For 61 years, Bucky greeted and served guests at the Grand Hotel. With gentlemanly charm, a calm, dignified demeanor and the most uncanny ability to remember people's names, he was gifted in the fine art of southern hospitality.
The Grand Hotel in Point Clear, Alabama is a magical place steeped in history; Bucky was very passionate about sharing its history with those who visited. The natural beauty alone is magical. Sprawling over 550 acres, only a few miles south of Fairhope, right along the eastern shore of Mobile Bay . . . it is exquisite.
When you enter the front gate, there's enough beauty to take your breath away: From the sight of the lagoon to the gardens and enormous, moss-draped, majestic old live oaks, with branches and limbs reaching almost to the ground before turning back skyward. There are walking paths that wind through the property like pale ribbons against the green of the landscape and if the weather permits, people play croquet or sit at one of the many picturesque spots looking out at the water.
There is a gravity about the place. Even if you know nothing about its history, you feel it. If only the walls or the grounds could speak . . .
Bucky referred to the Hotel as being hallowed ground and he educated visitors and locals alike about the Hotel's history from his pulpit: behind the bar of his Birdcage Lounge where he was bartender extraordinaire. From early March through the end of summer, his strawberry mojitos and mint juleps were simply divine on a warm, sunny day. Never too sweet and always ice cold, the first sip even better than you thought it would be, his cocktails were picture perfect.
The Birdcage is now called Bucky's Birdcage since his passing in 2002. It is a beautiful bar with mostly glass on the west facing side, so the view of the grounds leading out to the shore of Mobile Bay (Julep Point, to be specific) is uninterrupted. As you might guess, the sunsets are spectacular. And right outside the bar is a life-sized bronze statue of Bucky, created by a local artist. Interestingly, in August of 2005 when Hurricane Katrina hit, Bucky's statue was the only thing left standing on the bay side of the hotel. Katrina brought with her a decimating twelve-foot storm surge, leaving six feet of standing water in the main building. But Bucky remained! A little dirty, but he cleaned up just fine.
Bucky would tell you that the hotel was built in 1847 and guests originally traveled by steamboats to enjoy their holiday by the bay. He would go on to say that by the mid-1860s, during the Civil War, the Hotel was used as a military hospital and close to 300 soldiers are buried under a canopy of live oaks in a small cemetery across the street from the main building near one of the Hotel's golf courses.
Bucky was very proud of the fact that in 1944, Ed Roberts — the owner at that time — offered the Hotel to the US Army Air Corps as a staging and training center for a very important and secret military operation known as Operation Ivory Soap, a vital part in World War II's final push. Over 5,000 men were trained at the Hotel and it was known as the Bootless Camp because the soldiers removed their combat boots while inside out of respect and to keep the beautiful hardwood floors as pristine as they were when they arrived.
The Hotel endured as evidenced by the fact that it is still standing today, but as mentioned, it was battered by some formidable storms. Although bought and sold numerous times over the years, it remained privately owned until Hurricane Frederic came ashore near the Alabama-Mississippi line in September of 1979. The resulting damage from that terrible storm was so extensive that at that point, the owners reached out for corporate help. Marriott bought the Hotel in 1980 and put fifty million dollars into renovations and improvements.
Aura J. "Bucky" Miller began working at the Hotel in 1941 at the age of twenty-four. He became a valued and honored associate — an icon, really — and ambassador. Thanks in large part to him and his leadership, the hospitality and charm that exists at the Hotel has never waned. Bucky was legendary.
Bucky was loved and he was deeply appreciated. His legacy lives on and that makes me incredibly happy.
I hope wherever you are, you are enjoying Spring like I am here along my little bay in Coastal Alabama. It is precisely this time of year when the humidity is (relatively) low, a cool breeze is easily found and the sun is shining bright and warm that I think back to the days I lived but a short bike ride away from the Grand Hotel.
Although I wouldn't want to turn back time, it is easy to romanticize the past, when I only had myself to worry about and cocktails with friends after work at the Birdcage was a common occurrence. What a whirlwind that time of my life was. I didn't think a lot about change then.
Now, especially this time of year, I make Bucky's cocktails at home for my husband and myself and we sit on the porch listening to the loons. They are about to depart and head north after being here all winter, so it's bittersweet. I guess that that's the thing about change. It's bittersweet. The Hotel has changed—it's fancier than it's ever been and my life has changed, too — it also is a little fancier now, come to think about it. Most of the time, I think all the change is good . . . great, in fact.
But every now and again, I want a little taste of what I left behind. These two cocktails will forever bring me back to The Grand Hotel.
Bucky's Mint Julep
Ingredients
6 fresh mint leaves
Less than 1/4 tsp simple syrup
Crushed ice
1 3/4 oz Walker's Deluxe bourbon 80 proof
1 mint leaf sprinkled with powdered sugar
1 maraschino cherry
Directions
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Place 6 mint leaves in a 12 oz glass with a touch of simple syrup and a bit of crushed ice and muddle.
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Add crushed ice until half full.
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Add bourbon and muddle more, adding more crushed ice until the glass is almost full and ice is pale green.
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Garnish with powdered sugared mint leaf (sprinkle powdered sugar over dampened mint leaf) and a maraschino cherry.
Bucky's Strawberry Mojito
Ingredients
1 oz simple syrup
2 lime wedges
6 mint leaves
2 medium-to-large ripened strawberries, hulled and divided
1 1/2 oz light rum
Ice
Club soda
Fresh mint leaf for garnish
Directions
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In a mixing glass, muddle lime, mint and 1 strawberry.
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Add rum and ice. Shake. Pour into glass and top with club soda.
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Garnish with fresh strawberry and mint.
