Supper meeting on tap Sept. 25

Special to the Tribune
Published: August 25, 2008

Dr. Ed Bridges, director of the Alabama Department of Archives and History, will be the keynote speaker for the Historic Chattahoochee Commission’s 26th annual supper meeting in Abbeville on Sept. 25.

He will present a program on Lafayette’s 1825 visit to the Chattahoochee Valley of Alabama and Georgia. Created in 1901, the Alabama Department of Archives and History was the first state archives agency in the United States. Bridges is only the fifth director of the Archives in over 100 years. More than 150 people from throughout southeast Alabama and southwest Georgia are expected to attend the meeting which will be held at the Great Southern Wood Conference Center.

The meal will be catered by Huggin’ Molly’s restaurant which is located across the street from the conference center. Following supper the HCC will present its prestigious achievement awards to individuals and organizations who have distinguished themselves in a variety of heritage-tourism programs in the Chattahoochee Valley. In addition, matching grant recipients will be announced and the winners of the fifth annual “Support the HCC” silent auction will be revealed.

Bridges was raised in Bainbridge, Ga. He graduated from Furman University in Greenville, S.C. and received his M.A. and Ph.D. in history from the University of Chicago. He was appointed director of the Alabama Department of Archives and History in 1982.

The “Support the HCC” Silent Auction preview will begin at 5:30 p.m. (6:30 p.m. EDT) followed by the social hour which begins at 6:00 p.m. CDT (7:00 p.m. EDT). The seated dinner begins at 7:00 p.m. CDT (8:00 p.m. EDT).  Reservations may be made by mailing a check for $25 per person to HCC, P. O. Box 33, Eufaula, AL 36072-0033. The registration deadline is Sept. 19. For more information call 1-877-766-2443 or e-mail .