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The 2022-23 Pike County Chamber of Commerce Junior Ambassadors visited the Pioneer Museum of Alabama on Wednesday. The students were there to learn more about the museum, its origin, its purpose and its role in the community now and in the future.

The Junior Ambassadors are high school juniors who have an interest in learning more about the different aspects of the county’s history and its fine arts, said Barbara Tatom, museum director.

“We were proud to have a group of high school students who are interested in our community and want to know more about its history and the services that it provides,” Tatom said. ‘We appreciate the efforts of the Pike County Chamber of Commerce to involve our young people in different aspects our community. Our hope, here at the museum, is that they learned more about the history of the Pioneer Museum of Alabama and the role that it plays in our community today and will in the future.”

The Junior Ambassadors are representative of the four high schools in Pike County- Charles Henderson, Goshen, Pike County and Pike Liberal Arts.

Tatom shared, with the students, a short background of the museum that originated from an idea of the late Curren Farmer.

“The story is that, while traveling around the county, Mr. Farmer noticed farm equipment that had been left to rust and ruin,” Tatom said. “He realized that much of the county’s farming history was being lost and he began an effort to preserve our farm heritage.”

The Pike Pioneer Museum opened in 1971 and has expanded to be a museum of Alabama’ s pioneer history.

Tatom and Jacob Burnham, museum assistant, led the Junior Ambassadors on a tour of the museum and shared information about the exhibits and the role they played in the growth and prosperity of Pike County from the days of the early pioneers to the prosperous commercial and industrial community it is today.

“Our hope is that the Pike County Chamber of Commerce Junior Ambassadors  now have a greater appreciation for those who paved the way for us today,” Tatom said. “We hope the visit heightened heir interest and they will come back to learn more.”