When John Hunt built his cabin alongside a spring in northern Alabama in 1805, he had no idea what a grand scheme he set in motion. A town soon sprang up around his little cabin. It was named Huntsville since he was the first settler. By 1819 it had gone through a lot of growing pains, including a name change and then back to its original Huntsville and was the largest city in the Alabama Territory. That was the year the leaders of the Alabama Territory decided to draw up a constitution in preparation for statehood.

The woodworking shop at Constitution Village

They decided to meet in Huntsville to draft that constitution, however the only building in Huntsville large enough to hold the delegates was a woodworking shop that was currently unoccupied.

Today, that woodworking shop forms the nucleus of Constitution Village where you can relive Alabama's early history.

Alabama Constitution Village confection shop

When you enter through the Confection Shop, which serves great coffee and snacks as well as unique gifts, it's as if you step back in time. Walk into the vacant cabinet shop that became the setting where on July 5, 1819, forty-four delegates of the constitutional convention gathered to design the constitution that would create Alabama as the 22th state.

Jerry working a whimmy diddle

Costumed docents who "live" in that era will guide you but remember they have never heard of cell phones or even automobiles. Our docent, Jerry, showed us a popular toy made there, a whimmy diddle. I could not work it but others in the group could. It's fun to try your hand at it whether on not it works for you. The cabinet shop is filled with interesting tools and items of the time. Including a simple but beautiful coffin. The building also housed Clement Comer Clay's law office. You may not have heard of him but you will remember his more famous relative, Henry.

The post office for the village was located here too. Unusual fact about mail in that time was that it was paid for by the recipient not the sender. So if your letter to aunt Suzy was not expected to be interesting, she might refuse to pay the postage.

Jerry demonstrated the art of blacksmithing

Blacksmiths were the mainstay of any village. No exception here. You get to watch a blacksmith at work. One interesting fact Jerry told us was when a settler decided to move farthereinto the wilderness where he might not have access to a blacksmith, he would burn down his current house befoere the move to get the nails. Nails were presious. Each was made by hand by the blacksmith.

The sheriff's house

Sheriff Stephen Neal's residence was located here also. His home was representative of a middle class family. As you tour the home, there will probably be a docent working hard at the spinning wheel. She will card some wool and then spin it for you. When we visited, Carol Collins was spinning. She explained that settlers  used sheep wool which they dyed with natural dyes. Then it was carded to make it fine enough to spin. Cotton was more expensive.

This is a small excursinon into Alabama's past that will interest all ages.

http://www.earlyworks.com/the-museums/constitution-village