Already looking forward to the next 200 years

Bicentennial Committee wraps three-year long celebration

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People. Places. Stories.

There were all here. They’ve all been visited. They’ve all been told. The three-year long bicentennial celebration of the state’s founding, is nearly complete.

And now that 200 years have passed in Alabama’s history, its current residents are ready to create another 200 years that will be cherished, recognized and honored by those to come.

Last week the Baldwin County Commission Bicentennial Steering Committee hosted its final event, the culmination of three years of projects, events and celebrations.

A crowd gathered at the Daphne Civic Center for the unveiling of the final projects, artists’ renderings of the attack at Fort Mims, by Dean Mosher, and the battles at Fort Blakeley and Fort Bowyer, by Rick Reeves.

The paintings, each nearly as large as a dining room table, were dramatically unveiled from under a black cloth to the delight of attendees. Mosher and Reeves told the crowd how the effort to recreate realistic-looking and historically accurate pieces took years of research.

Attendees were also able to purchase the long anticipated copies of published works crafted by the committee during the three years of celebration.

Those books are:

“Baldwin County: Our People. Our Places. Our Stories” $20

“Baldwin Heritage Families Publication” $20

“200 Baldwin County Legends” $15

Each is still available for purchase at the Baldwin County Archives office in Bay Minette.

The Baldwin County Bicentennial Steering Committee Members are: Felisha Anderson, chair, Ashley Jones Davis, harriet Outlaw, Claudia Campbell, Jo Ann Flirt (in memoriam), Judge Charles Partin, Dr. Phyllis French, Bert Blackman, Herman Arrington, Mike Bunn, Kelly Stewart, Johnny Biggs, Coletta Bailey.