With its pristine exterior, white picket fence, and ample lawn shaded by oaks, magnolias, and pecan trees; the Clarke County Museum looks very much like a plantation plain-style home of the 1850's, which it was. It is the former Alston-Cobb House and now houses displays representative of Southwest Alabama history including fossils of the Zeuglodon. It also has exhibits of local Native Americans, the Civil War, Clarke Countians who fought in the two World Wars, and the county's historic rural life. The museum grounds are the site of the annual Pioneer Days festival held each November. The living history exhibits demonstrate how syrup was made from sorghum or ribbon cane, the daily chores of a pioneer wife and how cotton was cleaned, combed, spun, and eventually woven into fabric.