County Opens Door to History of North River Area

Posted on: Jul 26th, 2010 | News and Announcements

A history of the Chickasabogue area in north Mobile County comes alive this week with the opening of The Little Church in the Pines Museum at Chickasabogue Park, a project 30 years in the making. A ribbon cutting and grand opening is set for 10 a.m. Tuesday, July 27 at the park, 861 Aldock Road. The museum, housed in an historic church at the park, depicts the history of the area from the time of the Native Americans through the modern period when the area became a recreational park for local shipyard workers and their families. Attending the opening will be descendents of the area?s settlers. "It has taken us 30 years, but little by little we have preserved the history for all to share in," said Mobile County Commission President Merceria Ludgood. ?And what is so great about this moment is that we are still living in the history of this place through the families that lived and still live here. They gave us their church and personal property that tell the story.? The antebellum church was moved a few miles from its home in Whistler to the park grounds in the 1980?s, in anticipation of the opening of the museum. Built by the ancestors of the Myers family, whose descendents still live in Whistler, the church was a place of worship before the Civil War. Called The Little Church in the Pines, the Methodist-Episcopal church served later as the first schoolhouse in Eight Mile before its move to the park. Thirty years later, it is filled with artifacts that portray the history and people who developed the area. There is a heavy dose of the colonial era, since it represents the first time that Europeans - in this case, the French - settled in the region. Moving through the Civil War, the museum explores the economic importance of the area to the greater Mobile area after the Union Army assumed control at the war's end. The modern era starts with the World Wars and describes the purposes behind the creation of the 1,100-acre park. "The museum highlights important topics in the overall development of Southern Alabama and in particular Mobile," noted Jacob Laurence, Curator of Exhibits and Collections at the Museum of Mobile, whose tireless efforts aided in the design and preparation of the museum. "We feel strongly that the museum provides a necessary function for the community now, the way the church did so many years ago."