Reprinted with Permission
By CASSIE SMITH
cassie.smith@theeagle.com
CALVERT -- Ghost-hunting groups have never picked up a single reading at The Hammond House, but that hasn't kept them from coming back in search of spirits from the dead.
Bill Norton, the owner of the historic building that is now a bed and breakfast, said he has a group coming at the end of the year to look for paranormal activity.
But the building isn't haunted, Norton said. The ghost-hunters are interested because of the building's age and the fact that it used to be a jail, he said.
A monument from the Robertson County Historical Society says the building at 604 Elm St. not far from Texas 6 used to be the county's courthouse.
But Norton says his research on the building's history indicates that's not the case.
"It's amazing how much inaccuracy I've come to find in history," he said.
History
Norton acquired the 4,000-square-foot house in 1995 after the Calvert Chamber of Commerce and the Robertson County Historical Society proposed he take it because it had been in his family.
"I figured if anyone was going to do anything with it, it was me," he said.
In 1870, Norton said, by an act of the state Legislature, the Robertson County seat was moved to Calvert, and county commissioners began to build a jail with plans for a courthouse nearby. But in 1879, the county seat was moved to Franklin after a local election, and the courthouse in Calvert was never built.
The cells were removed from the Calvert building and sent to the new jail in Franklin, and the building was sold to a local man who turned it into a hotel. The two-story building changed hands again in 1885, when it was sold to become a residence. And then, Norton said, it made it to his great-grandmother, Fannie Lee Hammond, in 1909.
Norton said his grandfather died in the house in 1963 and it sat vacant for three decades.
Norton said through restoring the building, he's become fascinated in its history, which has led to several findings about his family members and even the discovery of several relatives that he didn't know he had.
"For the longest time, when I was restoring this, I was under the assumption that this was a courthouse," he said.
But slowly as he made his way through the house, Norton said, there were signs that the historical marker in front of the house was wrong.
"I've always been a little bit more drawn to eccentricities of things and just the odder stuff. Somehow a jail was a little more intriguing," he said as he pointed to the holes left in window ledges where bars once prevented exit and the remains of square pegs in the floors often used in jails during that time period.
Accommodations
Proprietor Teresa O'Brien said the bed and breakfast attracts a lot of groups that rent the building for retreats and workshops. The kitchen staff can provide a continental breakfast or plan a special menu, she said.
On the first floor is the Tan Room, the Lavender Room and a parlor. Norton said he thinks one of the rooms used to be where the sheriff lived, and the other room was divided into two cells: one for the insane and the other for women. The rooms have high ceilings, clawfoot tubs and tall windows.
The second-story wooden floors lead toward the Green Room with full bath, the Blue Room, which has a parlor and full bath, and the Pink Room, which has a smaller sitting area and full bath.
The second story was built about the time the building became a hotel, he said.
Guests of the bed and breakfast can enjoy a continental-style breakfast that includes fruit kolaches and klobasneks. Weekend rates are $100, with weekday rates of $90. Special rates are available for packages, weddings, reunions, scrapbooking and other special events.
Visitors can view history books and old photos of what the bed and breakfast looked like when it housed prisoners.
IF YOU GO
The Hammond House
604 Elm St., Calvert
364-2201
On the web:
Hammond House website
Hammond House Twitter page
