Mobile Isom Park E1754074164365 — A look at the Mobile skyline in the distance. (City of Mobile)

Socialite and author Octavia Walton Le Vert was not born in Alabama but she spent much of her life in Mobile, making a major impact on the area. And the feeling was mutual.

During her life, Le Vert was dubbed the “Pride of Mobile,” helping give new stature to the city for its culture and arts scene.

That’s why there is a street in the Ashland Place Historic District named after her: Levert Avenue (which also turns into Levert Drive).

Keep reading to learn more about the street’s namesake + what made her so important to Alabama history.

Octavia Walton Le Vert

Octavia Walton Le Vert was born in Augusta, Georgia in 1811. She was the granddaughter of George Walton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

She moved to Alabama at 24 years old where she married French physician, Henry S. Le Vert. They had a prominent home and office at 151 Government Street in Mobile.

Octavia entertained internationally known people, becoming one of the most widely known socialites in the country during the 1850’s. According to the Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame, she was a friend to several presitigous names including:

Edgar Allan Poe
Washington Irving
Henry Clay

During her extensive travels in Europe she was presented to the Pope, to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, and to Napoleon and Eugenie. Le Vert’s lone published book is called Souvenirs of Travel (1857), which she uses to describe her various trips around the world.

Although she served as a nurse for the Confederacy during the Civil War, she reportedly did not support secession and welcomed the end of the war. She even entertained Union soldiers at her home, which did not sit well with the surrounding Mobile community at the time.

Le Vert moved back to Augusta after her husband died but her legacy in Mobile continued.

She was inducted into the Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame in 1990.