system-centric
Tannehill State Park is maintained by dedicated staff, an overview commission, and the state of Alabama. The park does not provide any volunteer opportunities; instead, it manages its needs internally. It’s estimated that the park has 50 employees, with no official number being provided, but it also hires seasonal staff for the busier seasons. The museum staff includes a director and a museum assistant, who also acts as a tour guide for the park (Tannehill Museum WordPress, n.d.).
Meeting minutes for the Alabama Historic Ironworks Commission, which manages the park and museum, are available for their January 2023 meeting, July 2024 meeting, and October 2024 meeting. The Commission is made up of 16 members who are appointed by the Governor to oversee “Tannehill Historical Ironworks State Park and Brierfield Historical Ironworks State Park” and has the mission to “safeguard Alabama's historic buildings and sites” (Bhamwiki, n.d., & Wikipedia, n.d.). The committee is made up of various professional affiliations, from a Bibb County probate judge to the Alabama State Archaeologist (Duncan, S., 2024 & Alabama Historical Commission, n.d.). The Alabama State Archaeologist, Stacye Hathorn, is notable for her work on the book Clotilda: The History and Archaeology of the Last Slave Ship which examines the “maritime historical and archaeological record” of the ship which was burned to hide evidence of kidnapping and enslavement of people from Benin (Diouf, S. A., 2023). This work is notable for her experience handling the historical sites of enslaved people, which may be useful for Tannehill as they begin to explore their history.
During the January 2023 meeting, the museum director, “William Morris,” brought to the committee for approval the deaccession of a donated item, which notably lacked a written agreement of donation (Alabama Historic Ironworks Commission, 2023). While the committee did decide to return the item, the lack of written agreements places the museum in a precarious position legally and ethically (Alabama Historic Ironworks Commission, 2023). Future weeding of the collection will encounter significant difficulty in determining provenance and return policies. The lack of a written agreement may also push away future donors, who worry about the loss of their items or the items being disrespected with incorrect descriptions. This is a notable issue, as in 2014 the museum took part in the “American Alliance of Museums’ Museum Assessment Program” which led to the museum creating a “ temporary exhibition of the … artifacts and photographs, a fully searchable research library, and [a] great new system for storing and locating our artifacts” (Tannehill Museum WordPress, n.d.). These improvements of physical and intellectual control, while important, have not addressed the issue of documenting provenance, copyright, and accession, and a lack of public accessibility. The passion for the museum is clear from the WordPress posts, but a lack of internal organization will sabotage any opportunities to expand the collection, build community connections, and better represent the history of Tannehill State Park.
Featured Events listing and descriptions (Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park, n.d.)
user-centric
Reviews of Tannehill State Park and the Iron and Steel Museum were collected via Google Reviews of their business page. By selecting the museum option, reviews were focused on only their Iron and Steel Museum. There were 44 reviews focused on the Iron and Steel Museum, with 1,818 in total. These 44 reviews were fed into a word cloud generator, and common words such as “and, a, the, but, etc” were removed. Below you can see the top 50 words of the reviews.
All reviews were positive, with some complaints about the museum only being open on the weekends or poor trail maintenance.
Exploring the individual reviews, we do discover some interesting notes about the park and museum. The usernames of reviewers have been removed to protect privacy.
One review of 3 stars notes that “the person at the gate was informative and pleasant, he typed his own guide to the park since it lacks the info on the park displays,” which is a notable oversight for a park that hopes to educate patrons.
Another reviewer had a positive opinion of the education focus of the park and museum: “The history of the Civil War, slavery, and iron in the south are all here. They do a great job telling the story of what took place many years ago.” However, patrons hoping for more details about the enslavement at the park will find a serious lack of information.
Another reviewer suggests guided tours to better promote the educational goals of the park and museum, while still praising the museum.
One reviewer reflects upon the Civil War and states that Tannehill is a “ghostly reminder of what the federal govt is capable of when provoked,” which reflects upon the lack of representation of history. It is sadly too common for Southerners to view the Civil War as the “War of Northern Aggression,” which was coined during the Jim Crow Era to further marginalize black people and erase the history of their struggles and freedom (Wikipedia contributors, n.d.).
The reviews, while mostly positive, reflect an interest of patrons in learning more about the Civil War era of Tannehill, their desire for more in-depth educational opportunities, and encourage the museum to expand its staff.
A description of nature at the park (Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park, n.d.)
References
Alabama Historical Commission. (n.d.). We asked our state archaeologist Stacye Hathorn a series of questions. Instagram post. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/alabamahistoricalcommission/p/CygLPlPLrDF/
Alabama Historic Ironworks Commission. (2023, January 8). Alabama Historic Ironworks Commission meeting minutes. https://files.blp.cloud/external/folder/tvbr54c70118e3416413e819ea4e28617c289?layout=list
Bhamwiki. (n.d.). Johnny Curry. Retrieved March 25, 2025, from https://www.bhamwiki.com/w/Johnny_Curry
Diouf, S. A. (2023). Clotilda: The history and archaeology of the last slave ship. University of Alabama Press. https://www.uapress.ua.edu/9780817321512/clotilda/
Duncan, S. (2024, August 28). Community connect: Jerry Pow, public servant. The Bibb Voice. https://www.bibbvoice.com/2024/08/28/community-connect-jerry-pow-public-servant/
Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park. (n.d.). Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park. https://tannehillstatepark.org/
Tannehill Museum WordPress. (n.d.). [Iron and Steel Museum of Alabama WordPress]. WordPress. Retrieved March 25, 2025, from https://tannehillmuseum.wordpress.com/page/2/
Wikipedia contributors. (n.d.). Names of the American Civil War. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_the_American_Civil_War
Wikipedia. (n.d.). Alabama Historical Commission. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved March 25, 2025, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alabama_Historical_Commission