FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Wendi Lewis, Marketing and Public Relations Manager
wendi.lewis@ahc.alabama.gov, 334-230-2680
September 3, 2021
Annual Joe Wheeler Birthday Celebration
set for Sept. 11 at Pond Spring
(Hillsboro,
AL) – Pond Spring, the General Joe Wheeler Home, a historic property of the
Alabama Historical Commission, will host its annual Joe Wheeler Birthday
Celebration on Saturday, Sept. 11. Gates open to the public at 9:30 a.m., with
festivities beginning at 10 a.m. and continuing until 4 p.m. Admission is $10 per car, buggy
or wagon load.
The
opening ceremony will include a flag raising by the VFW, the American Legion
and Trail Life as well as a tribute to the victims of 9-11-2001 by Brother
Steve Agee. Former newspaper reporter and editor Deangelo McDaniel will deliver
a short biographical talk on Wheeler.
A
Chautauqua will be presented under a Big Top tent, with all speakers, music and
entertainment set in the year 1899, honoring Joe Wheeler’s 63rd birthday,
Sept. 10, 1899. Visitors will learn about Wheeler’s meaningful contributions as
a U.S. Congressman for the Eighth Congressional District of Alabama.
Other
1899 Chautauqua programs will include Susan B. Anthony for Women's Suffrage; Ed
Kennedy just back from the Spanish American War in Cuba; a summary of the 19th
century events and predictions for technology and politics in the new century;
period comedy; and period music by the string band Unreconstructed. Patent
medicine salesmen will make pitches between programs and Captain Jefferson Kyle
Kidd will read newspaper articles for the edification of the public.
Visitors
also can visit a number of displays, exhibits, programs, studies and
entertainments set up outside the Big Top, most relating to events in the life
of the Wheeler family. On the back porch of the Home, a country/oldies band,
Kyote Kreek, will play throughout the day.
Food
and drink concessions will be available. Cooling stations will offer bottled
water for heat relief. Public restrooms are available.
Pond
Spring, the General Joe Wheeler Home, is located at 12280 AL HWY 20, Hillsboro,
Alabama 35643. Proceeds from the event benefit the Friends of the General
Joe Wheeler Home Foundation, a registered 501(c)(3) dedicated to helping the
Alabama Historical Commission maintain, preserve and develop Pond Spring.
Pond
Spring, the General Joe Wheeler Home is a historic property of the Alabama
Historical Commission. To learn more about Pond Spring or the Alabama
Historical Commission please visit www.ahc.alabama.gov.
About Pond Spring, The General Joe Wheeler
Home
Wheeler was a legendary Confederate general,
a U.S. congressman, and a Spanish American War general. Following the Civil
War, Wheeler became a national symbol for reunification and reconciliation. His
1870s home is the center point of the 50-acre historic site owned by the
Historical Commission. The collection contains around 10,000 objects, furnishings,
clothing, and papers associated with the family. Pond Spring, the General Joe
Wheeler Home, a historic property of the Alabama Historical Commission, is
located in Lawrence County in Hillsboro, three miles east of Courtland, on
Alabama Highway 20 (US Alt. 72).
About the Alabama Historical Commission
Located in historic downtown Montgomery at 468 S. Perry
Street, the Alabama Historical Commission is the state historic preservation
agency for Alabama. The agency was created by an act of the state legislature
in 1966 with a mission to protect, preserve and interpret Alabama’s
historic places. AHC works to accomplish its mission through two fields of
endeavor: Preservation and promotion of state-owned historic sites as public
attractions; and, statewide programs to assist people, groups, towns, and
cities with local preservation activities. For a complete list of programs and
properties owned and operated by the AHC, hours of operation, and admission
fees please visit ahc.alabama.gov
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