History of Ashtabula County
January 2012
Gazette Newspapers
2 • GAZETTE NEWSPAPERS
Ashtabula County History
JANUARY 2012
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Ashtabula County History
JANUARY 2012
GAZETTE NEWSPAPERS • 3
Ashtabula County is rich in history BY STEFANIE WESSELL Gazette Newspapers JEFFERSON - If you’re looking to learn more about the history of America, you don’t have to travel very far. Right in Ashtabula County there are 38 properties and districts listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Ashtabula County, including one National Historic Landmark. The National Historic Landmark is the Joshua Reed Giddings Law
Office, located right in the county seat of Jefferson. Joshua Reed Giddings was a prominent abolitionist who served as a U.S. Representative from 1838 to 1859. His law office and its historical significance is profiled in this special section of the Gazette. Every year, the Gazette focuses on a historical part of the county in a special section. Last year, we profiled the so-called “haunted” parts of the county. This year, we take a look at some of these 38 sites on the Na-
Ashtabula County History 2012 Story Index Historic Blakeslee Log Cabin ..................... Page 4 National Register of Historic Places listings in Ashtabula County, Ohio ..................... Pages 6 - 7 Joshua Giddings’ Law Office ...................... Page 8 Historic Conneaut Lighthouse .................. Page 10 Harpersfield Covered Bridge .................... Page 12 Hubbard House ....................................... Page 13 Ashtabula Harbor Lighthouse .................. Page 14 Shandy Hall .............................................. Page 15 Windsor Mills Christ Episcopal Church...... Page 16 Ashtabula Harbor .......................... Pages 16 - 17 Warner’s Hollow ............................. Pages 18 - 19
Ashtabula County History 2012 A Gazette Newspapers Publication Publisher ........................................ John Lampson President ................................ Jeffrey J. Lampson General Manager ........................ William Creed Senior Editor ................................ Stefanie Wessell
Editorial Office 46 West Jefferson Street, Jefferson, Oh 44047 P.O.Box 166 Phone: 440-576-9125 • Fax: 440-576-2778 E-mail: gazette@gazettenews.com
tional Register of Historic Places. The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.
The first site in Ashtabula County to be named to this list was the Col. William Hubbard House, located in the Ashtabula Harbor. Named to the list on March 20, 1973, the Hubbard House allows visitors to take a glimpse of life in the Connecticut Western Reserve in the middle third of the 19th century. There are three distinct features of the Hubbard House: the circa1841 home of William and Catharine Hubbard on the first floor; the Underground
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Railroad exhibit area on the second floor; and the Civil War and Americana exhibit area in the basement. The Hubbard House also is featured in this special section. The most recent site in Ashtabula County to be named to the National Register of Historic Places is the Cleveland Hotel, located in Conneaut. The Cleveland Hotel was named to the register on Dec. 20, 2007. In between those times, a wide variety of other historic sites were added to the
list, some familiar, like the Ashtabula County Courthouse Group, where Ashtabula County commissioners still hold their meetings today, and some more obscure, like the Windsor Mills Fort and Village Site. Other sites include the David Cummins Octagon House in Conneaut, the Rock Creek School, which is now used as a community center, the Congregational Church of Austinburg, the Mother of Sorrows Church in Ashtabula, the Jefferson Town Hall and more.
Ashtabula County History
4 • GAZETTE NEWSPAPERS
JANUARY 2012
This historic Blakeslee Log Cabin, built in 1810, is only one of a few original log cabins This bronze plaque designates the 200-year-old-plus Blakeslee Log Cabin being placed in Ohio still on the grounds where it was built. The John Blakeslee family journeyed on the National Register of Historic Places. The cabin site is open for tours by appointfrom Connecticut to settle here in northeast Ohio after the Revolutionary War. ments and for various educational events by the Ashtabula County Historical Society.
Historic Blakeslee Log Cabin part of Ashtabula County Historical Society’s holdings BY DORIS COOK Gazette Newspapers PLYMOUTH TOWNSHIP - With Ashtabula County Historical Society as one of the oldest historical societies in Ohio, it only seems appropriate that one of its sites is on the National Register of Historic Places. Blakeslee Cabin, one of Ohio’s original log cabins
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still standing where it was built in 1810, is owned and maintained by the ACHS. It was built by John Blakeslee a year after he arrived from Connecticut in 1810. The log house has been home to three individual immigrant families since that first owner and his family settled in, according to records kept by the ACHS trustees. Residents in Plymouth Township are among the many volunteers from all over Ashtabula County who have helped the society in keeping it repaired and maintained. Parts of the cabin and other old structures on the site were restored in past years, according to ACHS board president Cher Shepard. ACHS trustees Barrie Bottorf, Ray Clark, Marv
Knasel plus many others are among the volunteers who see that the mowing is done and look after the continued maintenance of this 201-year-old log cabin. In the last few years, the society partnered with the Ashtabula County Joint Vocational School, now known as A-Tech, to build a bank-type barn in close proximity of the cabin. Creek stone was used to enhance the tall wood barn, which will be officially dedicated this coming September. One of the major events held at Blakeslee Cabin is the Log Cabin Days always held the first weekend after Labor Day in September. Other ACHS programs and events are also held at the site. Blakeslee Cabin is open to the public for various
events and by appointment to groups or individuals. Many area school groups over the years have visited the Blakeslee Log Cabin to learn about early pioneer living back in the 1800s. Ashtabula County is
part of the Connecticut Western Reserve and early settlers came to this part of northeast Ohio country after the Revolutionary War. The cabin was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in April 1998.
It is located at 441 Seven Hills Road, Plymouth Township, just off Route 11. For more information or to book a tour, call (440) 466-7337, then leave a message and phone number.
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The Blakeslee Log Cabin wood bank barn was a recent addition to the historic site in Plymouth Township owned by the Ashtabula County Historical Society. The barn was put up in a partnership between the society and the Ashtabula County Joint Vocational School.
