“Thunder on the Three Notch” is Friday and Saturday at the Pioneer Museum of Alabama

Many years ago, pioneers were making their way to a better, and safer place. They came on horse-drawn covered wagons, with women and children often walking along the trials to escape the heat and the bumping and knocking of the wagon’s wood wheels over rough terrain.

When the pioneers found a place they could envision as home, they unloaded their wagons and put the plow in the ground.

That’s how the pioneers arrived in and around what is now Pike County.

On Friday and Saturday, May 2 and May 3, the Pioneer Museum of Alabama will offer people of all ages the opportunity to experience what pioneer life was like here in Pike County more than a hundred years ago.

Barbara Tatom, museum director, said the museum has two day of activities and events planned that relate to the time when there was “Thunder on the Tree Notch.”

“Thunder” will feature, Native American cooking, weaving, rope making, twining, and provide opportunites to talk with the Indians and members of the militia.

Wire Weaving demonstrations will be at the Twisted Tent at 10:30 a.m. 12:30 noon and 3 p.m.

Throughout the event, a circuit riding preacher will be in the log church, a teacher in the little wood schoolhouse, a blacksmith will be hammering a variety of items, Creek Indians and the militia will be in the demonstration area and traditional music will set the tone for stepping back in history.

“Thunder on the Three Notch” will have demonstrations of blacksmithing, twining, woodworking, rope making, wood stove cooking, moccasin making, Creek clothes and other pioneer skills.

The militia and the Creek Indians will appear from the woods to do battle with powder guns and bows and arrows. The battle will be exciting and there will be opportunities to meet members of the militia and the Creek Indians.

Event Coordinator Bob McLendon said the final battle of the Creek Indian War was a result of the Creek’s defeat at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1914 as well as a series of treaties that opened up Creek land to white settlers. The Creek Indians petitioned President Andrew Jackson for relief, but to no avail. The Creeks bean an uprising in 1836, burning plantations in an attempt to drive out white settlers.

McLendon wrote a historical description of the events Thunder on the Three Notch recreates. McLendon wrote: “On February 10, 1837, approximately 100 militia under Capt. Jack Cooper engaged approximately 75 Creeks in the swamps along the Pea River, which divided Barbour and Pike Counties. This battle, known as the Battle of Hobdy’s Bridge, resulted in about five Indian casualties, and one militia casualty. On March 27, 1837, the Battle of Pea River took place when a combined force of Georgia and Alabama militia under the command of Gen. William Wellborn tracked a party of at least 400 Creeks. The party was easy to track due to several looted and burned plantations in their path. After finding their camp, Wellborn worked to encircle the Creeks, and a brief fight took place, as militia pursued through waist deep water in the Pea River swamp. Reports show that at least fifty Creek men, women and children were killed, and an unknown number captured. Some reports state that some captured Creeks were enslaved by local planters. Only five militia were killed, including Gen. Wellborn’s teenage son. This was the last battle fought in the Creek War of 1836.”

Everyone is invited to Thunder on the Three Notch from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. both Friday and Saturday, May 2 and 3. The battle will be around 2 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Admission is charged.