Civil Wars and History Tours in Safety Harbor

Don't be alarmed if you hear a canon being fired downtown this weekend.

It's just part of the Safety Harbor Museum and Cultural Center's Civil War infantry and artillery reenactment drill, which takes place on Sunday from 2 - 4 p.m.

Museum board member and resident historian Scott Anderson will be running the drill - and the howitzer - and he said he plans to fire the canon every half hour for the duration of the event.

"We'll check and make sure there's no traffic going by on Bayshore first," Anderson said on Friday.

"We're just firing blanks, so it won't hurt anybody, but we don't want anyone to run off the road when they hear the blasts."

The reenactments are just one part of the museum's commitment to teaching residents and visitors about Florida's history.

Another tool Anderson utilizes is the group tour.

For a suggested contribution of $4.00 per person, groups of 40 or more are taken on a multi-faceted tour of the history of not just Safety Harbor, but Florida in general.

"The groups are taken through four stations," Anderson explained.

Those stations include: a demonstration of Native American tools; a tour of the museum; a Native American history lesson with an actor in full dress; and a walkthrough of the history of the Tampa Bay area from the early 1800s to the late 1870s.

"We cover a broad range of area, from the whole state of Florida down to Safety Harbor," he said.

The tours usually run anywhere from 25-45 minutes per station depending on the group; Anderson also said he will do shorter tours for smaller groups.

The events are all part of the museum's push to get people interested in history.

"It's a great way for schoolkids to learn a little bit about the area's history," Anderson, who recently had a tour of 120 kids come through the museum, said.

For more information on the tours, contact the museum at 727-724-1562 x1516, or visit the museum's Facebook page.