Confederate Memorial Park is the site of Alabama's only Old Soldiers Home for Confederate Veterans. In operation from 1902 to 1939, the home cared for elderly veterans, and wives and widows of veterans. The site included 22 buildings consisting of cottages, a hospital, dairy barn, mess hall, an elaborate water and sewage system, and Memorial Hall, an administration building which held offices, a l
ibrary, and a large auditorium. The majority of veterans served in Alabama outfits, but many were from other Confederate states and moved to Alabama after the war. The last veteran died at the home in 1934. The facility closed in 1939 when the five remaining widows were moved to Montgomery for better care. Confederate Memorial Park offers many features:
The museum offers exhibits on the life of an Alabama Confederate veteran from recruitment to old age, hundreds of artifacts from the Civil War and the Soldiers' Home, interactive media stations, and a Confederate reference library. The museum store carries books, posters, art reproductions, flags, and souvenirs related to the Confederacy and the Civil War. Driving and walking tours include two cemeteries containing the graves of 298 veterans and 15 wives and widows, a guard house, officer barracks, commissary, a nature trail through an Alabama Treasure Forest that contains the original hand-dug spring and 86,000-gallon reservoir, and the Mountain Creek Post Office (circa 1900) and the Marbury Methodist Church (circa 1885), both of which were moved to the site. The museum and library buildings, restrooms, picnic pavilions, and nature trail are accessible to individuals with physical disabilities.
