, OH
The inhumanity of slavery and the Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850 motivated anti-slavery activists to operate a covert network, the “Underground Railroad,” which helped fugitive slaves escape captivity. From the early 1800s to the end of the Civil War, local activists assisted runaway slaves on their journeys north to freedom. Guides (“conductors”) used their homes, farms, and churches (“stations”) to hide and shelter runaway slaves (“cargo.”) If captured, fugitives were severely punished and re-enslaved; “conductors” faced large fines and imprisonment, and Free Persons of Color risked being sold into slavery. A route often-traveled was once a path used by migrating buffalo, which became an Indian trail called the Bullskin Trace. It ran north from the Ohio River to Lake Erie and later became U.S. Route 68.
, OH
Warren Cushman was a respected painter, sculptor, photographer, musician, and inventor. He created the towering Cushman monument in Woodstock’s Rush Township cemetery and is believed to have shown his painting “Spanish Dancing Girls” at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Warren was born to Franklin and Susan (Gifford) Cushman on January 17, 1845 in Woodstock and had three siblings, Julius, Charles and Lucy. (Continued on other side)
, OH
A salt spring, located about a mile west of this site, was the primary attraction for immigrants to the Western Reserve territory in the mid-1700s. Prior to European-American settlement, Indians used the springs, boiling the water to extract the salt and using it for preserving meat among other uses. In 1755, surveyor Lewis Evans underscored the importance of the springs by noting it on his “General Map of the Middle British Colonies in America.” This enticed immigrants from western Pennsylvania to the region. In addition to the salt itself, the abundance of wildlife near the spring ensured good hunting in the area. (Continued on other side)
, OH
The land on which Coventry Township is situated was ceded in 1785 to the United States by the Delaware, Chippewa, Ottawa, and Wyandot tribes under the Treaty of Fort McIntosh. The area was a choice location for Native Americans, settlers, and fur traders due to the abundant bodies of water and proximity to the Portage Path, a land connection between the Tuscarawas and Cuyahoga rivers and Lake Erie. In 1788, Coventry Township was initially part of Washington County, the first county formed in the Ohio Territory. After Moses Warren finished a survey in 1797, a succession of county splits located Coventry Township in Jefferson County, Trumbull County, Portage County, and, finally, Summit County in 1840. The township originally encompassed Summit Lake and the lands south to the southern line of the Western Reserve (Green-New Franklin lines). Daniel Haines was the first resident to settle in Coventry Township in 1806.
, OH
Educational standards for rural children did not exist during the early 1800s, but by the 1870s most states had enacted compulsory education laws. In rural areas, township school districts built schools like this one and assessed local citizens for upkeep and teacher’s salaries. Teachers passed a county examination for certification. Besides instruction duties, they kept records, cleaned the schoolhouse, and kept it heated during the cold months. In 1879, Allen and Mary Orders deeded one acre of land to the Jackson Township Board of Education to build Schoolhouse No. 10, known locally as Orders Road School. Three generations of Jackson Township students between ages five and sixteen received their primary education here. Following consolidation, the school district deeded this building to the farm’s owners in 1928. It was restored in 2000-2002.
, OH
Ice Age glaciers formed the distinct landscape of the Oak Openings Region, which is dominated by rolling sand dunes and wet prairies interrupted by clusters of oak trees. Although the sandy soil did not support agriculture well, the early settlers of Springfield Township and the Village of Holland raised cranberries and other fruits. Encompassing nearly 130 square miles, the Oak Openings Region was designated as one of America’s “Last Great Places” by The Nature Conservancy and is home to over 180 rare and endangered species. Local legend holds that prior to the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794, Miami Chief Little Turtle and Shawnee Chief Blue Jacket passed through the Oak Openings and met at a council with Wyandot chiefs on the hill near the Springfield Township Cemetery.
, OH
Mesopotamia Township, Trumbull County was a part of the Western Reserve, 3.3 million acres in Northeast Ohio claimed by Connecticut. After the Treaty of Greenville extinguished American Indian title in 1795, the state sold most of the land to the Connecticut Land Company (except for the Firelands to the west). The company’s proprietors then sold the land to settlers from Connecticut and the east and they in turn brought to the west their ideas for what a solid home should look like. (Continued on other side)
, OH
In 1798, Judge Turhand Kirtland came to Township 1, Range 1 as an agent of the Connecticut Land Company. In 1804, Kirtland donated the Village Green and the graveyard adjoining the church to the residents of Poland. On the Green, the settlers built a log meetinghouse and school. Prior to 1812, the local militia drilled here and, in 1861, young men trained here before leaving to fight in the Civil War. The graveyard contains some 450 graves of early families of Poland, including settlers such as Kirtland, Fowler, Walker, Morse, Arrel, Adair, Lee, McCombs, and Truesdale. Among those buried here are thirteen Revolutionary War veterans, thirteen veterans of the War of 1812, and ten men who fought in the Civil War. In 1862, Samuel K. Hine provided in his will for the maintenance of both the Graveyard and the Green.
614.297.2300
Contact Us
