Baldwin County Heritage Museum

Mission:

The Mission of the Baldwin County Heritage Museum is to preserve the culture of the farm communities of early Baldwin County through the creation of a home for historically significant buildings, documents and artifacts from community life.

History::

The Baldwin County Heritage Museum Association, Inc. was organized in April 1981 by a group of area residents who wished to gather facts, tools, machinery, and histories and ethnic cultures of the men and women who settled in the county about the turn of the century and design a museum in which to showcase their collections

Understanding the importance of this project for Baldwin County, museum board members, John & Ruby Haupt donated 5 acres of land as a home for the museum. The site, named “Frieden Im Wald” or Peace in the Forest, provided a rural setting that realistically represented the land as it had been at the turn of the century. The conservation of this environment plays an important role in the preservation plans and activities of the museum. In June, 1983, the land was dedicated in a ground breaking ceremony.

The design for the grounds was done by the Landscape Architecture Program of Auburn University. There are over a hundred species of native flora and fauna growing on the grounds. Joe Manley, a member of the museum board, has supervised the care of the grounds for many years.

Construction on the first building began in 1984 and was opened to the public Oct. 31, 1987. It resembles a turn of the century barn with a working windmill in front. The windmill was donated by John & Ruby Haupt in memory of their parents Paul & Marie Haupt and Henry C. & Frances Vikers. The original building contains three public rooms – an all purpose classroom for lectures and meetings, a exhibit room and a large storage area for donated artifacts. In the NE corner of the addition to the original building is an extensive tool collection donated in 1998 by the widow of Dr. Kee, an area dentist. This area also contains a Post Office and a Barber Shop.

The second building called the Haupt Building in honor of the sponsors who donated the land. It was completed in late 1987 and dedicated on February 28, 1998. It houses vintage farm equipment, tools and machinery. Also housed in this building is a 1911 Titan Tractor.

The third edition was a working blacksmiths shop though it has not been developed into a full exhibit because of the unexpected addition of the fourth building, a 1908 church moved to its new home on the museum grounds in 1998.