October 15, 2015

Doaksville Candlelight Tours

Friday and Saturday, October 16 and 17, from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Fort Towson| Fort Towson, OK

Come and experience the history of southeastern Oklahoma at the annual Doaksville Candlelight Tours. Tours will be held October 16 and 17, 2015, beginning at 6:30 p.m., with the last tour departing at 9:30 p.m. The tour will start and end with a short hayride under the stars. A guide will take visitors on a 45-minute walking tour through the streets of this once prominent town.

Doaksville was the ending point for the Choctaw Trail of Tears and became the Choctaw Nation's first capital in the mid-1830s. The town served as a major metropolitan establishment in the region. Confederate General Stand Watie surrendered at Doaksville, officially ending the Civil War on June 23, 1865.

The charge for the event is $5 for adults and $3 for children ages 6 to 12. Children under 6 are admitted free. To make a reservation or to obtain information about the event, please contact Fort Towson Historic Site at 580-873-2634 Tuesday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., or by email at jdavis@okhistory.org.

Family Farm Day Event

Saturday, October 17, from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center | Enid, OK

Join us for antique tractors, a pie auction, and hands-on agriculture!

Plowing a garden, shelling corn and grinding wheat are just a few of the activities families will experience at the Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center's Family Farm Day event celebrating the proud farming heritage that built Northwest Oklahoma. This hands-on event for the whole family is made possible by the generous sponsorship of P&K Equipment. Admission to Family Farm Day is free with museum admission.

"What we discovered from children visiting the Heritage Center is that many of them didn't know where their food comes from," said Cody Jolliff, Education Director. "When asked, many children think that corn comes from a can or bread comes from a grocery store shelf." Today in the state of Oklahoma only 17% of families live on a working farm, nationally, only 2%. Although we live in an area where farming is the fabric of life, fewer and fewer children are exposed to how food is grown and processed.

The new Family Farm Day annual event will provide a fun way for children and their parents to experience the workings of a farm in days gone by while also relating that experience to the advanced technologies used in farming today. The newest farming machinery will be on hand from P&K Equipment for exploring as well as historic tractors from the Major County Historical Society.

Other event activities include pumpkin decorating, leather working, broom making, a farm yard, milking, calf roping, spinning and weaving of wool and quilting. At 1 p.m. a pie auction will be held to benefit Turkey Creek School.

Archaeology Month Event

Saturday, October 17, at 1 p.m.

Spiro Mounds Archaeological Center | Spiro, OK

October is Archaeology Month in Oklahoma and around the world, and the Spiro Mounds Archaeological Center will hold a special day with a lecture and a guided walk on October 17, 2015. The Spiro Mounds Archaeological Center is the only prehistoric American Indian archaeological site in Oklahoma open to the public and is the perfect place to celebrate Archaeology Month. Archaeology Month is sponsored and promoted by the Oklahoma Anthropological Society and features many more events across Oklahoma in October.

A lecture on the Spiro Mounds will take place at 1 p.m. There will also be a guided tour of the site at 2 p.m. led by Manager Dennis Peterson. The regular exhibits will be available throughout the day as well.

The Spiro Mounds Archaeological Center is open Wednesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. and Sunday from noon until 5 p.m. Admission is $4 for adults, $3 for seniors and $1 for children. The center is located three miles east of Spiro, Okla., on Highway 9/271 and four miles north on Lock and Dam Road. If you would like to know more about Archaeology Month events check out www.ou.edu/cas/archsur/oas/. For more information on the Spiro Mounds Archaeological Center, please contact Dennis Peterson at 918-962-2062 or spiro@okhistory.org.