Montevallo, Alabama
American Village
Inspired by some of America’s most historic places, the American Village comprises more than 20 buildings on 183 acres in Montevallo, Alabama. The National Veterans Shrine, inspired by Philadelphia’s Carpenters Hall; Washington Hall, replicating Mount Vernon; a full-sized replica of the White House Oval Office; Colonial Chapel, modeled after Bruton Parish Church; and a replica of Concord Bridge are among the campus attractions, all designed to bring American history and civics to life. The historically-inspired buildings capture the spirit of our founding fathers using rules of design for floor plans, site plans and detailing as they were used during the associated time period.
“Their collaboration focused on shaping and creating a vision of both the campus as a whole and of its individual components. Since 1994, Walker and Hamrick, with support of the Board of Trustees, and other stakeholders, have sought to create a campus that is emblematic of America’s heritage of liberty and self-government. This village “set upon a hill” is emerging more and more as a nationally-distinctive campus.”
GMC’s Project Manager, Mike Hamrick, began working on the design of the American Village with Mr. Tom Walker in 1994 with another firm and continues to work on the American Village with GMC, often under an open-ended contract with the American Village Citizenship Trust. As stated in “A Brief History of the American Village” which says, “Their collaboration focused on shaping and creating a vision of both the campus as a whole and of its individual components. Since 1994, Walker and Hamrick, with support of the Board of Trustees, and other stakeholders, have sought to create a campus that is emblematic of America’s heritage of liberty and self-government. This village “set upon a hill” is emerging more and more as a nationally-distinctive campus.” Mike has designed virtually all of the existing buildings, as well as the associated support elements at the campus, including long range planning and schematic design of currently built along with other proposed facilities.
