159TH celebration
Saturday May 25th, 2024
10:00 - 2:00 The reunion will be held this year at Mashburn Park on the Econfina Creek! (Follow Mashburn Road to Hallmon Lane) At noon we will have our traditional "picnic" lunch. Bring your covered dishes to go with the meat that will be provided. We encourage you to bring chairs and pop-up tents/large umbrellas due to the absence of the big trees that were lost during Hurricane Michael. We are looking forward to seeing you all! |
Rainy Day alternative site is Grace Baptist Church located at 2745 Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard (Hwy. 77)
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The Beginning of a True American Tradition
Some years they have driven. Others they have come by plane or train and in earlier days they came by wagon.
But for every year for the past 149 years, Mashburns from all over the nation have come to Econfina Creek for the annual Richard B Mashburn Memorial Picnic.
The picnic was hailed in the 1988 Congressional Record as the oldest continuous family reunion in the nation.
Originating in 1866, the event commemorates the return of family patriarch Richard B. Mashburn from the hands of Union soldiers who imprisoned him in 1864.
Mashburn enlisted in the Confederate army in 1860 and was captured on May 28, 1864 near Dallas, GA. when Sherman's troops left Chatanooga for Atlanta.
He was sent to a military barracks at Rock Island, Ill. and released on May 28, 1865, exactly a year after his capture but it took another year for him to get home.
When Richard came back home to Econfina, the family held a celebration marking his safe return, and vowed to do so every year as long as there were enough Mashburns to carry on the tradition.
With a family tree that covers a conference table, having enough family members has never been a problem.
(excerpted from an article by Casandra Calo The News Herald, 1995)
Some years they have driven. Others they have come by plane or train and in earlier days they came by wagon.
But for every year for the past 149 years, Mashburns from all over the nation have come to Econfina Creek for the annual Richard B Mashburn Memorial Picnic.
The picnic was hailed in the 1988 Congressional Record as the oldest continuous family reunion in the nation.
Originating in 1866, the event commemorates the return of family patriarch Richard B. Mashburn from the hands of Union soldiers who imprisoned him in 1864.
Mashburn enlisted in the Confederate army in 1860 and was captured on May 28, 1864 near Dallas, GA. when Sherman's troops left Chatanooga for Atlanta.
He was sent to a military barracks at Rock Island, Ill. and released on May 28, 1865, exactly a year after his capture but it took another year for him to get home.
When Richard came back home to Econfina, the family held a celebration marking his safe return, and vowed to do so every year as long as there were enough Mashburns to carry on the tradition.
With a family tree that covers a conference table, having enough family members has never been a problem.
(excerpted from an article by Casandra Calo The News Herald, 1995)