Cooperative Living November/December 2018 - 34

performance as Aunt Martha Corrine
Walton. A video tells the story of the handpainted
cart's journey to Schuyler after
David Harper (Jim-Bob on the TV show)
tracked it down at a California studio
rental company where it sat untouched for
over 40 years.
Inspired by similar carts used in Sicily,
the cart's unique paint job kept it from
being used in other films, so it has retained
its original paint. Prop people did the
painting, but Bondi painted some herself,
captured on film in the season-five episode.
Richard Thomas (John-Boy) filmed a
31-second YouTube promotional clip for
the new exhibit when he attended the
museum's 25th-anniversary event last year.
The museum touches on 1969's
Hurricane Camille, a Category 5 hurricane
that brought sudden, unexpected rain and
caused flooding that killed over 150
people, including 125 in Nelson County.
" The Rockfish River reached the top of
door ceilings at Alberene Soapstone, "
Roberts recalls. " Bridges washed out and
you couldn't get in or out of Schuyler.
We had flooding, but no homes or people
here were lost. "
Across the street is the Hamner House,
where Earl Hamner Jr. grew up. The family
attended Schuyler Baptist Church, within
walking distance. Brother James Hamner
lived at home, caring for mother Doris
until her passing in 1990; he moved to
Charlottesville in 2003.
After his 2004 death, the 1915 home -
built for an Alberene Soapstone manager
and purchased by Earl Hamner Sr. in 1934
for $500 - was sold, renovated and
opened to the public.
In 2017 The Waltons fan Carole Johnson
of Ukiah, California, fearing the house
would fall into private hands (preventing
fans from seeing it) when it was for sale
again, bought the house, a Virginia Historic
Landmark. She flies to Virginia on a
bi-weekly basis, leads tours and oversees
the property.
An associate producer for Storyteller, a
2015 documentary film paying tribute to
Hamner, Johnson explains, " People do
phenomenal things for The Waltons. I drove
cross-country to bring the green model
A Ford in the front yard. "
Tours of the three-bedroom, one-bath
farmhouse-style home cost $8. Furnished in
1930s style, only the Hamner piano is original
to the home. A light in the second-floor
window stays on 24 hours a day as a
memorial to Earl Hamner.
Tour guide Laurie Lane of Forest, Virginia,
commutes 120 miles roundtrip to Schuyler
and is passionate about her job.
" We have the blessing of the family, "
Lane says of the three surviving Hamner
children (Nancy and Audrey live in
Virginia; Paul lives in New Jersey). " All
of them have been here in the last year.
Many people who visit say this is on
their bucket list. "
First-time visitors Sandy and Scott
Chamberlin of Amissville, Virginia, toured
the Hamner House and Walton's Mountain
Museum. Sandy notes, " If you are a fan
of the show, you will love it. You'll get
more insight into Earl Hamner's life. "
Scott says The Waltons lifestyle depicted
on the show " is similar to the one her
parents and grandparents lived. "
Kim Nettles of Amissville recalls, " The
show resonated with me ... families were
starting to move away from home and
be separated. "
She especially liked the museum's
military collection. The size of the Hamner
House surprised her, Nettles says, noting,
" It's much smaller than the TV-show home.
L-R: The Hamner House is a Virginia Historic Landmark. Laurie Lane has commuted 120 miles roundtrip from her home in Forest, Virginia,
near Lynchburg to her job as a tour guide for Walton's Hamner House Museum since August 2017. The shed behind Walton's Mountain
Country Store is promoted as the original site of Earl Hamner Jr.'s printing press.
32 | Cooperative Living | November-December 2018
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