, OH
Clear Fork Gorge was formed when glacial meltwater cut through the sandstone bedrock that forms its steep walls fourteen to twenty-four thousand years ago. The gorge is one thousand feet wide and over three hundred feet deep. Its seclusion has preserved a rare forest community that includes native white pine and towering eastern hemlock. A National Natural Landmark, the gorge displays a wide variety of other tree species more common throughout the state, with sycamore on the bottomlands, beech, ash, and tulip farther up the slopes, and oak and maple on the ridges above. The gorge has changed little since pioneer legend Johnny Appleseed tended his apple orchards nearby.
, OH
The Ridgewood neighborhood, platted in 1914, was one of the first fully planned and restricted suburbs in the United States. Its innovative developer, Springfield native Harry S. Kissell, was among a small group of nationally-acclaimed real estate developers who, in the early twentieth century, created the modern suburb as we know it today. Their developments offered spacious lots in park-like settings; curvilinear, paved roads; utilities, and sewers. They also ushered in the practice of deed restrictions, which were both protective and exclusionary. Harry Kissell went on to become president of the National Association of Real Estate Boards in 1931. During his tenure, he conceived the idea for the Federal Home Loan Banking system, which, during the Great Depression, saved millioins of Americans from foreclosure and permanently opened up the possibility of home ownership to the middle class.
, OH
Built in 1816 by General Reasin Beall and his wife Rebecca Johnston Beall, the homestead is recognized as the oldest existing residence in the City of Wooster. Born in 1769 in Maryland, Reasin Beall came to Ohio in 1801. In the War of 1812, he was promoted to brigadier general of the Ohio militia. After the war, Beall served one term as a Republican to the Thirteenth Congress and ten years as a register of the land offices at Canton and Wooster. After Beall died in 1843, his daughter Elizabeth and son-in-law Joseph Stibbs II received his house.
, OH
This site, at the head of the Great Rapids of the Maumee, has been a major river crossing for centuries. The village was platted in 1833 as Gilead but was overshadowed by rival Providence during the canal era. In 1868 the name Grand Rapids was adopted, and the town prospered with the arrival of the railroad in 1877. Fires ravished the village in the late 1890s and spring floods have remained a threat. Restoration of the Victorian architecture began in 1975 and has helped revitalize this village along the historic Maumee.
, OH
Fowlers Mill (originally Fowler’s Mills) developed around a group of mills built in the 1830s on the Chagrin River. Opportunities from these mills led to Fowlers Mill becoming the commercial center of Munson Township. From the 1830s into the twentieth century, the community expanded with construction of churches, a post office, township hall, stores, hotel, blacksmith shop, schools, and houses built in such styles as Federal, Greek Revival, Italianate, and Queen Anne. This type of community center was common in rural, nineteenth century America, but rarely survives with so much original fabric intact. On Mayfield Road, the Disciple Church was built in 1842. East of the church, the brick central school built in 1913 replaced earlier one-room schoolhouses. The gristmill is the only mill standing in Geauga County. The cemetery contains burials dating from the 1830s. The Fowler’s Mills Historic District was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.
, OH
1832 Greek Revival Style. The Kinsman House once served as classrooms for the Dana School of Music, Hiram College Branch. The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
, OH
The Hopewell Associate Reformed Church and Cemetery, now known as Historic Hopewell, was founded in 1808 in a log building that was replaced in 1826 with the present building. It was built by the area’s first settlers, mainly Scotch-Irish who left Kentucky and South Carolina because of their opposition to slavery. The church encouraged worship by African Americans and played an important role in the Underground Railroad. It became the parent church for four “Daughter” Presbyterian congregations: Fairhaven in 1835, Oxford in 1837, College Corner in 1849, and Morning Sun in 1876. Reverend Alexander Porter, the first pastor, was committed to education and constructed a school near the Hopewell Spring that still produces clear water. “Old Hopewell” was completely refurbished in 1880, but by 1915 the membership declined and regular services discontinued. Today Hopewell holds Sunday services in the summer and is maintained by a generous and devoted group of volunteers.
, OH
Built by William Stedman in 1816 of local stone, this building served as the Bank of the Alexandrian Society, which printed its own currency. The bank failed in 1817 and 1837. This building has also been used as a store, post office, and interurban railway depot. It was enlarged and opened as a museum during Granville’s Sesquicentennial Celebration in 1955, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Granville Historic District in 1980.
614.297.2300
Contact Us