Ashtabula County History
JANUARY 2012
GAZETTE NEWSPAPERS • 5
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Ashtabula County History
6 • GAZETTE NEWSPAPERS
JANUARY 2012
National Register of Historic Places listings in Ashtabula County, Ohio 1. Ashtabula County Courthouse Group Date listed: June 30, 1975. Northwestern corner of Jefferson and Chestnut Streets, Jefferson – 41°44’19"N 80°46’12"W
2. Ashtabula Harbor Light Date listed: August 4, 1983. Ashtabula Harbor, Ashtabula – 41°55’06"N 80°47’45"W
9. Congregational Church Of Austinburg Date listed: December 22, 1978. State Route 307 in Austinburg, Austinburg Township – 41°46’17"N 80°51’23"W
10. Conneaut Harbor West Breakwater Light Date listed: April 10, 1992. Western breakwater pierhead at the harbor entrance, Conneaut – 41°58’47"N 80°33’29"W
3. Ashtabula Harbour Commercial District Date listed: September 5, 1975. Both sides of W. 5th St. from its 1200 block to the Ashtabula River, Ashtabula – 41°53’58"N 80°47’59"W
17. Francis E. Harmon House Date listed: February 24, 1975. 1641 E. Prospect Rd., Ashtabula – 41°52’28"N 80°46’32"W
18. Harpersfield Covered Bridge Date listed: November 3, 1975. County Road 154 over the Grand River, Harpersfield Township – 41°45’22"N 80°56’40"W
19. Harwood Block 11. Conneaut Light Station Keeper’s Dwelling Date listed: August 21, 1992. 1059 Harbor St., Conneaut – 41°58’01"N 80°33’07"W
Date listed: March 21, 1978. 246, 250, and 256 Main St., Conneaut – 41°56’39"N 80°33’21"W
20. John Henderson House 4. Eliphalet Austin House Date listed: February 24, 1975. 1879 State Route 45 in Austinburg, Austinburg Township – 41°46’31"N 80°51’19"W
12. Conneaut Works Date listed: July 30, 1974. Off Mill Rd., Conneaut – 41°56’13.2"N 80°34’10.8"W
13. David Cummins Octagon House
5. Blakeslee Log Cabin
Date listed: September 9, 1974. 301 Liberty St., Date listed: April 1, 1998. 441 Seven Hills Rd., south of Conneaut – 41°56’28"N 80°33’26"W Ashtabula, Plymouth Township – 41°50’41"N 80°46’10"W 14. Eagle Cliff Hotel Date listed: October 20, 1995. 5254 Lake Rd., E., 6. Boice Fort And Village Site Geneva on the Lake – 41°51’40"N 80°56’40"W Date listed: July 24, 1974. Western side of Pymatuning Creek, near Wayne, Wayne Township – 15. Joshua Reed Giddings Law Office 41°32’25.116"N 80°38’9.672"W Date listed: May 30, 1974. 112 N. Chestnut St., Jefferson – 41°44’26"N 80°46’09"W
7. Michael Cahill House
Date listed: October 5, 1988. 1106 Walnut Boulevard, Ashtabula – 41°54’04"N 80°48’01"W
8. The Cleveland Hotel
16. Griggs Grange No. 1467 Date listed: December 13, 1995. 1467 Brown Rd., north of Jefferson, Plymouth Township – 41°47’19"N 80°42’47"W
Date listed: December 20, 2007. 230-238 State St., Conneaut – 41°56’39"N 80°33’18"W
Date listed: November 7, 1976. 5248 StanhopeKelloggsville Rd. in West Andover, Andover Township – 41°36’28"N 80°36’44"W
21. Hotel Ashtabula Date listed: June 20, 1985. 4726 Main Ave., Ashtabula – 41°51’50"N 80°46’58"W
22. Col. Erastus House House Date listed: July 30, 1974. State Route 46 and Richmond-Footville Rd. at Rays Corner, Lenox Township – 41°41’00"N 80°46’52"W
23. Col. William Hubbard House Date listed: March 20, 1973. Corner of Lake Ave. and Walnut Boulevard, Ashtabula – 41°53’59"N 80°48’17"W
24. Jefferson Town Hall Date listed: June 18, 1981. 27 E. Jefferson St., Jefferson – 41°44’19"N 80°46’05"W
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Date listed: December 12, 1976. 1025 Buffalo St., Conneaut – 41°57’55"N 80°33’19"W
26. Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad Station Date listed: October 14, 1982. 147 E. Jefferson St., Jefferson – 41°44’21"N 80°45’43"W
27. Lake Shore And Michigan Southern Passenger Depot Date listed: March 27, 1975. 342 Depot St., Conneaut – 41°56’59"N 80°33’33"W
28. Mother of Sorrows Church Date listed: March 9, 1995. 1500 W. 6th St., Ashtabula – 41°53’45"N 80°48’13"W
Ashtabula County History
JANUARY 2012
National Register of Historic Places listings in Ashtabula County, Ohio, Continued 29. New Lyme Institute Date listed: January 1, 1976. 929 Brownville Rd. in South New Lyme, New Lyme Township – 41°34’58"N 80°47’01"W
30. New Lyme Town Hall Date listed: August 6, 1975. North of South New Lyme at 6000 NC 46, New Lyme Township – 41°35’10"N 80°46’43"W
31. L. W. Peck House Date listed: January 1, 1976. 2646 Eagleville Rd. in Eagleville, Austinburg Township – 41°42’54"N 80°50’48"W
32. Rock Creek School Date listed: February 9, 2005. 2987 High St. in Rock Creek, Morgan Township – 41°39’46"N 80°51’30"W
33. Shandy Hall Date listed: June 28, 1974. 6333 S. Ridge Rd., southwest of Geneva, Harpersfield Township – 41°46’55"N 80°58’58"W
34. West Fifth Street Bridge Date listed: August 23, 1985. State Route 531 over the Ashtabula River, Ashtabula – 41°54’01"N 80°47’53"W
35. Windsor Corners District Date listed: September 5, 1975. U.S. Route 322 and State Route 534 in Windsor, Windsor Township – 41°32’07"N 80°56’04"W
36. Windsor Mills Christ Church Episcopal Date listed: May 29, 1975. Wisell Rd. and U.S. Route 322 at Windsor Mills, Windsor Township – 41°32’09"N 80°57’43"W
37. Windsor Mills Fort And Village Site Date listed: October 21, 1975. Off U.S. Route 322, southeast of Windsor Mills, Windsor Township – 41°31’52.644"N 80°58’30.252"W
38. Wiswell Road Covered Bridge Date listed: April 11, 1973. Wiswell Rd. over Phelps Creek at Windsor Mills, Windsor Township – 41°31’59"N 80°57’50"W
Map Courtesy of Ashtabula County Convention & Visitors Bureau
GAZETTE NEWSPAPERS • 7
Ashtabula County History
8 • GAZETTE NEWSPAPERS
JANUARY 2012
Ashtabula County’s Joshua Giddings’ Law Office still preserved for posterity BY DORIS COOK Gazette Newspapers
Chestnut Street in the village was the law office of Joshua Giddings, JEFFERSON - A small Ashtabula County’s aboliwhite clapboard office tionist movement leader. building on busy North Giddings was not a na-
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The tiny white clapboard wood law office of famous lawyer and anti-slavery movement leader Joshua R. Giddings is preserved and maintained today by the Ashtabula County Historical Society. It is open for tours by scheduled appointments.
