Bettie Hunter House, Renaissance Revival house in Mobile, Alabama

The Bettie Hunter House is a two-story residence in Renaissance Revival style located on St. Francis Street, featuring symmetrical window placement and carefully proportioned Italianate details throughout. The exterior displays the decorative cornices, arched elements, and ornamental brickwork characteristic of this architectural movement.

Bettie Hunter, born enslaved, ran a hack and carriage business in Mobile with her brother Henry. After the fall of New Orleans in the Civil War left Mobile the South's only major Gulf port, she cornered the city's carriage transport market. Her two-story Italianate house was built in 1878; she died on November 2, 1879, aged 27, and willed it to her family.

Bettie Hunter ran a hack and carriage business with her brother Henry, moving goods and people when Mobile was the South's only major Gulf port after New Orleans fell. Her 1878 house, finished a year before her death at 27, was willed to her family; she had no children and is buried in Magnolia Cemetery.

The house remains privately owned but offers guided tours as part of the Dora Franklin Finley African-American Heritage Trail in Mobile. Visitors should check ahead for tour availability since access depends on family scheduling.

The owner of this residence passed away at only 27 years old, just one year after its completion. This brief life story has made the house a poignant reminder of her rapid rise from slavery to prosperity.