Bon Secour, Alabama

Bon Secour, Alabama
Unincorporated community
Census-designated place
Looking west over Bon Secour Bay
Location of Bon Secour in Baldwin County, Alabama.
Coordinates: 30°19′20″N 87°43′38″W / 30.32222°N 87.72722°W / 30.32222; -87.72722[1]
CountryUnited States
StateAlabama
CountyBaldwin
Area
[2]
 • Total
4.65 sq mi (12.05 km2)
 • Land4.32 sq mi (11.19 km2)
 • Water0.33 sq mi (0.86 km2)
Elevation
[1]
10 ft (3.0 m)
Population
 (2020)
 • Total
1,754
 • Density406.0/sq mi (156.74/km2)
Time zoneUTC-6 (Central (CST))
 • Summer (DST)UTC-5 (CDT)
ZIP code
36511
Area code251
FIPS code01-08272
GNIS feature ID2633314[1]

Bon Secour /bɑːn səˈkjuːr/ is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Baldwin County, Alabama, United States. It lies along the eastern coastline of Bon Secour Bay (a contiguous bay that sits along the eastern edge of Mobile Bay). Bon Secour is over 35 miles (56 km) due east of the Alabama–Mississippi state line, near Gulf Shores, and over 45 miles (72 km) west of Pensacola, Florida. The name "Bon Secour" derives from the French phrase meaning "safe harbor" due to the secluded location on the inside coast of the Fort Morgan peninsula of southern Alabama.[3]

Bon Secour lies on the Bon Secour River. Elevation is 10 feet (3.0 m) above sea level. The estuarial river system empties into Bon Secour Bay at Mobile Bay.[4]

It is part of the Daphne-Fairhope-Foley metropolitan area.

As of the 2020 census, Bon Secour had a population of 1,754.[5]

It was first listed as a CDP prior to the 2020 Census.

Bon Secour is sometimes mentioned in hurricane report statistics, for the region, since Bon Secour is the easternmost town inside the coastline of Mobile Bay when entering the bay from the south, indicating weather and tide conditions for the population at the southeast end of Mobile Bay, nearest the entrance to the Gulf of Mexico. By contrast, Mobile, Alabama is located near the (diagonally opposite) north end of Mobile Bay, much farther from the Gulf tide and hurricane storm surges.

History

Bon Secour was originally founded by French settlers as a fishing village in the 1700s. Namedsafe harbor in French by Jacques Cook, a French Canadian from Montreal, a member of Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville's colonizing expedition of 1699. He was a participant in the founding of Mobile in 1702.

Hurricanes

The location of Bon Secour on the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico makes it especially vulnerable to hurricanes:

  • In September 1979, Bon Secour received the full brunt of Category 3 Hurricane Frederic, which leveled most of the beachfront of the town.
  • In September 2004, category 3 Hurricane Ivan made landfall only a few miles from Bon Secour, causing extensive wind and flooding damage. Nearby Orange Beach suffered even greater damage from its location east of Ivan's eyewall. Over 800 homes (mainly condominiums) were destroyed by Ivan.
  • Hurricane Katrina (August 29, 2005) flooded Bon Secour with a large storm surge, which had extended over 120 miles (190 km) eastward from the eye, also flooding the Florida Panhandle (such as Navarre Beach). Waves near Bon Secour were 22-feet (6.7 m) high, in Mobile Bay.

2010 Gulf Oil Spill

The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill drastically reduced the availability of Gulf shrimp, so many people lost their jobs with the fishing industry. In June 2010, oil globs and submerged oil began washing ashore on the beaches of the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge, killing many fish and crabs.

Geography

The town has a total area of 3.4 square miles (8.7 km2), all land, although it lies along the Bon Secour River and bay.

Climate

Bon Secour enjoys a very mild climate throughout the year. High temperatures in the winter average around 65 degrees; summer-time high temperatures average around 87. Bon Secour also averages 61 inches (1,500 mm) of rainfall per year.