tive son of the county, but born Oct. 6, 1795 in Bradford County, Pennsylvania. Giddings was a school teacher first, then studied law to be admitted to the bar in 1821. He came to Jefferson to establish a law practice. A member of the Whig Party, Giddings in 1826 was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives. By 1831 he formed a partnership with another lawyer, Benjamin F. Wade. Both men became leading advocates in the antislavery movement in Ohio. Giddings was less a firebrand for the cause than Wade, but both became famous as the abolitionist movement gained prominence in the North before the Civil War. Giddings law office was built in 1823 and still
stands at 112 N. Chestnut Street (State Route 46). It is owned today and maintained by the Ashtabula County Historical Society. Both Giddings and Wade were elected to the U.S. Congress and spent most of their careers as fiery outspoken opponents of slavery. Wade was elected president of the U.S. Senate during the Andrew Johnson administration and would have become president of the United States if one more senator would have voted to impeach Johnson. Meanwhile, Giddings in 1842 was forced to resign from Congress after he was censured for defending slave mutineers aboard the ship Creole. The African slaves overpowered the crew and murdered one man, then sailed the ship to Nassau, Bahamas where
they were declared free. A diplomatic controversy erupted and Giddings as an Ohio Congressman and lawyer argued that once the ship was out of U.S. territorial waters the mutineers (slaves) were entitled to liberty, early records show. Giddings was censured by the House of Representatives and resigned, but he was quickly reelected and sent back to Congress. For his 20 years in Congress, Giddings continued to use the nation’s capitol building to debate the issues of slavery. His home in Ohio served as a station on the Underground Railroad before and after his election to Congress. In 1861, President Abraham Lincoln appointed Giddings as the U.S. general consul general to Canada. Giddings died
in Montreal, Canada on May 27, 1864. The ACHS formed in 1836 in Jefferson and later became owners of Giddings Law Office, still preserved today as it resembled the famous lawyer when he first practiced law here. Giddings was also one of the founders of the Republican Party. With his son-inlaw George Julian, Giddings and he were part of the Radical Republicans in Congress. The law office site was named to the National Register of Historic Places in May 1974. Tours are given at the Giddings Law Office by appointment only. To schedule a tour, call the ACHS at (440 466-7337 or Cher Shepard at (440) 8138618. (Historical information from ACHS archival records.)
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Ashtabula County History
10 • GAZETTE NEWSPAPERS
JANUARY 2012
Historic Conneaut Lighthouse now private property BY MARTHA SOROHAN Gazette Newspapers CONNEAUT - Standing 80 feet high over Lake Erie and linked to the Conneaut shoreline by a sand bar, the Conneaut Lighthouse is now private property. Known as the “Conneaut West Breakwater,” the 1930s-era lighthouse is the third to have graced the Port of Conneaut, in the northeastern-most corner of Ashtabula County. It was named to the National Register of Historic Places on April 10, 1992, just eight years before it landed on a list of lighthouses to be auctioned off by the federal government’s General Services Administration. Another 11 years passed before Jerry Killilea, a greenhouse owner, farmer and part-time delivery truck driver in the central Ohio town of Orient, saw the Conneaut Lighthouse auction story on a Columbus TV station and offered the winning bid of $46,000. Killilea — who had never laid eyes on the lighthouse — purchased the lighthouse as a vaca-
tion retreat spot for his extended family. Killilea’s new ownership adds another chapter to the lighthouse’s unique history. As dear to Conneaut residents as is the Statue of Liberty is to Americans, the present lighthouse is the fourth to have marked the Conneaut harbor. The first light went up on a pier in 1835, reflecting Conneaut’s busy port that handled grain, whiskey, and forest products. According to LighthouseFriends.com, in 1885, the pier was determined to be too deteriorated to hold the light, so the light was moved to a tower adjacent to the keeper’s dwelling at the end of Harbor Street in the Port of Conneaut. The next lighthouse served from the 1890s through 1917, when its $125,000 replacement was built on a cement crib at the end of a breakwater on the harbor’s western side. It was a square, two-story brick-and-cement structure with a tower at one end.
In 1935. that lighthouse was blasted with dynamite to make way for the new. Described as a “new, sleek tower,” the new $70,000 structure rested on a square base, stood four floors high and had 20 windows. “In the late 1930s, there was a conscious effort to represent the machine age, speed and efficiency. The style of this lighthouse is a clear attempt to look modern and to make a break from the past,” said Patrick Andrews, who reviewed the Ohio State Historic Preservation Office’s 1992 petition to place the lighthouse on the National Register of Historic Places. When the lighthouse was completed in the 1930s, its light — 11,000-candlepower — could be seen 17 miles into Lake Erie. Its fog horn was said to have “blasted air through a 3.5-inch pipe and metal vibrator” to create a sound that could be heard for 15 miles. Initially, the lighthouse was controlled remotely by a keeper and two assistants from a shore house. Ice on the lake kept the light inactive from Dec. 25 to March 1. Dur-
ing this time, the keeper and his assistants were said to have taken their vacations. Modernization slowly brought the end of the light’s function. In 1972, the lantern in the original lighthouse was replaced by a modern, automated beacon. A horizontal black strip was painted onto the formerly all-white tower about halfway up to serve as a day-mark. In addition, a secondary light has been placed on the port’s east breakwater. It displays green light, in contrast to the lighthouse tower’s alternating red-and-white flashes within a five-second period. When the lighthouse was deemed by the U.S. Coast Guard to be “in excess,” it was first offered at no cost to eligible federal, state and local agencies, non-profit and educational organizations. When no one stepped forward, it was put on the GSA’s on-line lighthouse auction list. The first “winning” bid of $35,000 was submitted by Gary Zaremba, president of Artisan Restoration Group of New York. When Zaremba came to Conneaut to look
at the light, and — like Killilea and his family in 2011 — was unable to find a boat to take him the mile offshore, he ended up wading out to the structure. Zaremba planned to open the structure to guided tours and eventual overnight lodging, since its first and second floors are the size of the average living room. But unlike Killilea, Zaremba did not pursue a lease from Ohio for the bottomlands on which the tower stands. Thus, the lighthouse reverted to the General Services Administration, another on-line auction, with a minimum bid of $5,000. Killilea’s was one of six bids on the lighthouse last year. Unlike Zaremba, Killilea has no plans to abandon the Conneaut West Breakwater lighthouse. He said it “meets and beats” his expectations. “You live only once,” he said upon visiting the lighthouse for the first time. “When people ask me why I bought this, I tell them that the Statue of Liberty was already spoken for.”
