Latest / In Focus with Carolyn Hutcheson / Mobile I-10 Pt. 2 - TPR's In Focus - April 16, 2026

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Mobile I-10 Pt. 2 - TPR's In Focus - April 16, 2026 · In Focus with Carolyn Hutcheson

• 0:00
  Support comes from the Wiregrass Archives
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  at Troy University's Dothan Campus.
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  Identifying and preserving historical documents
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  and photographs for research related
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  to the Wiregrass region.
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  More information at troy.edu slash Wiregrass Archives.
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  From Troy Public Radio, this is In Focus
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  and I'm Carolyn Hutcheson.
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  Archaeologist Rachel Hines joins us for our History
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  in Your Hands Archaeology series with part two
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  of her interview about the I-10 Mobile River Bridge Archaeology
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  Project.
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  At the time, she was the public outreach coordinator
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  for the University of South Alabama Center
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  for Archaeological Studies.
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  And today, she serves as the public archaeologist
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  for the Northwest region of the Florida Public Archaeology
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  Network.
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  Rachel shares stories today about the multiracial
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  and multicultural generations who
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  left artifacts that you can see online and hear in the Down
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  the Bay Oral History Project.
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  Rachel, welcome back to Troy Public Radio.
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  Thank you.
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  It's good to be back.
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  Can you get us up to date on the I-10 Mobile River Bridge
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  Archaeology Project?
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  Yeah, so the I-10 Mobile River Bridge Archaeology Project
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  is an effort to excavate and record
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  15 sites in the right-of-way of the I-10 Bridge
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  where it crosses Mobile Bay.
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  So probably anyone in the Mobile area
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  knows about the planned expansion for the bridge.
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  We had a team of archaeologists in there excavating 15 sites
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  the size of city blocks, collecting as much data
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  as we could about the people who lived in that area
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  before it's impacted by the bridge widening project.
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  Did you discover any interesting stories
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  at this site?
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  Yes.
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  When you're looking at 15 sites on the scale
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  that we're looking at, it's not only a large horizontal scale,
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  but it's a long time frame as well.
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  So we were finding artifacts as old as 2,000 years ago,
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  continued right up into the present.
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  It's kind of a cross-section of Mobile's history.
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  So we had residential areas where
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  people were living in homes.
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  We had businesses, commercial industry
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  that really built Mobile along the waterfront too.
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  Can you describe the Down the Bay Oral History Project?
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  So the Down the Bay Oral History Project
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  was an effort to learn more about people
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  that either lived in the community
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  where the I-10 Bridge goes through or still live today.
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  When the I-10 Bridge was constructed,
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  it really severed the community and dispersed quite a few people
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  to different parts of Mobile.
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  So through the Down the Bay Oral History Project,
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  we were able to capture stories of people's lives
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  in the neighborhood.
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  And it really tells us a completely different story
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  than archaeology tells us.
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  So archaeology captures day-to-day activities.
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  What were people eating?
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  What kind of things were they buying?
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  But the Oral History Project is people's memories
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  of growing up in the neighborhood, what things
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  they like to do together, and especially
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  what the neighborhood meant to them, some of the experiences
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  they had there.
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  Well, can you share some stories that came to light?
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  So one of my favorite sites was called the Virginia Street
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  site.
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  Most of our sites are named for the street that they're on.
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  So it was in the very southern part of our project area,
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  but part of the Down the Bay community.
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  We had a family that lived there, the Owens family,
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  for over 60 years.
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  So it was three generations that lived in this house.
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  Most of the archaeology at that site
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  we can attribute to that family, which
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  is a really amazing thing in urban archaeology
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  that we don't often get at other types of sites.
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  The dad was named Jesse Owens, but this
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  is a different Jesse Owens, not the famous Jesse Owens.
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  And he and his wife, Lily, moved to Mobile in the 1890s
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  from Georgia by way of Virginia and started their life there.
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  They had two kids, and then those kids had kids,
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  and they kept living in the house.
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  Or at one point, one of their sons and his family
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  was living right next door, so they kind of took over
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  the block for a little while.
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  We were just able to learn so much about them
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  because we have so many historical records
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  from that time period.
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  So we've got city directories.
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  We've got census records, so records
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  that could tell us more about who they were,
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  what kind of jobs they did.
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  So between the historical documents
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  and then the archaeology that was done at their house,
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  we could get this full picture of what their life is like.
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  What did you find on their property?
