BAY MINETTE, Ala. — A rough element of men and women are lurking in the woods of North Baldwin County.

They likely will congregate around an old trading post hatching plots and conspiring. In the meantime authorities from two countries are searching the Mobile-Tensaw Delta in an attempt to arrest them — thus foiling their sinister plot.

There is no need to be alarmed. It’s all part of the living history planned at Baldwin County Bicentennial Park. On Sept. 18 and 19, the park will host a living history to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the West Florida Rebellion.

The West Florida Rebellion occurred in the fall of 1810. The incident, often lost in the dusty pages of history, played out in part here in Baldwin County. A group of American freebooters, scoundrels and opportunists generally referred to as “filibusters” attempted to wrest control of the region from the then ruling Spanish Government.

Their motivation was to form an independent Republic if West Florida. The plot, full of romance, mystery and adventure was ultimately doomed to fail with both the United States and Spain in pursuit of many of the leaders of the rebellion.

An unlucky group lost in the Delta were eventually arrested by Spanish authorities and sent to prison in Cuba.

The living history event at Bicentennial Park is sponsored by the Baldwin County Department of Archives and History as well as the Baldwin County Commission.

Admission is free and visitors will be able to tour the trading post as well as several period camps. Living historians will offer a variety of demonstrations ranging from the making of palmetto leaf fans to feats of arms.

The park will open at 10 a.m. and close at 4 p.m. Bicentennial Park is 2 miles North of I-65 on Highway 225.

For more information on the event, call Nick Warren at 580-1826.