Members of the Baldwin County Historical Development Commission came before the Baldwin County Commission Tuesday with an ambitious plan to place more historical markers in places throughout the entire county.

Commission member Claudia Slaughter Campbell said a long-range plan that included the markers was approved back in 2013, but she hoped the county could get started on getting the historical markers up and placed to coincide with the state of Alabama’s Bicentennial celebrations.

“The markers will include historic sites from the earliest dates before recorded history like Indian mounds to the beginning of the settlements here when this area was the Mississippi Territory back in the 1790s,” Campbell said. “Knowing our history is all over this county, we have to begin marking them now while we still have knowledge of where and what these historically significant places are.”

Historical Development Commission President Ken Underwood said the group had located a foundry in Fairhope that could make the markers needed at a cost of around $3,000 per marker.

Campbell said cities and municipalities, churches, businesses and clubs and organizations would be responsible for financing any markers they proposed, but she hoped the county commission would be willing to help with financing for markers in many of the county’s unincorporated areas.

Commissioner Frank Burt said he had been to several historical marker dedications during his time with the commission and he had seen how much something like that matters to family members who have a history with those areas.

“It’s a pretty emotional occasion for descendants from that community to see their ancestors honored like that,” Burt said. “We just can’t lose this. It’s always been a place of opportunity and we should celebrate that. And if we can have them built right here in Baldwin County at a better quality and a lower price, that’s how we ought to do business.”

The commissioners seemed receptive to the plan, but Commission Chairman Tucker Dorsey asked the group to come up with a set plan for how and when the markers will be dispersed.

“I’d like to see a 20 per year budget plan,” Dorsey said. “You’ve got to scatter them all over the county as you do this, so that everyone can see the progress going along.”

Campbell said she also hoped the county would encourage citizens to propose sites that would be good locations for markers to be placed.

Applications will be available on the county website and from the Baldwin County Historical Development Commission by emailing swiftcoles@outlook.com or by calling 251-949-5550 for more information.