TUSCUMBIA – The City of Tuscumbia’s Bicentennial Commission will kick off its 2019 year-long celebration with a Bicentennial Speaker Series.
The series will begin Saturday, February 16, with a discussion and exhibit depicting the Tennessee River and North Alabama. Dr. Carolyn Barske Crawford, co-author with Brian Murphy of their recent release, The Tennessee River and Northwest Alabama, will speak at 10 am at The Round House in Tuscumbia. A special exhibit tracing the river’s history will be on display in the Round House from 10 am until 2 pm.
Published by Arcadia Press, The Tennessee River and Northwest Alabama traces the history of the Tennessee River in northwest Alabama and looks at how it impacted the lives of the earliest people who lived in the area and how it shapes our lives today. Using images drawn from collections across the state of Alabama, the book examines a range of subjects, including the Civil War, the construction of Wilson Dam and the nitrate facilities, the coming of TVA to the region, and the work of IFDC.
Dr. Barske Crawford, director of the Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area, and Murphy, curator at the Florence Indian Mound Museum, designed a companion exhibit, funded in part through a grant from the Alabama Humanities Foundation, in conjunction with their book. The traveling exhibit is available for free to libraries, schools, museums, and other public spaces across the six counties of the Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area (Colbert, Franklin, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone, Morgan). There are also resources about the river available for teachers on the MSNHA website – http://msnha.una.edu/education/.
Books will be available for purchase during Dr. Barske Crawford’s talk Saturday morning. All proceeds from the sale of the book will support MSNHA projects to preserve, protect and interpret our natural, cultural, and historical resources in northwest Alabama.
The exhibit will be on display at the Tuscumbia Roundhouse from 10 am until 2 pm on February 16.
Media Release/Lorie Johnson, Ph.D
Ninon Parker/Co-Chairs, Tuscumbia Bicentennial Commission
