Upcoming Activities

MARCH 15, SATURDAY, Meet 9:45 a.m.

Southeastern Outings Dayhike

Barton’s Beach and Perry Lakes Park near Marion in Perry County, Alabama

Details: Barton’s Beach.  The area is an extensive sand and gravel beach on the Lower Cahaba River in Perry County near Marion, Alabama.  The river floodplain broadens and creates areas of bottomland hardwood forests, oxbow lakes and extensive sand and gravel bars there.

Barton’s Beach, which is a property owned by the Alabama Nature Conservancy, is the largest sand and gravel beach on the entire Cahaba River.  It is indeed a spectacular and beautiful sight to behold!

The Perry Lakes Park and Wildlife Sanctuary contains about 600 acres available to the public for outdoor recreation, education, scientific research, and other activities. Interpretive nature trails (fire lanes and primitive paths) make walking through the woods fairly easy and fun.

Several trees in the park have been designated as Alabama State Champion Trees. The park lakes support a large heron rookery along with an abundance of songbirds.  A 100-foot-tall canopy observation tower allows for an exciting view of the forest and oxbow swamps.

Hikes at Barton’s Beach and Perry Lakes Park are easy since the terrain is level and the walks are all on trails.  The two properties adjoin each other so we can walk readily back and forth between them.

Well-behaved, properly supervised children age 7 and older welcome.  

Since the trails in the park may be muddy, we recommend that you bring a change of clothes with you in the car, especially a change of footwear and pants.

Please meet 9:45 a.m. at the McDonald’s Galleria.  We plan to depart from there at 10:00 a.m.

Info. on the hike and hike leader: Dan Frederick, 205/631-4680 or southeasternoutings@gmail.com

 

MARCH 15, SATURDAY, 5:00 p.m. After the hike

Low Country Shrimp Boil Supper

Where: Marion Female Seminary Building, 204 West Monroe Street, Marion, AL 36756

Details: After we complete our hike, the very special, optional dinner will begin at 5:00 p.m.  It will be the Low Country Shrimp Boil supper, an annual event in Marion that is perfect following our day of hiking.  The dinner will be held at the historic Marion Female Seminary Building in Marion.   

The function will be very informal.  The menu is boiled shrimp (which you peel & eat), sausage, potatoes, corn on the cob, bread, and your choice of a multitude of homemade desserts. 

Live musical entertainment will be provided for your enjoyment at the shrimp boil on March 15, 2025 after our hike.  Please plan to come!

Price for the meal is $25 per person flat charge to benefit the Perry County Historical and Preservation Society.  There is no tax and no tip.  Cash, checks and all major American credit cards are accepted forms of payment for the dinner. 

 Please meet 9:45 a.m. at the McDonald’s Galleria.  We plan to depart from there at 10:00 a.m. for the hike followed by the shrimp boil dinner.

For information concerning the dinner: Please call Kay Beckett, President of the Perry County Historical Society, at 334-292-0319.

 

MARCH 29, SATURDAY, Meet 9:45 a.m.                                      

Southeastern Outings Dayhike

Where: Horseshoe Bend National Military Park

Details:  On March 27, 1814, Major General Andrew Jackson‘s army of 3,300 men attacked Chief Menawa’s 1,000 Red Stick Creek warriors fortified in a horseshoe- shaped bend of the Tallapoosa River.  Over 800 Red Sticks died that day.  The battle ended the Creek War, resulted in a land cession of 23,000,000 acres to the United States and created a national hero of Andrew Jackson. In March 1814, General Jackson's army left Fort Williams on the Coosa River, cut a 52-mile trail through the forest in three days, and on the 26th made camp six miles north of Horseshoe Bend. The next morning, Jackson sent General John Coffee and 700 mounted infantry and 600 Cherokee and Creek allies three miles down-stream to cross the Tallapoosa and surround the bend. He took the rest of the army - about 2000 men, consisting of East and West Tennessee militia and the Thirty-ninth U.S. Infantry - into the peninsula and at 10:30 a.m. began an ineffectual two-hour artillery bombardment of the Red Sticks' log barricade. At noon, Coffee's Cherokee allies crossed the river and assaulted the Red Sticks from the rear. Jackson quickly ordered a frontal bayonet charge, which poured over the barricade. Fighting raged over the south end of the peninsula throughout the afternoon. By dark at least 800 of Chief Menawa's 1,000 Red Sticks were dead (557 slain on the field and 200-300 in the river). Menawa himself, although severely wounded, managed to escape. Jackson's losses in the battle were 49 killed and 154 wounded, many mortally.                                                                  Though the Red Sticks had been crushed at Tohopeka, remnants of the war party held out for several months. In August 1814, a treaty between the United States and the Creek Nation was signed at Fort Jackson near the present-day city of Wetumpka, Alabama. The Treaty of Fort Jackson ended the conflict and required the Creeks to cede 23 million acres of land to the United States. The state of Alabama was carved out of this domain and admitted to the Union in 1819.  In 1828, partly as a result of his fame from the battles of Horseshoe Bend and New Orleans, Andrew Jackson was elected the seventh President of the United States.                                                                                                                    We will have the opportunity to watch a short film and view the exhibits before we begin our hike which is rated easy.

          We are grateful and very pleased that Dallin Bartlett, Lead Park Guide at Horseshoe Bend National Military Park, has very kindly agreed to hike with us on March 29 and provide us with interesting historical information concerning the Battle of Horseshoe Bend during our walk. 

Hike distance is about 5.8 miles.                   

Admission to the park is free. Well-behaved, carefully-supervised children age eight and over are welcome.  Optional restaurant dinner after the hike. 

Please meet 9:45 a.m. at the Publix in The Village at Lee Branch in Greystone.  We plan to depart from there at 10:00 a.m.         Info: Randall Adkins, 205/719-7719