Caesar's Creek Pioneer Village

The Friends meeting house was built in 1849. It was preceded by two log buildings the first of which was built in 1805. The building and a cemetery were located close to Caesar's creek on the New Burlington road. The cemetery was surrounded by a very fine dry wall stone fence. The few remaining members of the meeting house wished to have the building preserved, so they gave permission for the CCPV to move it to the Village site. Professional movers were hired, and the building was moved intact to the Village. It has now been restored and is being used for a variety of meetings

Broom Shed – Also known as the Meeting House Shed.  This unique building has been constructed with materials from various sources in the likeness of the old shed which stood south of the Meeting House in its original location.  The stones are from the Meeting House site.  The flooring is from several barns the Villagers have taken down over the years.  The windows and siding are from the Vesta Ewing property of Oregonia Road.  The door is from the Carr residence.  The big stone on the top step is from the Meeting House itself before the 1908 remodeling.  During early festivals demonstrations of the early craft of broom making could be seen.

School House – The pioneer school house has been restored form a building that came from near Harveysburg on Jonahs Run.  It has been developed into a pioneer school.  Schools were established very early in the 1800’s as soon as a small community was developed.  There were subscription schools financed by local people.  Some early teachers were paid sixty cents a day.  Early pioneer schools were small in size with little furniture, light or comfort.  Some believe this small log cabin was occupied by Levi Lukens while he built his 2 ½ story house across the village green.

In 1804 Robert Furnas, Sr. Arrived in Warren county with his wife, Hannah Wilson Furnas, migrating from Bush river, South Carolina. Making the long trekRobert and Hannah brought their four young children, the youngest, Seth, born March 26, 1803. Shortly thereafter, their letter was transferred to Miami Monthly Meeting of Friends in Waynesville.

Warren county was good for the Furnas family, and they prospered as did many other early Quaker families. By 1826 Seth Furnas had grown to manhood, and the time came for him to take a wife. On November 1, 1826 he married Dinah Kinley, daughter of Edward and Margaret Kinley.

Likemost Quaker families in the area, Seth and Dinah were farmers and thus on the 15th of March, 1828 they purchased 150 acres from John Rhodes and thereon erected a two story log cabin. Seth and Dinah remained on this property until 1838, at which time it passed to another Furnas family and stayed until 1868.  

Several families occupied the log house through the years and each family left its mark with various alterations and additions. In 1970 this property was purchased by the United States of America as part of the land acquisition for the Caesar Creek Lake Project. A historical survey by the U.S. Army Corps Of Engineers rediscovered the log structure, long since covered with Clap board siding.

In January of 1975 this building passed to Caesar's Creek Pioneer Village for their dismantling and moving. The Seth and Dinah Kinley Furnas house has been re-erected in the Village in nearly its original condition, and serves as the pioneer homestead.

Blacksmith Shop – Not much is known about this structure, but it probably served as a residence.

The carpentershop is a log structure that has been sided.  It will be open to the public for this year for the 1st time.  There will be a Village carpenter demonstrating and making wood items.

In 1818 Amos Hawkins and his wife, Ann Milhouse Hawkins, purchased of Joseph Townsend 143 acres of land along the banks of Caesar's Creek in Massie Township, Warren County, Ohio. In 1825 or 26 he erected on this land an unusually large saddlebag log house reminiscent of the homes in Cane Creek, South Carolina, from whence he had emigrated in 1804.  

The main portion of the structure was serviced by a central stone chimney measuring eight feet square at the base, with a six foot by five and one half foot opening fireplace in each structure.   The larger portion of the house was twenty feet by twenty six feet and standing a full two stories high originally contained five rooms. The other half of the building containing a kitchen with a loft above, was approximately twenty feet by sixteen feet. The distance to the top of the chimney was 28 feet.  

