History Lives at Calhoun's Heritage Village

Calhoun County's Heritage Village stands quietly in a clearing at the edge of a wood. No classes are held in its one-room school. No mail passes through the post office, and no hooves are shoed in the blacksmith's shop. Items on the shelves of the general store will never be sold. Indeed, the county's newest community will never be home to people, but it is a place where the region's history has come to reside.

The tiny village, which was opened to the public last fall, was the dream of Lorentz C. Hamilton III, a Calhoun County native and former president of the Calhoun County Historical and Genealogical Society. In his travels as a Washington, D.C., lawyer, Hamilton had seen many such historic communities. When he returned to his home county in the 1980s, he began to imagine a place composed of buildings filled with artifacts from around the region.

Today, the village of Hamilton's dreams has become a reality at Calhoun County Park in Mt. Zion. In the last 10 years, through the extraordinary efforts of many volunteers, four buildings have been secured and now stand as a testament to this central West Virginia county's unique rural past.

The first structure to be acquired, Stevens School, originally stood at the top of Pine Creek Hill above Grantsville and was built around 1885. Because it was donated to the historical society before a site for the village was available, the school was dismantled and stored for two years.

Once the park land was secured, many volunteers, some of whom were former Stevens School students, gathered to rebuild the school house. Because the hand-hewn poplar and oak beams had not been marked, reassembling the school was, according to one volunteer, "like working a jigsaw puzzle."

Volunteers prepared the park site, set the foundation with original cut stones, and cut timber to replace damaged framing. They also provided boards for the tongue-and-groove interior and replaced all of the windows.

Stevens School, originally stood at the top of Pine Creek Hill above Grantsville and was built around 1885.

Credit: Lisa Hayes-Minney

Copyright: Lisa Hayes-Minney