Local author and cultural historian Joe Lively, of Amelia County, comes to the Sailor's Creek SP Visitor Center on Saturday January 12, from 1-3 p.m., to share a research odyssey that resulted in his book on 19th- and early 20th-century rural technology and culture of Southside Virginia.

Lively's well-known work, Notes of a Time Traveler: Our Forgotten Folk Heritage, published in 2000, is a wealth of knowledge that links modern rural life to the legacy of yesterday's tools, customs, and procedures from house and barn building to homemade musical instruments, to tool making itself, and more.

Join other visitors and hear Lively tell about his “travels” back into time. Have him sign his book during your visit. Copies will be available for sale at the Visitor Center Gift Shop.

The event is indoors at the Visitor Center and suitable for ages 10 and up. Seating is provided.

The purpose of Sailor's Creek Battlefield Historical State Park is to preserve the cultural landscape as it was in 1865, and to provide the historic setting to tell the story of the last major battle of the Civil War in Virginia before the surrender of Robert E. Lee's Army at Appomattox Courthouse, and its impact on the citizens of Southside Virginia.

The award winning Virginia State Parks are managed by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation.

For more information about Virginia State Parks' activities and amenities or to make reservations in one of the more than 1,800 or 300 climate controlled cabins, call the Virginia State Parks Reservation Center at 800-933-PARK or visit www.virginiastateparks.gov