By PHOEBE DONALD ROBINSON / Community Columnist

Shelby County is having its 197th birthday celebration on Feb. 1 at 2-3:15 p.m. at Shelby County’s Old 1854 Courthouse on Main Street in Columbiana.

Shelby County Historical Society President and Shelby County Museum and Archives Executive Director Bobby Joe Seales has planned a memorable event, the last one he will plan before his retirement on Nov. 1.

The birthday celebration is part of “Becoming Alabama” statewide partnership of events to commemorate three major periods in Alabama history: Bicentennial of the Creek War and War of 1812; Sesquicentennial of Civil War; and ongoing 50th anniversaries of major events in the Civil Rights movement.

The theme of this year’s celebration is the Civil War.

Guest speaker will be Associate Professor of History Dr. Harriet E. Amos Doss, who has taught at UAB since 1978. Her research and teaching interests are American history 1815-1877, especially Southern history including the antebellum period and Civil War.

Doss received her B.A. in 1972 from Agnes Scott College and her M.A. and Ph.D. from Emory University.

Her book, “Cotton City: Urban Development in Antebellum Mobile,” was reprinted in 2001.

Doss was awarded the UAB President’s Award of Excellence in Teaching and the Alabama Association of Historians’ John F. Ramsey Award of Merit “in recognition of superior, significant, and sustained contributions in the teaching and study of history in the state of Alabama” (see www.uab.edu/cas/history/people/faculty-directory/harriet-e-amos-doss.)

Doss will speak on the life of Gabriel Moore, a founding father of Alabama.

Moore was speaker of the Alabama Territorial Assembly, member of the State House of Representatives in 1818, U.S. Congressman and governor of Alabama.

Prelude music will be provided by the University of Montevallo’s Department of Music Faculty Woodwind Quintet with special vocal music by Dr. Charles Wood accompanied by Dr. Laurie Middaugh.

Two heated tents will be in front of the old courthouse.

Alabama Tourism Department, Alabama Department of Archives and History, American Village and Montevallo Historical Commission will also participate in the event. Birthday cake will be served and door prizes given.

The event is free and open to the public.