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Ashtabula County History
12 • GAZETTE NEWSPAPERS
JANUARY 2012
Harpersfield Covered Bridge still a county staple BY SADIE PORTMAN Gazette Newspapers HARPERSFIELD TOWNSHIP The Harpersfield Covered Bridge has become an icon for not only Ashtabula County (along with the many other covered bridges), but for the town of Harpersfield Township as well.
Constructed in 1868, the Harpersfield Bridge spans the Grand River in western Ashtabula County by the City of Geneva. The bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Nov. 3, 1975. A flood in 1913 nearly washed away the land on the north end of the bridge and a steel span was at-
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tached to make the bridge secure. The bridge is constructed with a Howe Truss design, meaning the wooden bridge uses carefully measured beams to form triangles to create support for the roof. The bridge’s strong construction allows for traffic to flow over it even today, and the bridge is still a popular attraction among tourists. And it’s not only cars that can make the trip across the river, as both sides of the bridge have enclosed walkways for the pedestrian to travel on foot. Every once in a while a fisherman can be seen casting his line off from the bridge. The Ashtabula County Metroparks now owns the bridge and the surrounding area, which is composed of the Harpersfield Covered Bridge Park, which is the most recognized park in the Geneva area. Since the bridge is located right on the Grand River, the spring and summer months can bring in local fisherman as they fish along the shores. “It is located on
PHOTOS BY STEFANIE WESSELL
Constructed in 1868, the Harpersfield Bridge spans the Grand River.
Harpersfield Road at the Grand River dam, where many fishermen angle for trout (in spring and fall), bluegill, crappie, large and smallmouth bass, etc,” the Metroparks officials said. The park provides picnic tables and recreational fields for play and leisure. The Metroparks officials are proud to take claim to the area and see it as a family friendly environ-
ment, as the shallows below the dam provide children with hours of entertainment. The Harpersfield Covered Bridge even has a following among community members who meet and discuss ways to keep the bridge preserved and clean. The Friends of the Harpersfield Covered Bridge Park is an active group that is proud to sup-
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port the bridge in any way possible. “We need to work together to take care of this beautiful park of ours and we, the ‘Friends,’ cannot do this without the help of people,” Denise Weinmann, chair of the Friends of the Harpersfield Covered Bridge Park, said in a recent blog after volunteers helped to clean the park. The Metroparks officials say the Harpersfield Covered Bridge Park is very well respected in the community and they are proud to keep it clean for all those who visit. “As with any publicly owned facility, we encourage the use and enjoyment of the Harpersfield Covered Bridge Metropark,” officials said. “Because this is a public park for the enjoyment of everyone, we encourage visitors and picnickers to clean up and carry out their trash.” Whether it is through the work of the Metroparks or the community, the Harpersfield Covered Bridge is still well preserved and offers a glimpse back in time to whomever comes for a visit.
Ashtabula County History
JANUARY 2012
GAZETTE NEWSPAPERS • 13
Hubbard House: Terminus of the Underground Railroad BY MARTHA SOROHAN Gazette Newspapers ASHTABULA – Col. William Hubbard might be surprised to learn today that his brick home has become a significant landmark at Lake Avenue’s terminus at Walnut Boulevard in Ashtabula. Placed on the National Register of Historic Places in Ashtabula County on March 20, 1973, the 170-year-old structure was saved from the wrecking ball to be turned into the Hubbard House Underground Railroad Museum. But Hubbard might not recognize the home that visitors tour today, says Museum Director Betsy English. “The original house had two more wings,” she said. “One was a summer kitchen and the other a mother-inlaw suite.” Though its first floor is similar to other historic houses in what was once known as Ohio’s “Connecticut Western Reserve,” with period furnishings in the parlor, dining room and kitchen, the home’s second floor contains an Underground Railroad Museum exhibit, while the basement is filled with artifacts, tools, weapons and information on the Civil War, some from the Charles Moses Americana Collection. Visitors are forewarned not to expect to see a “tunnel” connecting the house to Lake Erie’s Walnut Beach, to its immediate north, a tunnel which local lore says provided a final escape route for runaway slaves. No such tunnel has been located. The house was built by William Hubbard, sent to Ohio from Oneida County, N.Y., to work as a land agent for his uncle, Nehemiah Hubbard, Jr. The elder Hubbard was among the 40 founders of the Connecticut Land Company, which came into existence after lands in the Ohio Territory were redivided in 1795. He owned some 58,000 acres of land here, but he sent his nephews, son of his brother, Isaac, to establish a
presence for him in the Western Reserve because of his advanced age. Thus, William Hubbard and his family arrived in the Connecticut Western Reserve in the late spring of 1834, joining brothers Matthew and Henry who had established homes in this area. They purchased about 50 acres of land from Nehemiah Hubbard in 1836. But they did not live there at first because Hubbard was running for his uncle the Ohio Exchange Hotel, a few blocks away. Historians believe that Hubbard, who considered himself a farmer, first built a barn on the property to shelter his animals and farm equipment. He and his wife, Catharine, built the house in late 1840 or 1841, using bricks made of clay dug from the banks of Lake Erie. Much of the work was believed to have been done by “Uncle Jake,” a fugitive slave. The Hubbard Home’s link to the Underground Railroad is significant. Soon after arriving in Ashtabula, William had followed his brothers by joining the Ashtabula County Anti-Slavery Society. Abolitionist sentiment ran in the family, as Matthew and Henry Hubbard helped found the Ashtabula Sentinel, an abolitionist newspaper. Helping send slaves to Canada became one of Hubbard’s passions According to one account, eyewitnesses noted that 39 slaves were once in hiding on the property, known on the Underground Railroad Circuit as “Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard.” “They made short work of a barrel of pickles,” the witness wrote. Fugitive slaves arrived at all hours of the day and night, looking for assistance from Hubbard and his wife. No records of the number of slaves helped by the Hubbards has been located. In subsequent generations, the house passed out of the Hubbard family. Be-
