Take a step back in time to a place where pioneers of Lee County lived. This time comes to life with Second Saturday, a celebration and recreation of Lee County's history.
Pioneer Park in Loachapoka is hosting Second Saturday Nov. 10 from 10 a.m.-3 p.m., and it will be free and open to the public.
The event is sponsored by the Lee County Historical Society to share in local history.
Charles Mitchell, the group's vice president, said the event began six years ago.
The goal of the group at the event's founding was to keep the Society's museums open to the public and allow more opportunities for locals to learn about the area's history.
"Local history belongs to everyone," said Mitchell, who is also an Auburn agronomy and soils professor. "For those who grew up here, it is your family and your inheritance. For those who have adopted East Alabama as your home, it helps explain the culture and traditions of the region. Getting involved is the best way to learn history."
November's Second Saturday will feature a book fair presented by local authors. The book fair will feature nine authors who will discuss and sign copies of their books.
Also, the Auburn-Opelika Men's Camellia Club will decorate The Old Trade Center Museum, built circa 1845, with varieties of locally grown camellias.
"I think it is important for any person, anywhere they live, to know about the local culture and the history behind it," said Deborah McCord, secretary of the Lee County Historical Society.
"It just helps us connect with events that happened in our history and, for a lot of us who live where our ancestors lived, to make a connection with them."
The Second Saturday for October included a scarecrow-making workshop.
In December, the focus will be "Christmas on the Homestead."
Mitchell said each time is made different by featuring various aspects of the local history or culture, but also incorporating events that occur every Second Saturday.
"The short drive down Highway 14 to Pioneer Park in Loachapoka takes you back to a semblance of life in Lee County when most people, even the town folk, lived lives connected to agriculture," said Lan Lipscomb, board member of the Lee County Historical Society.
"The mid-19th century is our focus, but our exhibits cover a much wider range."
Pioneer Park has artifacts from the Creek Indians who inhabited Loachapoka and Civil War events.
The Historical Society has recreated a Creek hunting camp and are currently reassembling a log cabin similar to the ones built by Creeks.
"This was an era of hard and often manual work, but it was an era of rapid improvements and mechanization of agricultural and domestic life," Lipscomb said. "You can come out there and get a glimpse of lives lived very differently from our own, but you'll also detect the connections still remaining to lives of people from five or more generations back."
Every Second Saturday features blacksmiths, textile workers, log cabin cooks and gardens to demonstrate their trade, and the textile guild teaches spinning, weaving and other textile arts and crafts.
Around meal times, often the Lee County Historical Society will prepare a pioneer meal over the log cabin's open hearth, similar to the way the early Alabama settlers did.
In the afternoons, the Whistle Stop Pickers, a dulcimer group, performs.
"In fact, Second Saturdays are really about having a good time -- just for fun -- while learning about local history, culture and traditions," Mitchell said.
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