Osprey Estate                      

Welcome to Osprey Estate

A long history of hiding out and getting away.

The Choctaw Indians called Osprey home for a couple thousand years prior to the arrival of the Europeans.  They fished, hunted, harvested oysters and mussels, and had gardens very similar to what we have now.   The Indians in this region were most likely descendants of Mayan maritime explorers that traveled the coastline up from the Yucatan during the peak of the Mayan civilization.  

 After the arrival of Spanish, British, and French explorers in the 1600s, the deep water coves along this coastline became hideouts for pirates and sometimes-outlaw naval captains like Admiral Semmes who traded in black market goods from conquered enemy ships. 

From the late 1800s to early 1900s, this area became a favorite hideout and transshipping point for rumrunners smuggling rum from Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Tortuga.  From here, barrels of rum were shipped up the rivers from Mobile and New Orleans to river ports all the way up the Mississippi River, and then loaded on wagons and shipped east to Chicago and Pennsylvania, and west to California.

Beginning in the early 1900s through to about 1960, this area continued its roll as a transshipping point for Caribbean rum, but also became a production and distribution center for moonshine.  Distilleries were located in the dense woods along these shores for decades.  

During WWII, these waters were frequented by Axis subs.   Although never attacked, it is believed that German spies often came ashore to get supplies and, well, spy.    There’s a great book by Andy Andrews called “Island of Saints” that is based around these events.  Its a really good book.

Then came the 60s, 70s, and early 80s …   Contraband found its way to our backwater shoreline from South America, Central America, and Jamaica.  For all the same reasons as the last few hundred years, our hidden coves continued to be the favorite hideout and transshipping point for nearly 30% of the illegal contraband entering the United States.   The term “Save the Bales”, made famous on the Flora-Bama t-shirts of the early 80s, was inspired from the thousands of bales and packages of contraband that were dumped into the waters off shore from time to time by smugglers, to avoid being caught red-handed on their way into port when spotted by the Coast Guard and DEA.  These bales would often wash ashore and be found by unsuspecting beach combers (many of whom retired shortly thereafter, or became locally famous for their parties!).

Nowadays, Osprey is the place for people to hide out from their day to day life, get to know their family again, or just enjoy a few quiet days with nature.  

So relax, and enjoy the best hideout in the Southern United States.

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