lieved to have been modernized in the late 1870s into an “Eastlake” style residence with larger windows and ornate trim work, it served over the years as a women’s social club, a kindergarten, and a Parks and Recreation Department building. It also stood vacant. Just as it was about to be razed in 1979, the home was saved by a group of citizens that included Thomas (“Tim”) Hubbard, a descendant of William and Catharine. An agreement was drawn up with the City of Ashtabula to receive the property on the condition that it be restored. Thus, it was restored, and today contains period pieces original to the home or to Ashtabula County. Restoration continues, as the brick home’s yellow paint is in the process of being stripped and reapplied. The PHOTO BY MARTHA SOROHAN color was chosen by Tim The 170-year-old Hubbard House Underground Railroad Museum, at Lake Avenue Hubbard, who found yellow and Walnut Boulevard in Ashtabula, is open for tours weekends in the summer. paint chips during an archeological dig. “The house had been painted about a dozen years ago, after nearly 50 years of neglect,” English said. Ground is expected to be broken in the spring, 2012, Full-Service for a small gift shop at the Meat Department rear of the property. The expansion is self-funded by the SUPERMARKET museum. 281-285 Main Street, Conneaut, Ohio A popular site for school groups and bus tours, the Hubbard House is the start of the annual Underground Farm-Fresh Railroad Pilgrimage Tour of Produce Ashtabula County in October. It has also sponsored wintertime Film Festivals featuring historical movies. The Hubbard House is Buy Waste open for self- and volunteerComplete Line of Cash For Management guided tours 1 to 5 p.m. FriCoins* Deli Department day, Saturday and Sunday Bags from Memorial Day through Here! late September, and closed holidays. Admission is $5 adults, $4 seniors, and $3 *Fees Apply children 6 to 16. Group tours We Process Your Bill Payments* and rates are available by Dominion East Ohio Gas • The Illuminating Company appointment. Contact the *Fees Apply Charge Cards • Credit Cards • Cell Phone • & Many Others Bakery Made to Hubbard House at (440) 964Order Cakes, Pies, 8168. Winter Hours: Mon.-Sat. 8am - 8pm & Sun. 8am-5pm Pastries, Breads (Some data for this article came from SuperMedia, Accepted Here Acxiom, Infogroup.)
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Ashtabula County History
14 • GAZETTE NEWSPAPERS
JANUARY 2012
The Ashtabula Harbor Lighthouse still attracts historians today BY SADIE PORTMAN Gazette Newspapers A S H TA B U L A - T h e Ashtabula Harbor Lighthouse is a piece of history for the Ashtabula Harbor, as it has been a landmark on the east pier of the Ashtabula River since 1836. Originally the lighthouse had seven oil lamps lit to keep ships safe on the water. All the lamps were lit by use of sperm whale oil, which was harvested from the whale’s blubber. The first lighthouse keeper was a captain by the name of Bigelow. One of the problems faced by Captain Bigelow was having to replace the wooden piers that were damaged by storms and accidents, according to info provided by the Ashtabula Lighthouse Restoration and Preservation Society
(ALRPS) . This first lighthouse began to erode, causing a second lighthouse to be built. As rot and storms began to crumble the original lighthouse in 1876, a second lighthouse was built on the West Pier as docking requirements required a change in the positioning of the harbor light. Throughout its history, the west end lighthouse has seen its fair share of changes. A new Fourth Order Fresnel fixed red light lens was installed in 1876, along with a first-class siren fog signal. In 1905, a new lighthouse was built, when the Ashtabula River was widened and new dock construction was completed. Before the completion of the new 1905 lighthouse, the river-widening project left the 1876 structure 60 feet out into the
Ashtabula Harbor Lighthouse
river and away from the pier. This gave the appearance of a “floating lighthouse.” Later, during the con-
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struction, the 1876 lighthouse actually did “float,” as it was moved off its island (the dock) and was placed on a barge until the 1905 lighthouse was completed. Both the old and the new lighthouses could now only be reached by boat by the keepers. The lighthouse would go through a few more changes, including in 1916 when the light was moved approximately 1,750 feet of the previous site. The structure was doubled in size and a new 50-foot concrete crib was built to support it. The two-story building was constructed of steel with iron plate. This lighthouse was now able to house the light keepers. An addition to the 1905 stone break-wall was constructed in 1915 from Walnut Beach. The lighthouse also has withstood damage throughout the years. In 1927, the steamer Gleneagles of the Canadian Steamship Lines rammed the lighthouse and drove it back six inches, heavily damaging the ship. No injuries were
FILE PHOTO
reported. In 1928, an ice storm imprisoned two keepers in the lighthouse. The Coast Guardsmen had to tunnel through five feet of ice to freedom. In 1959, the U.S. Coast Guard installed a new Fourth Order Fresnel lens light in the lighthouse. The light rotated and emitted a three-second white flash that could be seen as far as 19 miles on a clear night. This light, made in France in 1896, remained in use until 1995 when it was removed and taken by the Coast Guard to be permanently displayed at the Ashtabula Maritime Museum. A foghorn was also installed in the lighthouse that blew two blasts every minute. In addition, an automatic radio transmitted a dash-dash-dot signal at a specific period. These were important aids to the shipping navigations going to and coming from the harbor. Although the beacon light was electric, operation of the foghorn required immediate supervision. The lighthouse remained manned by the U.S. Coast Guard until
1973 when it was automated. At that time it was the last remaining light to be manned on Lake Erie. The Harbor Lighthous was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Aug. 4, 1983. “In 2000, a small group of lighthouse enthusiasts formed, with the help of Dennis Hale, the Ashtabula Lighthouse Restoration and Preservation Society with the goal of eventually purchasing the Ashtabula Light and restoring it as a tourist and educational attraction for the Ashtabula area,” ALRPS officials said. “This group has grown to include 152 members.” Although the official use of the lighthouse is no longer needed, the strong history behind the lighthouse remains of value to the community. “Our eventual goal is to completely restore the lighthouse as it was when last manned, and then turn it into an educational center pertaining to A s h t a b u l a ’s M a r i t i m e History, the life of a lighthouse keeper and the facilities that they lived in,” Earl Tucker, historian of the society, said. ALRPS gave tours two year ago of the lighthouse, offering a way for the public to see firsthand what it was like before you could dial in the Coast Guard for help on the waters. “In 2010, ALRPS began offering tours of the light and our restoration work. In 2011 we had to halt this program due to a lack of transportation to and from the light,” Tucker said. “We are in hopes of obtaining a new/used boat so that we can reinstate this program as it is a valued asset in raising funds to continue our work.” (Some information used in this article was provided through the Ashtabula Lighthouse Restoration and Preservation Society.)
