Meaher State Park, State park in Spanish Fort, Alabama

Meaher State Park is a protected area near Spanish Fort, Alabama, sitting along the shore of Mobile Bay and the Blakeley River delta. It covers coastal wetlands, marshes, and wooded sections that support a wide range of native plants and wildlife.

The park opened in 1989 on land donated to the state by Augustine Meaher, for whom it is named. He was a descendant of Timothy Meaher, who smuggled 110 African men, women and children into Mobile Bay on the schooner Clotilda in 1860 and was charged but not convicted.

The park sits near Mobile Bay, and local families often come here on weekends to fish from the piers or walk along the water. Birdwatching is common, as the wetlands draw many migratory birds throughout the year.

The park lies on Big Island at the north end of Mobile Bay, reached from Battleship Parkway, the road known locally as the Causeway. It has 118 individual campsites, eight cabins, a boat ramp, a kayak launch and a 300-foot fishing pier. An interpretive boardwalk crosses the surrounding wetlands.

The Meaher family, after whom the park is named, were connected to the Clotilda, the last known ship to bring enslaved people to the United States in 1860. The descendants of those survivors founded Africatown, a community that still exists just a short drive from the park.