Media Attacks Confederate Memorial Park in Mountain Creek, Alabama

Cemetery at Confederate Memorial Park

A number of outlets of the national media have leveled fairly partisan attacks on the Confederate Memorial Park in Mountain Creek (for an example see the HuffingtonPost).

The park preserves the site of the Alabama Old Soldiers Home for Confederate Veterans, which was opened in 1902 to provide a home and care for the state's thousands of aging Confederate veterans. Contrary to what is being said about the home on blogs and message boards today, it was NEVER operated by the Confederacy and the tax that supported it was NEVER a "Confederate tax."

Entrance to Confederate Memorial Park

The home was, however, a place where elderly and disabled veterans could go to live safely and receive care. It gave them a place where they could share stories and live with their friends and former brothers in arms in the last years of their lives. It was a show of mercy on the part of the people of Alabama and was funded by a tax that was part of the 1901 Alabama State Constitution.

A small portion of the proceeds of that tax are used today to preserve the grounds and maintain the two cemeteries there, where over 300 of the veterans who died at the home are buried today.

Museum at Confederate Memorial Park

Some, however, feel that no money should be used to care for the graves or preserve this unique historic site and are calling for its elimination from the state budget, even though the tax that cares for the grounds is part of the state constitution and has been for more than 100 years.

If you live in Alabama, I encourage you to call or write your local legislator to express your support for the park. If you live elsewhere, please write or call the Governor of Alabama to do the same. This is a blatant effort to stop caring for the graves of more than 300 Southern veterans, while still collecting and keeping the tax money intended for that purpose!

If you are passing up and down I-65 between Montgomery and Birmingham, I also encourage you to stop by for a visit of the grounds and the beautiful museum that interprets not Confederate history, but offers a balanced view of the War Between the States in Alabama. To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/confederatepark.