Ashtabula County History
JANUARY 2012
GAZETTE NEWSPAPERS • 15
Travel back to the 1800s at Shandy Hall BY STEFANIE WESSELL Gazette Newspapers HARPERSFIELD TOWNSHIP - Although the cemeteries in Harpersfield Township may be small, significant figures in Ashtabula County’s history are buried there. A gravestone barely noticeable in Harper Cemetery belongs to Col. Robert Harper, a prominent figure in the township’s and county’s history. Harper’s gravestone is a mere footstone, the name nearly unreadable because of the effects of time and nature. Robert Harper was the youngest child of Alexander Harper. In 1798, Alexander bought land from the Connecticut Land Company and moved the family from New York to the Western Reserve. The Harpers were one of the first families to settle in what is now Ashtabula County. Col. Alexander Harper founded the township, which was at the time a wilderness, and gave the township his name in 1798 when he moved there. He died later that same year, at the age of 54. Harper’s wife, Elizabeth, lived until she was 84, dying in 1833. She planted the first apple orchard in Harpersfield Township. Their son Robert Harper
built Shandy Hall, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 28, 1974. Harper built the original rooms of Shandy Hall in 1815. The home, one of the oldest structures in the region, still stands at 6333 S. Ridge Road West (Rt. 84). The Western Reserve Historical Society maintains the property, which is now open as a historic house museum by appointment only. After building Shandy Hall, Harper took to expanding the property over the next 20 years. The home grew to 17 rooms and was considered a mansion by the standards of the times. The two generations that succeeded Robert Harper took great care to preserve the furnishings, tools and traditions that existed at Shandy Hall. Virtually all the furniture pieces in the home belonged to the Harpers. The house looks much like it was in the 1830s when Robert, his wife Polly, and their four daughters lived at Shandy Hall. Many of the original furnishings still sit in the home, including a copy of the book “The Life and Opinions of Tristam Shandy, Gentleman” by Laurence Sterne. The book belonged to Harper ’s daughter, Ann. The book
was Ann’s favorite, and Shandy Hall took its name from it, as Ann began to call her home Shandy Hall, as the book featured eccentric characters, which Ann likened to her family. The name became popular with the community and has remained for over 170 years. Modest in appearance on the exterior, the rooms inside include the original cellar kitchen with cooking fireplace, bake oven and a banquet room with coved ceiling and early 19th century scenic French wallpaper. On the grounds, original shrubs and trees shade flower and herb gardens. Because of the age of the home and other history of Ashtabula County, people have wondered if this home PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE HISTORICAL SOCIETY was also a stop on the Un- Shandy Hall was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 28, 1974. derground Railroad. However, it was quite the opposite. Harper was a practicing attorney and took cases from slaveholders seeking the return of their runaway slaves. No slave would have sought refuge at www.ashtcohs.com Shandy Hall. Tours of Shandy Hall are by appointment only. To schedule one, contact the Western Reserve Historical Society at (216) 721-5722. (Some of the information used in this article was provided by the Western Reserve Historical Society.)
Ashtabula County Historical Society
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The house looks much like it was in the 1830s when Robert, his wife Polly, and their four daughters lived at Shandy Hall.
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Ashtabula County History
16 • GAZETTE NEWSPAPERS
JANUARY 2012
Windsor Mills Christ Episcopal Church museum is historic district hub BY DORIS COOK Gazette Newspapers WINDSOR TOWNSHIP - The Windsor Historical Society has compiled and preserved much early history of buildings, landmarks, pioneer families and other memorabilia about Windsor Township. After purchasing in 2004 the Christ Church Episcopal at Route 322 and Wiswell Road (known as Windsor Mills area), from the Episcopal Diocese of Cleveland, restoration work continues on the 1832-era structure. The Windsor Historical Society received a $25,000 grant in 2004 from the Ashtabula Foundation for a second restoration, according to WHS officials. The church and the nearby restored historic Wiswell Road Covered Bridge are both on the Na-
tional Register of Historic Places. Each fall during Ashtabula County Covered Bridge Festival, the society puts on a mini-festival for visitors by the hundreds who flock to walk down and take photograph of the bridge built in 1867 and creek gorge terrain with its forest of trees. Visitors tour the church museum filled with early history memorabilia of the Windsor community and take in a festival centered around pioneer crafts. The scenic Phelps Creek flows through this area of Windsor Township, once home to early Native American Indians long before early pioneers came after the Revolutionary War. The 134-foot lattice type Wiswell Road covered bridge was closed in the late 1970s and restored twice. Since 2004, it is open to cars and Amish buggy traffic only just off Warners Hol-
PHOTOS BY DORIS COOK
This weathered bronze plaque dated 1987 was put on an old grindstone from the Windsor Township area as an entrance sign for the Windsor Historical Society’s Christ Episcopal Church museum at North Wiswell Road and Route 322.
low Road (formerly part of Wiswell Road). Windsor Township trustees maintain this section of what was Wiswell Road leading up to the Northeast Ohio 4-H Camp Whitewood prop-
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erty on South Wiswell Road. The Christ Episcopal Church Museum has gone through many changes since it was built in 1832. Longtime Windsor Historical Society member Marian Alderman of Orwell and other society members over the years have kept records, documents, photos and much memorabilia when they took ownership of the structure seven years ago.
The Windsor Mills Cemetery located across North Wiswell Road from the historic Christ Episcopal Church Museum in Windsor Township is filled with early pioneer family gravesites.
In the late 1950s, the church was restored by the Ashtabula County Historical Society, according to Alderman, under a lease agreement. Then in 1975 it was returned to the Diocese and later leased to Windsor Historical Society. The former church has been a landmark in the community for several centuries. It remained an Episcopal church until the 1920s and in 1955 leased to the ACHS, which undertook the
first real restoration work. The architecture of the historic church museum is similar to early New England meeting houses with its “crown steeple.” Interior wood used in the pews, balcony and pulpit came from various locations during the restoration processes as did museum addition doors Tours at the church museum are given during warmer spring through fall months. It is also open occasionally on Sundays.
