BAY MINETTE, Ala. — Newly erected signage at the Davida Hastie Memorial Nature Trail at Bicentennial Park will give visitors a peek at 49 native plant species, many of which were used for food, medicine and whiskey making by early settlers and Indians.

Plants along the 1-mile trail include sassafras, Yupon and Witch Hazel, historically important to pioneer families and Indians before them, according to Nick Warren, director of Bicentennial Park.

“We are trying to create an environment at the park that everyone can enjoy,” Warren said. “The educational signage will help visitors learn about various trees and shrubs along the trail, and answer questions about who discovered them and how they were used.”

Environmentalist Fred Nation recently completed a written inventory of the trees, shrubs and woody vines at the park, and will make a presentation Feb. 1 at the Baldwin County Commission meeting in Bay Minette.

“The tree trail is a great opportunity to educate people,” Nation said Monday. “It’s an educational resource for children and their heritage, and the history of trees and shrubs.

Warren said brochures describing each plant identified on the trail soon will be available as an accompaniment to the signage.

The trail is open Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Admission is free. Warren said a visitors center is expected to open in April.

More than 100 plants have been identified at the park, including:

• Bartram’s Evening Primrose, an herb first described by William Bartram during his travels near the park.

• Buttonbush, a Civil War treatment for intermittent malaria.

• Coral Bean, a shrub which provided hard beans Indians used for jewelry.

• Black Cherry, a cabinetry species which produces fruit for jellies and coloring moonshine whiskey.

• Black Willow, a shrub which provided aspirin, the first wonder drug, and was the charcoal of choice for black powder.

• Sassafras, the original root beer flavoring, and a flavoring for gumbo.

• Man of the Earth, a vine with roots used by Indians for food.

Warren said the brochure will be available to the public in a few weeks and may be picked up at Baldwin County Archives Department, 305 East Second St., Bay Minette.

The park is near Stockton on County Road 225. For more information, call (251) 580-1897.

Davida Hastie legacy:

Preserving county history

For more than 40 years, Stockton’s Davida Hastie was one of Baldwin County’s most active and vocal stewards for preservation of the county’s rich history.

For more than 20 years, Hastie was involved or spearheaded numerous projects to preserve and identify historic areas of the county, according to Nick Warren, director of Baldwin County Bicentennial Park.

“People from all over America found their way to the white house on the right side of the road in Stockton for answers to their questions about the Mobile-Tensaw Delta, area historic sites, or William Bartram and his famous Primrose,” Warren said.

“It is fitting that the Baldwin County Commission named a portion of the park in her honor.”

Hastie died in 2009 at age 84.

She was a founding member of the Baldwin County Historic Development Commission. She was involved in the designation of the Grand Hotel site in Point Clear as an historical landmark, designation of the Bottle Creek Mound as an historic landmark and placement on the National Register of Historic Places.

She also assisted in placing historic markers on numerous churches and other buildings, and providing ground for the creation of a Baldwin County Museum and a long-range preservation plan.