In a two-story log home reminiscent of the 1840s, Inez McCollum is showing Bluff Park Elementary first graders how her grandparents lived. She shows them how her grandmother had to cook dinner for the family, as well as how hominy, popcorn and soap were made.

“Popcorn is the most surprising thing to them, because all they’re used to is the bag you put in the microwave,” she said.

McCollum is president of the Hoover Historical Society, which preserves information and educates citizens and visitors about the city of Hoover. McCollum is highly active in the society’s Folklore Center, established in 1997 and located on the Bluff Park Elementary campus. In the log home known as the Ole’ Stinson Place on Cloudland Drive, she and other members, along with local craftspeople, regularly put on shows for local school children that demonstrate how life was lived in the 1800s.

To read more about the Hoover Historical Society, check out the April 2014 issue of Hoover’s Magazine. Find your copy here.