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Ashtabula Harbor once considered one of the roughest ports in the world BY STEFANIE WESSELL Gazette Newspapers ASHTABULA - Take a visit to the City of Ashtabula Port Authority’s Transient Dock area by the lift bridge and you’ll see an Ohio Historical Marker that celebrates the history of the Ashtabula Harbor. Specifically, the marker commemorates the Ashtabula Harbor Commercial District, which not only is remembered by Ohio historians but also was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on Sept. 5, 1975. The historic district en-
compasses Bridge Street, on both sides from its 1200 block to the Ashtabula River. The dedication of the Harbor’s Ohio Historical Marker in 2010 paid tribute to one of Ashtabula’s most colorful chapters: a time in the latter half of the 19th century when Ashtabula Harbor was considered, along with Calcutta and Shanghai, one of the three roughest ports in the world, a time of exploding economic and immigrant growth unmatched in the city’s long history. The Lift Bridge Community Association is one
of the entities responsible for bringing the historical marker to the Harbor, and it was part of the association’s mission to help the Ashtabula Harbor become a major regional destination for tourism, recreation and entertainment. Administered by the Ohio Historical Society, the Historical Markers program enables Ohioans to commemorate and celebrate local history and learn more about the state. Designed to be permanent and highly visible, the historic markers
See PORT page 17
Ashtabula County History
JANUARY 2012
GAZETTE NEWSPAPERS
GAZETTE NEWSPAPERS • 17
PORTS Continued From Page 16
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are large, cast-aluminum signs that tell stories about aspects of Ohio’s history. Ashtabula’s marker is located near the dock and lift bridge. The marker bears the following: “When the Pittsburgh, Youngstown and Ashtabula Railroad was finished in 1873, Ashtabula’s harbor became a direct route to ship iron ore to the booming steel mills of Youngstown and Pittsburgh. “On the west side of the Ashtabula River, a brushfilled gulley became Bridge Street. New buildings and bridges attest to the harbor’s importance as a commercial and shipping hub from the late 19th through mid 20th centuries. Fires destroyed wood-frame buildings on the block closest to the river. A fire in 1886 nearly cleared the north side of Bridge Street. Another fire swept over the south side in 1900. Fire resistant brick buildings replaced frame structures and over the course of rebuilding, the level of the street rose approximately eight feet. In 1889, a
swing-span bridge replaced the original pontoon bridge over the river. A bascule lift (draw) bridge replaced the swing bridge in 1925. “Demand for labor in Ashtabula brought Swedish, Finnish, Irish, Italian and other immigrants to the city. Bridge Street served these and other residents, and the marine and railroad trade. “Businesses on Bridge Street included department stores, barbers, grocers, attorneys, undertakers, and restaurants, as well as pool halls, saloons, and brothels. Ashtabula’s harbor was one of the busiest ports on the Great Lakes, even surpassing Cleveland as an ore receiving port. It was also reputed to be one of the toughest ports in the world, sharing that distinction with Shanghai and Calcutta. Machines gradually replaced stevedores and this process was accelerated with the installation of Hulett ore unloaders on the docks in 1910. By the late 20th century, mechanization progressed to the point that, under a crew’s guidance, ships unloaded them-
selves. The City of Ashtabula placed the harbor commercial district on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.” The Ashtabula Harbor Commercial District contains 25 contributing buildings, many of which are still in use today, although for different purposes. These businesses bringing a different kind of activity to Bridge Street include everything from a coffee shop like Harbor Perk; hand-made jewelry stores like Beaches, with its beach-glass jewelry, and Sandpiper Gallery, with lampwork, glassbead jewelry; gift shops like Bridge Street Boutique, Carlisle’s Home in the Harbor and Defina’s The Harbor Store; restaurants like Briquettes Smokehouse and Monster Burrito; and places to pamper and indulge yourself at, like Marianne’s Chocolates and Miss Elaine’s Heartmade, with its handcrafted soaps and other body-care products. With places like these, Bridge Street has come a long way from its past as one of the roughest ports in the world.
Ashtabula County History
18 • GAZETTE NEWSPAPERS
Warner’s Hollow “This is the forest primeval, the murmuring pines and the hemlocks, bearded with moss and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight, stand like Druids of old, with voices sad and prophetic… “This is the forest primeval; but where are the hearts that beneath it leaped like the roe, when he hears in the woodland the voice of the huntsman?” —Henry Wadsworth Longfellow For quite possibly fourteen thousand years, Warner’s Hollow has fascinated mankind. Mound Builders, Indians, early white settlers, you and I, our children and grandchildren have felt its attraction. From what sources within the place and within the people has this magnetism developed? When will wooded cliffs overlooking a deep gorge and a never-failing stream meandering among rocks until it is out of sight cease to invite man to commune with nature? Across thousands of years, man has improved his tools from the clumsy implements of stone to those too complicated for most to understand, but these are dropped in the quest for a peace that only the out-of-doors can grant. Some inner compulsion has made people leave hut and skyscraper for such places as Warner’s Hollow which were not made by hands. When perhaps fourteen thousand years ago the melting glaciers retreated northward, great quantities of water sought places to run off through existing depressions, deepening them until they were gorges too deep and too wide for the relatively small stream of our day to have eroded across unnumbered centuries. Warner’s Hollow is
JANUARY 2012
(Editor’s Note: The late Willard D. Loomis of Windsor Township taught school in Grand Valley district for 42 years. A teacher and principal at Windsor Elementary, Loomis also taught seventh- and eighth-grade geography and history classes later at GV Jr. High School before retiring. He is well remembered as an avid Windsor area historian.) a gorge extending southeast from Windsor Mills for a distance of approximately one and one-half miles. Its depth increases rather rapidly from perhaps thirty to one hundred feet. Layers of shale and sandstone rise vertically in many places from a valley floor several hundred feet wide. A stream, named Phelps Creek after an early resident, flows the length of the Hollow and having left the escarpment behind goes across gradually descending land until it joins Grand River near the southeast corner of Windsor Township. Springs flow from the shale rock making up much of its sides. A large dome-topped piece of sandstone approximately forty feet high and one hundred feet in circumference broke away from the left wall in ancient time and came to rest several dozen feet below, smoothed until it presents a nearly horizontal top in which a human footprint has been carved. It has been named “Little Mountain”. When the hard austere beauty of rocks and cliffs with only evergreens and snow to cover them yields to the soft drowsiness of spring, the schoolboy, homeward bound, lingers there and occasionally returns the next morning attuned in spirit to Whittier“Oh! For boyhood’s painless play, Sleep that wakes in laughing day, Health that mocks the doctor’s rules, Knowledge never learned in schools” and causes school principals and attendance officers to regard spring with a somewhat jaundiced eye.