Nearby towns

Demographics

Historical population
CensusPop.Note%±
20201,754—
U.S. Decennial Census[6]
1850[7] 1860[8] 1870[9]
1880[10] 1890-1900[11]
1910[12] 1920[13] 1930[14]
1940[15] 1950[16] 1960[17]
1970[18] 1980[19] 1990[20]
2000[21] 2010[22] 2020[23]

Bon Secour was first listed as a census designated place in the 2020 U.S. census.[23][22]

2020 census

Bon Secour CDP, Alabama – Racial and ethnic composition
Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.
Race / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic) Pop 2020[23] % 2020
White alone (NH) 1,428 81.41%
Black or African American alone (NH) 63 3.49%
Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH) 11 0.63%
Asian alone (NH) 6 0.34%
Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone (NH) 1 0.06%
Other race alone (NH) 8 0.46%
Mixed race or Multiracial (NH) 59 3.36%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 178 10.15%
Total 1,754 100.00%

Education

Bon Secour is served by the Baldwin County Public Schools system,[24] in the nearby town of Foley. An elementary school, an intermediate school, a middle school, and a high school serve Foley.

  • Foley High School (grades 9-12)
  • Foley Intermediate School (grades 5-6)
  • Foley Middle School (grades 7-8)
  • Foley Elementary School (grades K-4)
  • Swift Elementary School (grades PreK-6) - Located in Bon Secour.

Regional

The Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge (NWR)[3] is not really located in Bon Secour, but nearby, along Ft. Morgan Road, on the island, over the Intracoastal Waterway bridge. The Bon Secour NWR consists of over 6,700 acres (27 km2) of wildlife habitat lying directly west of Gulf Shores, Alabama, on the Fort Morgan peninsula (western sliver of the island) formed by the Intracoastal Waterway, Oyster Bay, Bon Secour Bay, and Mobile Bay. The refuge was established by the United States Congress in 1980 to provide habitat for non-game birds migrating south in the fall and north in the spring. The migration paths from Bon Secour lead south to lower Florida, the Caribbean, Mexico and Central America. The Bon Secour refuge also serves as one of the largest undeveloped parcels of land on the Alabama coast, with sand dunes which are a reminder of the Gulf Coast, as it formerly existed. Consequently, the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge has been named among the ten natural wonders of Alabama. It has become a birding Mecca.

Notes

  1. ^ a b c U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Bon Secour, Alabama
  2. ^ "2020 U.S. Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved October 29, 2021.
  3. ^ a b "Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge" (August 18, 2006), US Fish and Wildlife Service, web: FWS-Gov-BSNWR.
  4. ^ "ADEM: Bon Secour River Watershed" (U.S. Gov't report), U.S. NOAA, July 1996, page 12 of 59, webpage (PDF): NOAA-cedbbd.pdf.
  5. ^ "2020 Decennial Census Redistricting Data (Public Law 94-171)". United States Census Bureau. 2021. Retrieved March 6, 2026.
  6. ^ "Decennial Census of Population and Housing by Decade" (PDF). United States Census Bureau.
  7. ^ "1850 Census of Population - Alabama - Population of Civil Divisions less than Counties" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 1850.
  8. ^ "1860 Census of Population - Alabama - Population of Civil Divisions less than Counties" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 1860.
  9. ^ "1870 Census of Population - Alabama - Population of Civil Divisions less than Counties" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 1870.
  10. ^ "1880 Census of Population - Alabama - Population of Civil Divisions less than Counties" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 1880.
  11. ^ "1900 Census of Population - Alabama". United States Census Bureau. 1900.
  12. ^ "1910 Census of Population - Alabama" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 1910.
  13. ^ "1920 Census of Population - Alabama" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 1920. p. 178-179.
  14. ^ "1930 Census of Population - Alabama" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 1930. p. 139.
  15. ^ "1940 Census of Population - Alabama" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 1940.
  16. ^ "1950 Census of Population - Alabama" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 1950.
  17. ^ "1960 Census of Population - Population of all incorporated places; and all unincorporated places of 1,000 or more - Alabama" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 1960.
  18. ^ "1970 Census of Population - Alabama" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 1970.
  19. ^ "1980 Census of Population - Alabama" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 1980.
  20. ^ "1990 Census of Population - Alabama" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 1990.
  21. ^ "2000 Census of Population - Summary Population and Housing Characteristics - Alabama" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 2000.
  22. ^ a b "2010 Census of Population - General Population Characteristics - Alabama" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 2010.
  23. ^ a b c "P2 Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race – 2020: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171) - Bon Secour CDP, Alabama". United States Census Bureau.
  24. ^ Geography Division (December 21, 2020). 2020 Census - School District Reference Map: Baldwin County, AL (PDF) (Map). United States Census Bureau. Retrieved July 29, 2025. Text list.

References

The following are reference sources, repeated alphabetically:

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