Amos Hawkins paid particular attentions to the details of construction and interior finishing. He chose very substantial poplar logs for the basic construction, selecting them for uniformity in size. The top log in each gable end extended beyond the lower logs, thus accommodating a wider top sill log. This provided an unusually wide overhang, front and back, for a log structure. Special attention was paid to the finishing of the extended logs in the horse shoe cleat effect and the beveling of the exterior of the top sill log. Walnut boards, because of their durability, were chosen for the exterior door and window facings. Both half dovetail and full dovetail were used in the log notchings.  

The builder of this structure, being a master craftsman, finished the interior to a fine detail. The interior walls were made of random width poplar boards with a single groove, or beading, on the surface. The downstairs being divided into three rooms and the upstairs into two. The floor beams between the first and second floor being jack planed finished, with a very deep beading on the lower edges, added an air of refinement. The building remained in the original condition unaltered until shortly after the turn of the twentieth century at which time the downstairs rooms were lathed and plastered, and the fireplace in the main part of the house covered over.  

At a later date the original kitchen portion was converted to a farm work shop. As time passed the main part of the house, no longer being used as a residence, was used as a granary with only minor alterations to the interior.

In the late 1950's or 60's the kitchen area, fallen into a state of deterioration and disrepair, was dismantled and removed, thus leaving the kitchen fireplace with its original crane intact.  

In November of 1974 the larger part of this building, including the stone chimney and fireplace, was dismantled and moved to its current location in the Village. The building was re-erected using stone from its original foundation.  

The smaller portion, by James, Amos' brother, was donated to the Village in 1977 by Mr. Charles Stanley, who had it in storage. It has been used here as the second part of the saddlebag house, replacing the original second half, which had deteriorated and been removed as noted previously

Samuel Heighway came into this area as early as 1792 with the surveying party.This cabin could have been built on a trip into this area, previous to 1797, when Heighway and Dr. Evan Banes made a permanent settlement in Waynesville. It seems logical that this was a pre-settlement building, possibly as early as 1792.  

The cabin was located north of the old Cincinnati-Columbus Road, and on the west side of Newman's run, close by the 1840 narrow gauge railroad grade. This was just north of the three bridges and south of Waynesville. The Cincinnati-Columbus Road roughly followed the old Harmar's trace.

This building had been lived in continuously until it was partially burned in 1971. It could have been the oldest inhabited cabin in Ohio.  

Samuel Heighway later built a mill on Newman's run, just east of this cabin. This cabin was made of small logs so they could have been lifted by hand. Larger logs were raised up an incline of green poles by man power, oxen or horses. The building was moved and reconstructed on it's current site by the CCPV.

Samuel Heighway came into this area as early as 1792 with the surveying party.This cabin could have been built on a trip into this area, previous to 1797, when Heighway and Dr. Evan Banes made a permanent settlement in Waynesville. It seems logical that this was a pre-settlement building, possibly as early as 1792.  

The cabin was located north of the old Cincinnati-Columbus Road, and on the west side of Newman's run, close by the 1840 narrow gauge railroad grade. This was just north of the three bridges and south of Waynesville. The Cincinnati-Columbus Road roughly followed the old Harmar's trace.

This building had been lived in continuously until it was partially burned in 1971. It could have been the oldest inhabited cabin in Ohio.  

Samuel Heighway later built a mill on Newman's run, just east of this cabin. This cabin was made of small logs so they could have been lifted by hand. Larger logs were raised up an incline of green poles by man power, oxen or horses. The building was moved and reconstructed on it's current site by the CCPV.

The Mills-Taylor saddlebag house was built by a Mr. Taylor, possibly between 1795-1800, along Dry Run Road, a few miles up from Perrintown, which is east of Milford, Ohio.

Although not a Caesar Creek building, it was too fine a specimen to decline when offered to the Village by the Mills family. It was dismantled, moved to the Village and restored.  

Mr. Taylor may have been an indentured servant who may have moved to Ohio from the South.This is one of two saddlebag houses in the Village.

