, OH
Regular and militia troops under General James Wilkinson built this supply post and defensive fortification in March 1792 in preparation for Gen. “Mad Anthony” Wayne’s campaign against the Indians of the Northwest Territory, following disastrous expeditions in 1790 and 1791. Built near a “fine spring gushing out of the bank, ” the 120-foot square palisade fort had a four-sided bastion at each corner. Future U.S. president William Henry Harrison served in the detachment that built the fort. On November 6, 1792, Miami Chief Little Turtle and approximately 200 warriors attacked a force of Kentucky militia under Maj. John Adair camped outside the fort. Six Kentuckians and an unknown number of Indians died in the skirmish. The fallen soldiers were buried fifty paces west of the fort, beneath the “Whispering Oak.”
, OH
In 1772-73 missionary David Jones visited Blue Jacket’s Town, a settlement of 12 cabins downstream on the east bank and Pickaweekee, a Shawnee town, on the west bank. Deercreek Methodist Circuit Deacon, Dr. Edward Tiffin, met settlers after 1798. Dr. Tiffin was later elected first governor of Ohio. A station of Virginia bounty-land settlers, “Williams Town,” assembled here around 1797. Mill sites, established before Pickaway County, flourished in the dense oak forest of Deercreek Township. Frontier hotels in Williamsport prospered due to the “healthful” sulphur springs.
, OH
The 103rd O.V.I. was recruited for Civil War service from Cuyahoga, Lorain, and Medina counties. The Regiment was organized at Cleveland in August, 1862, and served until 1865 in campaigns at Cincinnati, Knoxville, Atlanta, Franklin, Nashville, and the Carolinas.103rd O.V.I. veterans and their descendants have held continuous, annual reunions since 1867. The organization is believed to be unique in the nation. Descendants live on these grounds today.
, OH
Named for the Native Americans who first dwelled here along both sides of the Kokosing River, the Little Indian Fields is adjacent to the site of the first white settlement of Knox County. Early white inhabitants of this land were Andrew and Catherine Craig and Benjamin and John Butler. John “Appleseed” Chapman planted an apple orchard near here at the confluence of the Kokosing River and Centre Run and in 1809 bought two lots in Mount Vernon. In 1808 the Ohio Legislature created Knox County and later designated Mount Vernon as the county seat.
, OH
On this site in 1809, pious Christians from Virginia and North Carolina erected a Methodist Church, the first in Greene County. The church was officially organized on May 23, 1807 as the Bonner Society. Frederick Bonner, Sr. and the illustrious Rev. John Sale were the principal organizers. This Methodist Church, one of the oldest in Ohio, has been serving the area known as the Union Neighborhood uninterrupted from this site since 1809. Rev. Bennett Maxey was the first pastor. (Continued on other side)
, OH
One of America’s best-known sport shooters and entertainers of the late 1800s, Annie Oakley was born Phoebe Ann Mosey (or Mozee) north of Versailles in Darke County in 1860. She achieved local fame for her shooting ability as a hunter while still in her teens. By 1885 Oakley was a star performer in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West. With husband and manager Frank Butler, she refined a shooting act and image that appealed to late 19th century notions of a romanticized but vanishing West. Throughout her 30-year performing career, Oakley provided honest entertainment in a deception-prone industry while demonstrating widening opportunities for women. She retained her Ohio ties throughout her life and is interred at Brock Cemetery, eleven miles north of Greenville.
, OH
Replacing an earlier bridge that was carried away in a spring flood, the Harpersfield Covered Bridge was built in 1868 and spans the Grand River, a state-designated wild, and scenic river. This bridge, which currently carries County Road #154 (Harpersfield Road), is a two-span wooden Howe truss bridge, with center pier. The great flood of 1913 washed away the northern approach and it was at this time that the additional 140 foot steel truss was added. Extensive rehabilitation in 1992 included strengthening the lower chords, lowering and replacing the floor, and adding a cantilevered walkway. The 228-foot-long Harpersfield Bridge is the longest covered bridge in Ohio and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
, OH
As a member of the Connecticut Land Company, Judge Samuel Hinckley of North Hampton, Massachusetts purchased township 4N Range 13W of the Western Reserve in 1795 for a sum equivalent to 23 cents an acre. The township remained unsettled until Abraham Freeze was commissioned by Judge Hinckley in 1819 to survey the township into 100 plots of 160 acres each. In return for having the township, founded in 1825, named “Hinckley,” the judge gave land for two burying grounds and one-half acre for a public square. In 1919, upon the 101st anniversary of the “Great Hinckley Hunt,” where men from surrounding counties gathered on Christmas Eve to rid the township of wild animals, Judge Amos Webber spoke for the deceased Judge Hinckley: “When I last saw this country, it was a howling wilderness – by industry and frugality you and your ancestors have made these ever lasting hills and pleasant valleys blossom as the rose.”
614.297.2300
Contact Us
