A lookback at Dauphin Islands extensive history [Video]

DAUPHIN ISLAND, Ala. (WKRG) — The native Americans who lived on Dauphin Island before its exploration by the Spanish and French must have thought this was a paradise with the abundance of food from the sea and gentle weather—at least most of the time.

The Spanish first mapped the island as early as 1519—but a hundred fifty years later, it became part of the French Louisiana colony.

“This was the headquarters for the French and their further exploration,” said David Graves of the Dauphin Island Museum.

Mobile Police looking for person accused of stealing equipment from business

Those first explorers named the island Massacre Island after seeing shell mounds with skeletal remains—and assuming there had been a massacre—but which were likely the remains of the island natives in mounds disturbed by storms.

Modern times pay tribute to the early explorers d’Iberville and Bienville—and others who have been associated with the …