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, no hooves are shod in the blacksmith’s shop, items on the shelves of the general store will never be sold. Indeed, Calhoun’s newest community is where the county’s history has come to reside.

The tiny village was the dream of Lorentz C. Hamilton III, a Calhoun County native and former president of the Calhoun County Historical and Genealogical Society. Today, the village of Hamilton’s dreams has become a reality at Calhoun County Park in Mt. Zion.

The first structure to be acquired for the village, 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 land was secured, volunteers, some even 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."

Stevens School is now filled with an assortment of old school desks, including one with a cane bottom. A pot-bellied stove sits prominently in the center of the room. The teacher’s paddle, also known as the "attitude adjuster," hangs near the chalkboards. The walls are decorated with old maps, historic pictures, and a 48-star flag.

Other items that add to the period authenticity of the school include a water bucket, schoolbooks, a dictionary on a metal stand, a learner’s bench, and recitation benches. The coat rack has antique doorknobs for hooks. Furnishings in the school were donated by the Calhoun County Board of Education, Stevens School alumni and the public in general. Some were found by historical society volunteers.

Just to the left of the school stands Jarvis Store. The store was built in Chloe in 1926 and operated by Spencer "Dock" Jarvis, who was known throughout the state for introducing Hereford cattle to the area. The lumber used to build the store was cut from Jarvis’s land on Yellow Jacket Road and sawed by Bee Griffin. Jarvis’s friend Lonnie Watkins built the store at Oka Road, placing it on a foundation built with locally cut stone.

Jarvis’s daughter, Irene Gunn, donated the little store for preservation in Heritage Village, actually the third location for the store. About 50 years ago, it was moved to the intersection of Oka and Beech roads. For its 25-mile journey to Mt. Zion, the building was loaded onto a flatbed truck. The roof was removed and the rafters were laid flat to allow the building to pass under electrical wires.

Now, the tongue-and-groove floors and counters are polished to a shine. Some original store furnishings, including wrapping paper, were also donated. The collection of period dry goods, grocery items, hardware, and medicinal sundries were donated by supporters from throughout the state. Special items in the store include antique scales and an antique fire extinguisher.

In a simpler, bygone era, Heritage Villagers might have picked up their necessities at the Jarvis Store, then stopped by the Starcher Blacksmith Shop. Charley Starcher first opened his blacksmith shop up the left fork of Barnes Run in Hur in the 1920's. He served the Hur community as the "smithy" until 1950.

The Starcher Blacksmith Shop and nearly all of its contents were donated to the historical society by Dottie and Lou Slider of Hur. When the Sliders donated the blacksmith shop, it had not been opened in 35 years. Volunteers were delighted to discover much of the original equipment still inside, including a wood-and-stone furnace and Starcher’s primitive tools. The shop was towed across six miles of winding roads, reassembled and given a new tin roof.

Today, the furnace is again surrounded by horse and ox shoes, blacksmith tools and farm equipment. More items have been added to the original contents, including wagon wheels, anvils ranging from 100 to 300 pounds, and old-time saddles and harnesses.

After a visit to the smithy, villagers may have stopped in at the post office, always a hub of rural life. The village post office was originally located in Freed, a little town that grew and prospered at the mouth of Coal Fork in the late 1800s. The town was named after its first postmaster, George Washington Freed. Seth Collins built the post office in the early 20th Century. Much later, his wife, Ivy, became postmistress.

Freed Post Office was originally located on Leading Creek Road off Route 16, 10 miles northeast of Grantsville. The post office once stood near a telegraph agency, hotel, general store, wheelwright, and flour mill. Sadly, most of the town was erased by a fire in 1933. The post office, however, was spared from the blaze.

After the post office closed in 1954, it became a storage facility. In 2005, Marguerite Collins Hardman, daughter of Seth and Ivy Collins, donated the building to the county historical society. Relocated September 2005, it became the fourth addition to Heritage Village. Among its historic contents are letters with the original Freed postmark, post office boxes from the 1930s, air mail bags and marker flags a set of antique mail-sorting shelves, and a sorting table. The original drop slot still exists in the front of the building.

Volunteers are now working on the most recent additions to Heritage Village. The Ahab Stemple House, one of Calhoun County’s oldest standing log houses was moved to the park in October, 2007. Built around 1880, the structure was moved from near Rowles Run, not far from Hur. Donated by Georgia Stemple Weaver and Carolyn Stemple Kelley, the house originally stood along main Rowles Run.

A second log cabin was also moved to the village last fall, a cabin constructed by old Cabot employee Herb Eddy of Ritchie County. Calhoun resident Francis Cain donated the building noting that it was built in the late 1930s or early 1940s. The cabin was originally located above Route 5 near Big Bend.

Heritage Village also includes a full-fledged grist mill. The mill, which weighs about 1500 pounds, belonged to Ershel Husk, whose family of origin sprung from the Husk Ridge near the Village of Hur. There’s also a relocated outhouse -- but it’s just for looks.

Heritage Village is open on the second Thursday and fourth Saturday of each month. Guided tours by volunteers are offered from 1-3 p.m. Arrangements can be made for special occasions with Bob Bonar, (304) 354-7507.