Blakeley State Park offers Civil War artillery and wildlife demonstrations this weekend

Park will also help launch Alabama Indigenous Mound Trail installation

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On Saturday, March 9, Blakeley State Park offers a pair of special programs highlighting the park’s unique cultural and natural heritage. First, our reenactors will demonstrate Civil War artillery on Alabama’s largest Civil War battlefield. Visitors are invited to come hear the roar of the big guns and get a hint of what the battle of fort Blakeley might have sounded like back in April of 1865!

Between and after the artillery demonstrations, we invite you to attend a special wildlife program entitled “Rapture Trek,” a program of the Alabama 4-H Science School. This interactive educational program allows children and adults to experience and learn about a collection of Alabama’s native species of raptors through a conversation-based presentation.

At 10 a.m., the park will dedicate interpretive signage being placed along its waterfront as part of the new Alabama Indigenous Mound Trail. A product of the University of Alabama Museums and The University of Alabama Center for Economic Development, the Trail celebrates the cultural heritage of our region through highlighting over a dozen important archaeological sites.

The AIMT provides an opportunity for Alabamians and out-of-state visitors to enhance their understanding and appreciation of the purpose, function, and significance of the ancient indigenous mound centers located around our state. The mound sites are scattered across Alabama, and are either publicly accessible or have public parks nearby that offer opportunities to educate visitors about the site.

Prominently featured on the Trail in the Gulf Coast region is the Bottle Creek Site, a remarkable complex of eighteen earthen mounds located deep in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta built centuries ago by Native Americans. The tallest of the mounds rises some 45 feet above the Delta marsh, ranking it among the largest of its type in the Southeast. Historic Blakeley State Park provides guided tours of this incredible site each winter via its 50-passenger pontoon boat, the Delta Explorer.

All events are complimentary with regular park admission. For more information, visit www.blakeleypark.com/Events or call 251-626-0798.