Although its springs and shades have refreshed untold thousands through many hot summers, it is autumn’s magnificence of scarlet, gold, and evergreen which makes a following of its paths most rewarding. The Hollow is always in season. Temporary release from the boss, the job, the teacher, and the city is always there. In ages long ago, self-preservation dictated residence at Warner’s Hollow. Some primitive militarist perceived the defensive possibilities of the high point projecting from the right bank and formed by the junction of Grindstone Creek with the Hollow. Two earthen walls extending across a waist of this projecting area made a citadel of one and one-half acres. Assailants faced a concave earth rampart about one hundred-fifty feet long which is still eight feet high in places. About ten feet behind this first wall are the remains of a second earthen wall now pounded and eroded down to scarcely two feet in height. The remaining sides of this defensive position were secured by the Hollow itself and the deep cleft of its junction with Grindstone Creek. Only if the stones which reinforced these walls had tongues might we know of the ferocity here displayed in millennia past. The primitive designers of this ancient fortification were of a group extending far into New York and were backward in comparison to those living farther south in Ohio. Quite possibly the historic Indians of the Erie Nation later wondered at these works and surmised their purpose. The Indians of the Erie or Cat tribe were very ag-
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Ashtabula County History
JANUARY 2012
gressive. During the 17th Century they carried the war against the Iroquois Nations and were nearly annihilated in a battle near the present Canandaigua, New York. Thus this area was, Indian-wise, virtually a no-mans-land when the first white settlers came shortly before the year 1800. Stark geography was the only major opponent of the first white settlers. More than a quarter century before the completion of the Erie Canal found the task of groping one’s way westward through a constantly wilder land grim indeed. Perhaps the rocks and trees of Warner’s Hollow possessed no allure for these travel-worn settlers. The Indians who returned to the Hollow during the summer for some years probably were quite welcome to monopolize its beauties. Windsor Township furnished more than one hundred boys in blue during the Civil War. Perhaps some of them walked through the Hollow or along its brink as they contemplated adding a year or two to their correct ages that they might volunteer successfully. Its paths may have seemed strangely difficult to young veterans with infirmities acquired upon Richmond. In the summer of 1863, the Confederate Cavalry leader, General John H. Morgan, invaded Indiana and then southern Ohio, vowing to water his horses in Lake Erie. His 3500 hardened campaigners swept east across the southern part of our state and after an unsuccessful attempt to get back over the Ohio River turned north. Hard riding and sporadic fighting against growing odds seriously reduced his command, but to the civilians of eastern Ohio, he appeared formidable in the extreme. Windsor farmers pondered on the number of beefsteaks, pork chops, and bushels of corn and oats which Morgan’s hungry troopers and horses undoubtedly would consume during one night’s encampment in this locality and decided to try to conceal their livestock and grain in the vastness of
Warner’s Hollow. Surely so many farm animals hastily moved to strange surroundings would have made a mighty din at feeding time, but the wisdom of the scheme did not come to a proving because Morgan was forced to surrender in Columbiana County. Picnic grounds were established in a grove above the left bank of the Hollow. There for many summers were held Windsor homecomings, Sunday school picnics, and reunions. The annual homecomings were customarily held at harvest time and legions of horses and carriages were to be seen. So many of the drivers apparently failed to bring sufficient feed for their horses that Mr. J. L. Loomis, owner of the neighboring farm, found it advisable to haul in his stocks of wheat and oats and to stack them close to his farm buildings before this major social event. Classes in the Windsor School held end-of-the-year picnics at the Hollow, grades studying science hiked there, Boy Scouts camped overnight; hay rides included a wiener roast at the picnic grounds, and hunters sought fox, rabbit, and squirrel within its precincts. Many a boy in Windsor Village trapped there, starting before daylight to inspect his line of traps, and occasionally filling the atmosphere of the school room with proof of having caught a skunk. Warner’s Hollow was responsible for the growth of two small villages in Windsor Township. Neither village grew in the center of the township because travel on a road running straight south from such a center would have required crossing the Hollow by a bridge so high and long that its cost would have been prohibitive even if engineers of a century and a half ago had accepted so great a challenge. The location of Windsor Corners east of the center of the township permitted the road running south to traverse nearly level land while Windsor Mills’s situation west of the center allowed a practicable bridging of the relatively narrow and shallow head of Warner’s Hollow. Thus the spacing of the two small villages was determined
GAZETTE NEWSPAPERS • 19
by the magnitude of the Hollow. The old covered bridge which spans Phelps Creek immediately south of Windsor Mills is an object of considerable interest in its own right. Built so long ago that the exact year of its construction seems unavailable, it is 134 ft. in length and carries traffic 32 ft. above the solid sandstone channel of the creek. In supporting the three spans, the concrete and stone abutments are assisted by two pillars of which the northern is made of large, cut sandstone blocks and the southern of rubble. Reroofing the bridge periodically has preserved the two layers of planks which are its floor. In recent years, the area on the right bank located by the ancient fort has become developed as Camp Whitewood where large numbers of children from a wide area enjoy Warner’s Hollow in week-long sessions. A recent purchase of a much larger area of the Hollow by the 4-H organization which has operated Camp Whitewood since its establishment in 1940 promises to preserve its natural beauty. Thus during several millennia, Warner’s Hollow has served mankind. The benefits it has extended as a place where moral regeneration may be accomplished are incalculable. In its role as inanimate observer and auditor, the Hollow has witnessed the historic Indian succeed the prehistoric Mound Builder only to be himself supplanted by the white man. Do we possess sufficient foresight and acumen to insure that we remain benefactors from transition and do not fall victims in future ages? If we do not succeed“Still stands the forest primeval; but under the shade of its branches dwells another race with other customs and language….while from its rocky caverns……. Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers the wail of the forest.”
– W. D. Loomis Windsor
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Ashtabula County History
20 • GAZETTE NEWSPAPERS
JANUARY 2012
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