A popular travel vlogger has dropped a video on Fairhope that puts a glossy sheen on some of the popular destination area’s best-known charms, under the heading of “Exploring Wealthy Alabama.”

Peter Santenello boasts about 2.8 million subscribers on YouTube and his 40-minute segment on the Eastern Shore has racked up more than 800,000 views since he released it on Saturday. While arguably the shallowest presentation of the Eastern Shore since Hulu’s “Love In Fairhope” miniseries, it certainly illustrates some of the area’s best known selling points: Downtown Fairhope is picturesque, there are lots of beautiful (and expensive) bayfront homes, the Grand Hotel is pretty doggone swanky and many residents pride themselves on their genteel approach to life.

To the extent that Santenello has a theme, it’s that while a place like Alabama may tend to be stereotyped as poor and backwards, a place like Fairhope can show that’s not the whole story. “Alabama, a state known for many things, but usually wealthy neighborhoods and beautiful beaches don’t come to mind,” he says.

(For the record, when Forbes listed the richest cities and communities in the state last year, based on 2021 Census data, Fairhope barely made the Top 20 and had less than half the mean household income of Mountain Brook. But those figures represent averages; Santenello sticks mostly to the bayfront landscape of Fairhope and Point Clear, which came in seventh in that list.)

The view that Fairhope counters outside stereotypes is shared by those Santenello meets on his first-ever day in Alabama, including his primary guide, realtor Doug Kilborn. Kilborn says he’s lived elsewhere and been dismayed to see his home’s name used as shorthand for discrimination and other social woes.

“We’re kind of the original melting pot, down in the South,” Kilborn says. “A lot of people from different places have lived around each other for a long time. And we’ve worked it all out.”

Walking along a wharf, Kilborn offers one shrewd bit of insight: “You know somebody really has the bling around here when their pier has been rebuilt,” he says. He explains it’s a major recurring expense after tropical storms.

“First impressions, I gotta say, there’s a real calming feel,” says Santenello of the bayfront vibe.

“It’s easygoing,” says Kilborn. “It’s easygoing, yeah,” agrees Santenello.

“People don’t get caught up in the rat race,” says Kilborn.

“Well, you have to have the money to pull it off, obviously,” says Santenello.

“You do,” says Kilborn. “And there’s like maybe a little fight because people don’t want to. But some people just have the money and they don’t have to be a part of the rat race because they’ve already got the money.”

Santenello also picks up a valuable bit of local lingo: If a wine is not great but it’s good enough to sip outdoors while enjoying the good life on Mobile Bay, that’s a “porch wine.”

The full segment can be found on Santenello’s YouTube channel.