Volunteers needed to help clean up Black Jack Battlefield historic site

Volunteers are needed Saturday to help spruce up Black Jack Battlefield and Nature Park just east of Baldwin City.

It will be part of a nation-wide effort known as Park Day, where volunteers all over the country work to clean up national historic sites.

At the Black Jack site, volunteers will begin work at 9 a.m. to remove a dilapidated modern outbuilding, clean up trash, collect sticks and branches and generally spruce up the park for the upcoming tourist season. Workers can stay as long as they’re able. The cleanup will officially end at 3 p.m.

The Battle of Black Jack on June 2, 1856, is considered by many to have been the first battle of the Civil War.

For more information, contact Kerry Altenbernd, (785) 883-2106 or volunteers@blackjackbattlefield.org, or visit www.blackjackbattlefield.org.

To reach the park, go three miles east of Baldwin City on U.S. Highway 56, then south a quarter-mile on East 2000 Road.