Place:Calhoun, West Virginia, United States

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Calhoun County founded in 1856, is a county located in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 7,627. [1] Its county seat is Grantsville. Calhoun County is named for South Carolina politician John C. Calhoun.

Calhoun County is home to five public parks, The Upper West Fork Park in Chloe on West Virginia Route 16, which offers free rough camping, camping hook ups for $5 a night, and free bluegrass music on summer Saturdays. The West Fork Park in Arnoldsburg on U.S. Route 33 hosts the annual Molasses Festival, offers camping and has a walking trail. Mt. Zion Park on West Virginia Route 16 hosts the annual Ox Roast. Calhoun County Park on West Virginia Route 16 includes hiking and bicycle trails, and is home to Heritage Village, historic buildings moved to the location then renovated to period history and includes a one room school house, and an old store. Wayne Underwood Park in Grantsville is the county's newest park, and includes a paved walking trail, a pavilion, and picnic tables.

Calhoun is home to the annual Ramp Festival in April, the West Virginia Wood Festival in June, the Bluegrass Festival in May, another Bluegrass Festival in August, the West Virginia Molasses Festival in September, and Octoberfest Celebration. Also, the Hometown Country Christmas Craft show is sponsored by and held in the county court house the first week of December.

The Hur Herald is an online newspaper that features reporting on local issues and commentary from editors and community members. The website features an extensive collection of contemporary and historical local photographs.

Calhoun is also home to Heartwood in the Hills, a school for the creative arts. Heartwood Students perform twice a year, at the annual Wood Festival Parade, and during the December Celebration, held the second weekend of December.

The community newspaper is The Calhoun Chronicle, which comes out every Wednesday. The county is also served by Two-Lane Livin', a regional lifestyles magazine issued once a month.

The local hospital is Minnie Hamilton Health Systems Inc., and there are two branches of the Calhoun County Committee on Aging, which serves senior citizens in the area.

The area is also served by the Little Kanawha Bus Company, with routes traveling to neighboring Gilmer and Roane Counties weekly. There is only one traffic light in the entire county - a flashing caution light at the intersection of Routes 5 and 16 in Grantsville.

Calhoun County is home to one of the last 500 drive-in theaters in the nation, Mt. Zion Drive In. Calhoun also has one of the largest genealogy collections in the state, housed at Calhoun County Library. The library is also home to the "West Virginia Room" which includes books on West Virginia and by West Virginians.

Timeline

Population History

source: Source:Population of States and Counties of the United States: 1790-1990

History

Transcription of Hardesty's Calhoun County History as typed by Linda Fluharty Cunningham: http://www.wvgenweb.org/calhoun/hardhis.htm

This book was also transcribed by Norma Knotts Shaffer and published by the Calhoun County Chronicle Newspaper.

Research Tips

Links to Calhoun County Web Sites

West Virginia Vital Records Search Online http://www.wvculture.org/vrr/va_select.aspx This is not an index; it is the actual images online. This is not complete but the site is working to add more counties and images as they have time. Informative article about this Vital Research Records Project http://www.wvculture.org/vrr/vrrhandout.html

Calhoun County West Virginia GenWeb: http://www.wvgenweb.org/calhoun/index.htm. This excellent site has many transcribed vital records; census, marriages, births, obits, bios etc.

Source:Weaver, Bob. Hur Herald, http://www.hurherald.com/ an online newspaper published from a wide spot in the road called Hur. This site has many searchable photos, obits, deaths, old stories transcribed from very early Calhoun Chronicle newspaper. A really neat site!--Janiejac 13:40, 19 January 2008 (EST)