Mardi Gras season is in full swing across the Gulf Coast. Mobile considers itself the birthplace of Fat Tuesday in the U.S. That means deep roots and lots of stories. One tale recently earned an official historical marker in Alabama’s Port City. It dates from 1704, and it has to do with a group of young women who became known as the Pelican Girls.
Bella Myers is a guide with Bienville Bites Food Tours. She’s also one of the people helping bring back the long-forgotten story of the Pelican Girls. As her group shares beignets, Bella tells about the founding of Mobile. And what mattered most in the colony’s earliest days.
“They’re ready to name Mobile as the first capital of French Louisiana territory,” Myer told her group. “And even before they’re ready to do that, the thing that they do is they send news back to King Louis the Fourteenth — ‘Send women.’”
It was 1702 when French settlers founded Mobile, and by the next year, carnival traditions were already starting. But there was a problem for this new colony: plenty of men, and not many women. So they sent for girls from France.
These weren’t farmers or frontier settlers used to hardship. They were teenage girls from convents around Paris, sent across the Atlantic on a ship called The Pelican. History remembers them as the Pelican Girls. They were promised opportunity. What they found was hardship.
“They are guaranteed a house don’t mention that the house won’t have windows or doors,” Myers observed.
Twenty-three young women made the journey. But along the way, the ship stopped in Cuba and yellow fever came aboard. When they finally arrived in Mobile Bay, the girls were grieving and terrified. When they finally arrived in Mobile, the girls were grieving and terrified.
“When they see Mobile, they want to get back on the ship. They would rather return to Paris than face what was before them,” said Myers, There were no stores. No supply ships. If it wasn’t local, Mobile didn’t have it. Many of the girls became pregnant while their husbands were away trading furs.They were young. Hungry. Sick. And living in homes that barely held together. And then, something changed.
“The girls really had this choice,” sid Myers. “Are we going to die off one by one, or are we going to choose to live?” They chose to live.
“They start what we call the Petticoat Rebellion,” Myers recalled. “Nobody’s coming home to this house or this petticoat until we have gardens, until we have better living conditions. Survivable conditions.”
It worked and Mobile survived.
Bella says she’s always surprised that most people on these tours, even the locals, have never heard of the Pelican Girls.
“There was nowhere in Mobile that talked about these women. I felt like that needed to change,” she said. Bella teamed up with fellow amateur historian Dr. Allison Henry. For nearly two years, the two researched, wrote, and advocated — working to make sure the marker carried the right words and stood in the right place. A few months ago, that work came together with the unveiling of a historic marker honoring the Pelican Girls at Fort Condé.
Each of those women is also remembered through the Pelican Girls Secret Society — women who dress in period clothing, walk in Mardi Gras parades, and speak in the voices of the Pelican Girls. Descendants were also at the unveiling with stories passed down for generations. One of them was thirteen-year-old Addison Jones.
“I was looking through my mom and dad’s room, and I found this photo that said ‘direct descendant of the Pelican Girls.’ And I was like, ‘Hey Mom… what is this?” Jones asked
Addison first heard the story of Gabrielle Savary from her mother. Gabrielle was one of the last Pelican Girls to marry, and she later became a merchant in New Orleans. Inspired by that history, Addison helped plan the marker unveiling as part of her Eagle Scout project. She’s also writing a children’s book to help share the story of the Pelican Girls with a new generation.
“It’s important to know your past and your history,” Addison said. “And it’s not only boys who can do things.”
Back at the ceremony, Bella asked the crowd to imagine those young women. Teenagers sent far from home, facing a life they never expected.
“And it's through their dedication, their perseverance. And Mobile truly is a city born in resilience,” said Myers.
More than 320 years later, this city still carries their courage and spirit.
