Leadership Team schooled on Hickman County history, legacy

(Editor’s Note: The following was submitted by Hickman County High School students Jacy Hicks, Garrett Ward, Chase Adams, and Makayla LeWinter)

On a hot, humid morning the leadership team toured their county to learn more about the heritage and history of Hickman County. The group was eager to travel to the Hickman County Genealogical Society, the Hickman County Museum, and the Columbus Belmont State Park.

The first stop was the Hickman County Genealogical Society where the students learned more about the town’s history and the history of their families. First, the students learned about how Hickman County was the first county in the Jackson Purchase. Little by little each county started to break off, including Carlisle County, Fulton County, Calloway County, Marshall County, and many others. Then, they got to explore the files of their families, school records, and obituaries. This allowed the students to learn more about their own history and the towns. The group was very grateful to Mrs. Donna Latham for giving them the opportunity to discover more about this area.

The second stop was the Hickman County Museum. The group took a tour of all the rooms in the museum including the school room, the war room, and several others. They learned that Hickman County High School used to be referred to as Central rather than Hickman County. The group also discovered that the Chamber of Commerce of Clinton was first called the Lions Club and the Clinton Jaycees. The students also were privileged to get a tour of the “Quilt Cottage.” This is an old house turned into a small museum full of hand-sewn quilts made by the women of Hickman County. It was a great learning opportunity for them to learn more about Hickman County and the group is very thankful to the museum board for volunteering their time to give us a tour.

Finally, the last stop of the day was Columbus Belmont State Park. Columbus was a place where the Civil War occurred. The park’s museum had a video prepared for the group that told of the events that occurred there. After the video the students were allowed to tour the museum and look at all of the very cool artifacts and history of Columbus. There was a historical scene of what the park looked like at the time of the Civil War camp set-up which was very interesting and spiked the attention of most of the students. They all enjoyed getting to explore the museum and learning more about the history behind the Civil War at Columbus-Belmont State Park. The leadership group appreciates all of the volunteers who helped make their Tourism and Cultural Heritage Theme Day a success. The students’ next theme day will be Oct. 25. They will be exploring health and medical careers.