Dorothy Blount fell in love with the German town of Rothenburg while on a mission trip during the late 1950s.

Ever since she laid eyes on the village's medieval-style homes and buildings, she has been creating a replica of the town.

Ms. Blount of Canton has created a six-foot-by-three-foot replica of a portion of the town.

The replica features a section near the Das Plonlein, or the square.

Ms. Blount said she used balsa wood to make the homes and buildings. She meticulously cut out the windows and doors and even went through the process of creating the exact light fixtures on each building.

After shaping the homes, she spackled each piece, painted them and added the rest of the embellishments. The replica is complete with trees and small bushes that surround the buildings.

The next building Ms. Blount will tackle will be Rothenburg's Town Hall, a tourist attraction.

Ms. Blount said each home and building takes about two weeks to complete and the town hall project will take about a year to perfect.

"It's quite complicated," she said of the building.

Rothenburg sits in the Ansbach district of Bavaria, Germany, and has a wall surrounding its borders. The wall was used for protection during the Medieval Times from invaders. Ms. Blount said the town has become a popular tourist attraction for Germans and others visiting the area.

Ms. Blount's love affair with the town and its buildings began while she and her family were living in Belgium. She and her late husband, B.B., were missionaries in training.

While in Belgium, the family often traveled through Bavaria and other German states and admired the landscape and the architecture of the town.

While in Germany, her husband visited Frankfurt and purchased an 1890-model German train. The family, which included three daughters and a son, moved to the Belgian colony of Zaire, now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

After civil war broke out in the colony, the family was ordered to evacuate. Linda Maphet of Canton, one of Ms. Blount's daughters, said her family was forced to leave all their possessions behind, but her father made sure he did not leave the train behind.

The train eventually became part of the family's Christmas decorations in 1960 and Ms. Blount realized the family needed a village to accompany the train. The idea to build a replica for the city then popped into her mind.

"I wanted an old village to go with the train," she said.

Ms. Blount's project has caused a stir in Rothenburg and her efforts were even documented by the local newspaper, the Fraenkischer-Anzieger Rothenburg.

Mrs. Maphet said she wasn't surprised at her mother's quest to replicate a portion of the city.

She said both her parents had a creative streak.

"It was sort of part of life," she said, adding her father loved to build and rebuild things around their home.

Ms. Blount was born in Texas and she and her family settled in North Carolina after returning to the states in 1960. Her husband passed away seven years ago and she moved to Canton soon after.

Along with Mrs. Maphet, Ms. Blount, 80, has two daughters, Christine Lanning of Hickory Flat and Joanne Holmes of Salisbury, North Carolina and one son, David Blount of Denver.

Ms. Blount attends Canton First United Methodist Church, where she had the replica on display for others to see.

She said the German town is anxious for her to travel to Rothenburg and show the display to its residents, but Ms. Blount said it would be hard to transport the fragile pieces. She did say she's considering donating the village when it's complete.

Both mother and daughter said they hoped others see the replica and enjoy the beauty of medieval architecture.

Building a replica of the village, Ms. Blount said, has become an art form.

"It has been a pleasurable experience for me," she said.