CALHOUN POSITIVE: Calhoun County Park
Calhoun is already awesome!
By Lisa Hayes-Minney
Calhoun County Park was created during the 1980s, located three and one-half miles south of Grantsville, WV on Route 16. The Park is maintained and operated by a volunteer Board of Directors with members appointed by the Calhoun County Commission. Within the approximately 200 acres of land available to the public for recreation and enjoyment, there are several typical park features - a walking/bicycling trail, ball field, volleyball and basketball courts, playgrounds, geocaching, picnic shelters, five ponds, community building, historical village, and camping.
The park is always open except for a special occasion or event which requires closing of the gate.
But Calhoun County Park includes features not common to other community parks. Features that embrace the region’s rural location and historical culture found nowhere else.
Those Night Skies
An accidental feature of the park is a "Dark Sky" area, providing wonderful views for stargazers. Amateur astronomers first started coming to the county in the late 1990s because it's one of the darkest places on the East Coast. Photographers enjoy not only the night sky but also the scenic and rustic beauty found within the park.
Since then, tidea of a Dark Sky Park has been nurtured by the Calhoun Commission and the dedicated members of the Calhoun County Park Board since 2000.
In recent years, park volunteers have completed a cabin and the Kitty Wilson Campground to provide lodging options for Night Sky visitors and astronomers. Renovations of the park’s Community Buiding are underway, and with support from the current county commission, thirty-two new concrete picnic tables were ordered in May. Their East Field Shelter (Shelter/Bathrooms Project at the Cabin site) is near completion. The foundation for a Dome Observatory has been prepared.
Donations towards their cause can be sent via Paypal using this QR Code:
Heritage Village
In the early 1990's, Historical Society President, Lorentz Carl Hamilton, proposed to create a heritage village. The plan included structures found in Calhoun County in the 1800s and early 1900s relocated to the park to preserve and display aging buildings and artifacts from that era.
Jim Bell, a member of the society, a long-time gas company employee, and a local history hero, located several aging structures from around the area and began the process of securing and transporting the buildings to Calhoun County Park (with the help of “Duck” Stevens and a multitude of other volunteers).
The seven buildings now in Heritage Village were all relocated from areas within Calhoun County, including a country store, one-room school, former post office, historical cabin, chapel, blacksmith shop, and carpenter shop. (Some were moved intact to the location, while others, like the log house/cabin, had to be dismantled piece by piece and re-assembled.)
Over the years, Heritage Village has been the backdrop for weddings, Civil War dramas, Writer Workshops, and an annual Christmas in the Village celebration. Donations are welcome.
The Calhoun County Historical Society invites all visitors to walk through and enjoy Heritage Village. It is open for touring except for the occasional event or rental of the Village. Guided tours or opening of the buildings for individuals or groups may be arranged, for a fee, by contacting Historical Society members.
(You might want to plan ahead though — Board approval is needed for coordinating coverage first, and the board meets monthly on the 2nd Thursday.)
While Calhoun County may be currently overwhelmed by new ideas, Calhoun County Park and the Historical Society’s Heritage Village have consistently been building and developing these public features for decades, providing unique recreation, historical, and cultural options for tourists and local citizens.
I encourage you to support both of these long-standing efforts of Calhoun County Citizens.