"Remembering the Past" Exhibit

11/1/2019 to 12/31/2019 | Battle of Pilot Knob State Historic Site | Pilot Knob, MO

For the 2019 season, the historic site will be rotating six different themed displays of artifacts related to the site. Many of these are original artifacts that have never been on public display. Each themed display will be available for public viewing during regular business hours at the museum.

November and December will be themed "Remembering the Past." This exhibit will highlight the many ways people chose to remember this battle and its historic significance in the context of peoples’ lives here in the Arcadia Valley and the broader significance of its influence on the Civil War in the west. Starting in the late 1800s, veterans of this battle and their families began organizing commemoration reunions and picnics to remember what happened here, friends they lost, and the importance of what they did here. Often veterans in attendance were given pins and ribbons as a token of their service at the battle. The museum has an outstanding collection of these pins dating back into the 1870s and 80s. In later years, local people and other reenactment enthusiasts began staging reenactments of the battle for the public to view and learn about the battle. In the 1930s, the site became a protected park under the U.S. forest Service and in 1971, it was transferred to the State of Missouri. In 1991, the State of Missouri built the current museum and employed full-time staff to interpret the battle and surrounding area for the public. We will be displaying our commemoration pins and ribbons as well as interpreting the more recent ways we commemorate this important battle, such as reenactments. The artifacts will be on display and staff will be available to explain and interpret the artifacts.

This 2019 rotating exhibit event will include a reward for visitors who visit all six of the exhibits over the 2019 season. We will have an event passport, which can document attendance at the exhibits. The first five people to turn in completed passports showing attendance to all six exhibits will receive a VIP pass to the September 2020 reenactment. The pass will include VIP seating and parking at the event as well as other incentives. Everyone turning in a completed passport after the first five have been awarded will be placed in a random drawing for two additional VIP passes to be drawn in January 2020. 

Museum Hours: 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
118 E. Maple, Pilot Knob, MO | 573-546-3454