Special to the
Opelika Observer
The 4H History Seekers will once again present their “Back in Time Dinner” Dec. 14 from 5 to 8 p.m. at Pioneer Park in Loachapoka. The purpose of this dinner is to bring awareness to the county’s shared regional history and Alabama’s Bicentennial, as well as to lend support and visibility to the Lee County Historical Society.
The third year of Alabama’s three year bicentennial celebration (2017, 2018 and 2019) is reserved for honoring the people and events responsible for the state’s formation.
Guests will learn about some of the historic events that shaped the state they call home through special visitors attending that evening, who will help share these stories. Join President James Monroe as he describes his visit to Huntsville, and then his return back home to Washington D.C. where soon he signed the documents making Alabama a state.
William and John Bartram will relate how a trail-blazing, adventurous spirit led to a better understanding and documentation of Alabama’s rich natural resources, and the flora, fauna and native peoples of the region. Native American leader Timpoochee will share the events that impacted Creek populations. A local nurse, dedicated to tending the casualties of war, will tell her difficult tale of The Civil War.
The exciting arrival of the railroad to communities and its noteworthy impact on commerce will be told by a newspaper reporter, train conductor, hobos and various merchants living and working all along the tracks and at depot stops. Judge John Jackson Harper, his son and future daughter-in-law will describe founding “Sweet Auburn! Loveliest Village of the Plain” while Drs. George Petrie, Charles Allen Cary and John Hodges Drake along with Julia Tutwiler, Willie Gertrude Little, Katherine C. Broun and Margaret Kate Teague, will share how higher education first started and became established in this area. The challenges of providing early childhood education to all of Alabama’s children will be demonstrated as we enter the classroom of two different, yet similar, country schoolhouses. George Washington Carver will help us celebrate the resilient forgiving spirit of a man whose commitment to bettering mankind resulted in an agricultural revolution benefiting those impoverished farmers of the South.
“Back in Time” is endorsed by Alabama200 and sponsored by the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts and Humanities. Tickets are $50 each (plus an online processing fee) with all proceeds considered donations to the Lee County Historical Society.
For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.leecountyhistoricalsociety.org. The park is located at 6500 Stage Road.
