Old Allsboro schoolhouse being renovated into veterans retreat

Wendy King said she was traveling the Natchez Trace one day but had to take a detour.

The side trip took her through Allsboro near Cherokee on the western edge of Colbert County near the state line with Mississippi.

It was in Allsboro that she found the structure she had been looking for.

An old building off the beaten path big enough to be converted into a place where veterans could come together and benefit from their shared experiences.

“God told me (this was the place),” King said. “I had tried this before in other places with different structures, and He kept drawing me out to Cherokee. I came through here one time when Natchez Trace was blocked by a flood, and I saw it. That’s the dinosaur I was looking for.”

That “dinosaur” is the former Allsboro school. It was built between 1936 and 1937 as part of the Works Progress Administration created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal.

The retreat is located on Allsboro Road. The structure last saw use as an education site in the 1980s.

King said the project is her way to give back to veterans, who she said are not always taken care of like they should be after their service to their country.

“When they walk through the door, I want them to run into other veterans,” she said. “They understand each other. “They may not have a physical issue but a mental one. The idea is de-escalation. We want them to be around people that understand them.”

Though the building is still a skeleton of what it once was, some displaced veterans have already been housed in the structure.

King plans on offering living space, a kitchen, and therapeutic activities like dog training, among others, in the future.

She said a number of businesses have already helped out with the project, though there are still issues like fixing the roof, windows and floors.

“The roof is the No. 1 concern right now,” she said. “Not just because it’s enormous, but because it’s expensive. The local iron workers are going to do a ramp and put up rails.

“Rogers Gas put new heating throughout. Plumbing and Gasfitting in Sheffield have helped out. Wylie Fence Co. came out here on Christmas Eve, put up a fence (for the dogs) and brought a truck full of food for the veterans staying here at the time.”

While some help from the community has been given, more is needed.

Colbert County Commissioner Tommy Barnes, who is running for Congress, said there are a number of grants that King might seek out.

“Sometimes the process is tedious, but it sounds like there is money out there,” he said.