HAMMETT, Idaho — You may not even know it's there, but that's probably because you never turn off the freeway at Hammett, between Mountain Home and Glenns Ferry.
Sitting on old Highway 30 in the small town of Hammett is a two-story yellow brick building that once schooled dozens of kids in the first half of the 20th century. However, in the late 1960s, all the kids from Hammett kids started being bussed over to Glenn's Ferry and the building became vacant.
Local historian and former editor of the Glenns Ferry newspaper Laurie Morehead remembers a number of people who called this building home, including her brother. She and her husband David bought it and jumped head first into fixing up the old place.
"Nobody had lived here, no power in the building, the plumbing was leaking, the eaves were rotten, the whole backyard was dead and full of goatheads," explains Morehead.
When the Moreheads moved their stuff in, friends gave them more stuff, and they now are owners of a lot of different radios and record players and pictures and paintings.
Laurie truly explains why this is all so important, "I'm just interested in making sure the history of the place isn't lost and molding in cardboard boxes in someone's basement."
That's because next year, Laurie is confident that the old school house may get voted into the national archives of historic buildings by the Idaho State Historic Sites Review Board.
"If that happens, basically that means that all knowledge that's verifiable and true about this building will be in the National Archives. We are absolutely committed to not putting in any new walls. We want to keep it architecturally [the same], the integrity."
So, I had to ask the obvious question. Have the Moreheads heard or seen anything ... unusual? Laurie said there was an incident the very first night.
"I woke up twice in the middle of the night and sat upright because I could hear kids running up and down the stairs," explained Laurie. " I think there's an energy in the place, but since then, nothing."
You know who else has a lot of energy? Laurie and David Morehead. They have scrubbed and cleaned and cleaned and scrubbed to make this old schoolhouse their home. Laurie says they don't have official tours, but if you're in the neighborhood traveling on this Idaho Backroad, stop by and say hi.
