Daphne, Alabama

Daphne sits on the eastern shore of Mobile Bay, and its recorded history stretches back to seventeen sixty-three, when Britain received the territory from France in the Treaty of Paris and the small French settlement here was called simply the Village. Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole peoples had all lived in the area long before European contact. The community grew slowly through the Spanish and American periods, and in eighteen seventy-four it was officially established with a post office and given the name Daphne, chosen by the first postmaster's wife after the flowering shrub that the ancient Greeks associated with the nymph of the same name.

For most of its history Daphne was a quiet Eastern Shore resort and fishing community. In recent decades it has grown dramatically as a suburb of Mobile, and today it is one of the fastest-growing cities on the Gulf Coast.