On this day in Alabama history: the Confederate Memorial Park Museum opened
A display of Alabama regimental flags stands before the museum of the Confederate Memorial Park, located in the Mountain Creek community in Chilton County. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, Courtesy of Confederate Memorial Park)
April 28, 2007
The Confederate Memorial Park in Chilton County opened the Confederate Memorial Park Museum, which interprets the life story of the average Alabama Confederate veteran from recruit to old age. The Alabama Legislature established the park in 1964 during the Civil War centennial and funded it into perpetuity using a property tax originally created to support Confederate veterans and widows. The 102-acre park is on the site of the former Confederate Soldiers’ Home, which cared for veterans from 1902 to 1939. Run by the Alabama Historical Commission, the park houses several historic structures, two Confederate cemeteries and a research facility in addition to the museum.
Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.
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- Memorial Hall, built in 1902, was the headquarters of the Alabama Confederate Soldiers Home in Chilton County. The logs used to build the hall’s first floor were purchased by Alabamians to honor fallen Confederate soldiers. Memorial Hall’s first floor included a commandant’s office, a library, a parlor and a conference room; the upper floor served as an auditorium. The building was destroyed in a fire in 1924. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of J.W. Lynn)
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- Capt. Jefferson M. Falkner (back row, holding straw hat) poses with Confederate veterans and family members on the steps of the unfinished first cottage of the Soldiers’ Home in May 1902. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of Confederate Memorial Park)
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- The State of Alabama Confederate Memorial Park in Mountain Creek, Chilton County, was initially the site of a home for Confederate veterans and their wives and widows from the early 20th century until it closed in 1939. Today, it is a military cemetery and tourism destination. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of Ginger Ann Brook)
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- The museum at Confederate Memorial Park in Chilton County contains exhibits on Alabama’s role during the Civil War and on the site’s history as the only state-run home for Confederate veterans following the war. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of Confederate Memorial Park)
For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.