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  There was a huge trash pit, over 7,000 artifacts,
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  I think, in it, and all of them would
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  have been from that family.
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  The family had a store attached to their house for a time.
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  Lily Owens worked as a dressmaker,
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  so there were all kinds of sewing implements
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  and buttons, thimbles.
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  There were kids' toys, like marbles and porcelain dolls.
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  In the front yard, that was where things were kept tidy
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  because it's the part that faces the street,
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  but there were, like, flowerpot fragments,
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  things that help fill out the picture of what life used
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  to be like in Mobile at that time.
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  Is there a website where your listeners
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  can see some of these artifacts that were found?
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  So we've got a website that we created.
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  It's on the University of South Alabama's website,
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  but it's southalabama.edu slash org slash archaeology.
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  There's a tab for our I-10 page, and we've got maps.
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  We've got artifact highlights.
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  We have oral histories.
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  We've got site tour videos,
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  so it lets you virtually visit some of the sites.
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  We've got a couple of virtual exhibits.
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  And you developed a lesson plan for schools.
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  Yes, because there was so much material
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  with the Owens family to share,
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  that was the inspiration for one of the lesson plans
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  we created.
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  On our website, there's a tab for educational lessons,
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  and we have a free, downloadable lesson
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  about the Owens family.
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  It's targeted at fourth and fifth grade students
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  who are learning about Alabama history.
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  But because they lived there for those 60 years,
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  they were experiencing so many key moments
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  in Alabama history.
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  The lesson really puts kind of a personal face
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  on some big events that were happening.
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  The Owens son, his name was Nathan Owens,
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  served in World War I.
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  He had four sons, so they all enlisted
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  in the draft for World War II.
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  So students will take the documents
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  about the Owens family,
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  and then they get to see the artifacts
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  that were left behind about what life was like for them.
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  So we've got the free, downloadable version on our website,
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  but we also made some kits using real artifacts.
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  And those are actually available for checkout
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  from the Alabama Department of Archives and History.
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  So teachers can request a kit,
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  so the students can actually get hands-on
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  with what we found.
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  What are some of the other artifacts you found
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  from a different era?
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  Towards the top of our project area,
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  there were artifacts associated with French
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  and Spanish and British artifacts
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  that would have been produced in those countries
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  and then brought here.
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  Mostly potteries, especially during the colonial period,
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  reflected the area where it was made.
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  There were different pottery-making techniques
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  where artifacts came from,
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  the designs that were put on it.
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  So we did find pottery that came to us
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  from all over the world.
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  One of the interesting things about our project area
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  is it was along the waterfront,
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  and a lot of our waterfront didn't exist
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  prior to the 1800s.
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  So in the 1820s to 1840s,
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  the waterfront was really built on fill.
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  So we have an extra two blocks or so out along the water
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  that didn't exist before then.
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  And some of the fill was actually rubble
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  from the demolition of Fort Condie.
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  So when the fort was getting old,
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  it wasn't being used anymore.
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  In the American period, it was demolished
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  and that brick rubble and all the other artifacts
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  that would have been up there
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  were taken down to the waterfront.
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  So some of the artifacts that we found
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  in those rubble layers
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  actually were part of the original Fort Condie.
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  You have worked all over the country
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  with projects for the U.S. Forest Service,
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  the National Park Service.
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  How does this site compare?
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  The scale of this project
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  is unlike anything I've ever experienced.
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  So not just the size of the excavations,
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  but also the timeframe that we're working with,
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  thousands of years,
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  and also the scale of our oral history project,
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  being able to talk to over 100 community members.
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  I think it will definitely be a career highlight for me.
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  Rachel, thank you for your visit.
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  Before we let you go,
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  tell us one more time how to access the project online.
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  The URL is southalabama.edu slash org slash archeology.
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  And if you just Google
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  I-10 Mobile River Bridge Archeology Project,
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  that should take you right to it too.
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  I'm glad we could do this.
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  Joining us for our History in Your Hands Archeology Series
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  was public archeologist, Rachel Hines,
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  who developed an outreach program
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  for the I-10 Mobile River Bridge Archeology Project
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  during her time as public outreach coordinator
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  at the University of South Alabama
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  Center for Archeological Studies.
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  Thanks for joining us today for In Focus,
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  which is a podcast wherever you get your podcasts.
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  I'm Carolyn Hutcheson,
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  and this is listener-supported Troy Public Radio.