Heritage Day 2011

AL.com and Press-Register Correspondent

• Jo Anne McKnight
• Published: May. 24, 2011, 8:45 p.m.
  
• Semmes Heritage Day was May 14 at Semmes Heritage Park on Wulff Road, and Steve Cobb fired his war cannon replica at precisely 9 a.m. to start the celebration with a bang. After the Pledge of Allegiance, the National Anthem and a prayer, Heritage Park president Raymond Byrd introduced guest speakers Sen. Rusty Glover, Rep. Chad Fincher and Judge Don Davis. Each spoke very briefly, with Fincher noting that Semmes is the "newest city in the state" and one with "a rich past and a bright future."

On the entertainment schedule were the Allentown Elementary School Choir, the Square Deal Square Dancers, Deep South Dulcimers, Lost and Found Orchestra, Diane Moore and a Ladies' Trio, and harmonica player Jack Lynch, who offered a private tune for Lib Dodd, Jeanette Byrd and Alice Dodd Baker before playing for the crowd.
 Exhibits included vintage automobiles and several antique tractors, including one John Deere Model 50 from 1953, shown by M.C. Carr. A table of small farm tools and old household utensils attracted Taylor Jemison and Austin Miller, student council volunteers from Mary G. Montgomery High School.
On the campus of the 1902 one-room schoolhouse, children jumped rope, see-sawed and swirled on a tire swing. School marms Mildred Harris, Betty Houston and Terri Dodd beckoned guests from the schoolhouse doorway, while a few adults played a game of horseshoes.
Some marveled at the ingenuity of a mother killdeer who feigned a broken wing to lure inquisitive onlookers away from her nest on the school grounds.
There was no charge to enjoy the activities at Semmes Heritage Park, which includes Malone Chapel as well as the school, but donations were accepted to maintain the wood frame building and to offer schoolchildren an opportunity to spend a day in the classroom as their grandparents did.