Grand Hotel Fish Camp

 was where guests from the Grand Hotel came to fish and and enjoy recreation on the river. It was formally known as the Grand Hotel Fishing Lodge. Everyone just called it the Fish Camp. Many adventures and stories were made here. Red Leatherbury and Ed Roberts purchased it separately as a fish camp for the Grand Hotel of which they were  major shareholders. Today we keep the historic cottage available for short term rentals and venue events.

Historically, this was the site of the Wingender Pottery from approximately 1896 - 1910. Shards and jugs have been found for many years. The pottery was long thought lost until Mary Shain Leatherbury saw an article in the local newspaper where Bonnie Gums with University of South Alabama archaeology department was asking for any local knowledge. 

Bonnie L. Gums is an  archaeologist and author known for studying historic pottery and clay artifacts, particularly in Alabama, as detailed in her work "Made of Alabama Clay: Historic potteries on Mobile Bay". As a researcher at the University of South Alabama, she has specialized in analyzing Native American and French colonial pottery and clay pipes

Civil War

Gen. Edward Canby crossed at the Marlow Ferry on Fish River on March 17th, before marching to fight the Battle of Blakely, the last battle of the civil war which occurred hours after Gen. Lee surrendered at Appomattox on April 9th, 1865. They encamped here as everyone crossed and prepared for battle. We have found buttons and such from the union army as well as lead bullets onsite.

Frank Leatherbury is the current site historian if you would like to know more.

The property became the home of Belle Shain Kennels in 1958 when Edward Roberts ( Rob ) Leatherbury started Belle Shain Kennels He had grown up on the property and rather than train his fathers horses at Clearwater he started training Labrador retrievers as he hunted the rivers and deltas.

All bookings are handled through Belle Shain Kennels & Farm LLC on this website under reservations or  VRBO.

Frank & Jamie Leatherbury