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The Overton County Heritage Museum is open Thursday and Saturday from 10 am – 2 pm, Friday from 2pm-6pm and is also available for both large and small tour groups upon request. Admission is free; however, donations are gladly accepted. For more information, call (931) 403-0909.

If you drive through Livingston, the county seat of Overton County, be sure to drive through town on West Broad Street and see what was once the Sheriff’s office and county jail, currently home to the Overton County Heritage Museum. The modest, formerly red brick two-story building is now painted a light gray, and has undergone a complete facelift including landscaping and shutters and interior remodeling.

The museum was the long-time dream of the Overton County Historical Society, and the dream came true when the county completed a new justice center and agreed to lease the old jail to be used as a museum.

The museum finally opened in March, 2002, with only a few exhibits assembled by a handful of volunteers. It has since expanded to fill the entire upper floor. Generous donations and increased numbers of volunteers have helped the museum to grow, and the development of permanent exhibits on the lower floors are now being planned.

On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of each week, the museum hosts current and former county residents, school groups, and those with ties to Overton County. They come to view the county artifacts and exhibits that include military items from the Civil War, World War I, and World War II, as well as old medical instruments and equipment, early farm implements and home life items from the depression era.

On temporary loan from Clyde York 4-H Camp, one interesting display contains artifacts from Camp Crossville, a former POW camp that housed German and Italian prisoners of war during WWII. Included among the items are 2 large canvases painted by Nazi prisoners, original photos of the camp and its personnel, as well as everyday articles used by prisoners in the camp.

Another exhibit includes items donated by Mike McCulley, pilot of the space shuttle Atlantis and spacecraft for the 1988 Columbia space mission. Mike, who grew up and graduated from high school in Livingston, is one of Overton County’s favorite sons. The residents welcome him home as often as possible.