service oriented groups like the Sunshine club, Lions club, Optimist club, The Saraland Civic Forum holds a Citizen of the year Banquet, we have the Miss North Mobile Pageant, our YMCA offers aerobics, youth programs and sports, seniors programs, weight management programs, a heated pool, parents night out and much more.

Whether you're into fishing, boating, swimming, sports, karate, square dancing, tap, ballet, jazz, hip hop, coon hunting, football, baseball, softball, skating, archery, karaoke, a shooting range, Arts and Craft shows or maybe a quite day at the Library, we have it here. also the Red Barn offers activities and entertainment for the handicapped.

We're also known for having the longest Christmas Parades in Southern Alabama. In 2006, we voted to break away from the Mobile Public school system. this past August our dream became a reality. We now have our own school system and its so cool to see buses running with "Saraland City Schools" on the sides.

Crime is low, Our streets are pretty safe. The worse thing that has happened here is the derailment of the Sunset Limited on Big Bayou Canot on Sept. 22, of 1993 when a barge Captain made a wrong turn in fog and hit the bridge and didn't report it.

Cry Baby Bridge brings a lot of visitors to Saraland to find out for themselves if the haunting is true. This story goes way back and supposedly a man caught his wife cheating and when the baby was born, he threw it off the bridge and at night its told you can hear a baby cry and if you sprinkle baby powder on the bridge small footsteps appear. I personally don't know anyone who has witnessed this to be true, but it keeps visitors coming and some like Saraland as much as I do and have made it their home town too.

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