A saddlebag is a house with two sections beside a common chimney, with a fireplace for each section. It differs from the Hawkins house in that it has a single level roof line, with one top sill log's spanning the entire length.

In the late 1700's Josiah Elam was pursuing horse thieves from his home in Kentucky and arrived in the Caesar Creek area. He was pleased with what he saw, so in 1802 he returned to the area and purchased 600 acres along the banks of Caesar's creek. On this land, near what is now Elam road and Spring Valley-Paintersville road, he built his first cabin. He also planted a good sized orchard.  

In the spring of 1803 he returned to Kentucky to bring his wife, Sarah Porter Elam and their four children to their new home. Sarah's mother, Susannah Porter, also made the long trip with them to the Ohio country.  

Josiah selected a site some 100 yards to the south of his cabin to build a home for his mother-in-law, Susannah Porter. He chose chestnut trees to construct the one and a half story cabin which you see today, measuring 16 by 20 feet. The humble house was heated by a single fireplace, which was also used for cooking.

A few feet to the west of Susannah's back door they also constructed a log smoke house to preserve and store food for the long winter months.  

In 1812-14 Susannah's daughter-in-law, Jane Porter, moved in with her due to the passing of James Porter as a result of war injuries. Jane brought with her their nine children. This building had to be bulging at the joints from the eleven people living there, even for a short time.  

After Susannah's passing in 1821, the cabin returned to the Elam family to be handed down through the generations. From 1803 until the early 1970's parts of Josiah's original 600 acres and the cabin remained the property of Josiah's heirs.  

In 1974 the cabin and smokehouse were given to Caesar's Creek Pioneer Village. Once again warm fires light this humble home as time marches forward while we take a glance backwards.  

As you leave the back door of the Elam house you can see on the right hand door jamb where the proud builder left his name

The Bullskin Inn is named for the old animal and Indian trail from the Ohio River to Detroit. The trail went just east of Harveysburg and roughly followed present day Route 380 north to Xenia and Oldtown, and on to Detroit. It went south to Clarksville and on to the Bullskin creek, crossed the Ohio River and on to the salt licks on the Licking River in Kentucky.  

The trail was started by buffalo and other wildlife going to the salt licks.The Native Americans also used the trail in their travels north and south. Both Simon Kenton and Daniel Boone are thought to have used the trail in their travels and in their escape from the Shawnee Indians at Old Chillicothe, Old Town.  

During the war of 1812 wagon trains of supplies going to Admiral Perry on Lake Erie traveled the trace which had now become a road. Since Pioneer Village is so close to this trail it seems fitting, to help retain the history of the Bullskin trail, that the Inn at the Village should be called "The Bullskin Inn".

In 1807 Levi Lukens and his wife, Elizabeth Cleaver Lukens, immigrated to Warren county, Ohio, as part of the exodus of Quakers into the area.

They shortly purchased 1,000 acres in Massie Township along the banks of Caesar's creek and thereon constructed their first permanent dwelling.

He selected beech logs to construct this eighteen feet by twenty feet full two story house facing the east. Originally the first floor area was divided into two rooms, with the south half serving as a kitchen with a substantial cooking fireplace. The north end served other various family needs and was heated by a stone boxed fireplace. The second story was divided into two bedrooms with the stairway rising from the kitchen area.

The family moved into the structure on January 1, 1808 as noted in the history of Warren county by W.H. Beers & Co. 1882.

Levi Lukens, being the owner and operator of a grist mill with a saw mill, a few years later relocated nearer his mill.

As time progressed the Lukens homestead underwent various alterations and modernizations. The original puncheon flooring was replaced by sawed floor joist and flooring, and the exterior was covered with board siding. In later years a stone walled basement was added and at a later date yet a lean-to kitchen was added, making the original kitchen fireplace obsolete, thus causing it to be removed.

The Victorian period brought additional alterations to the building, with the enlargement of all the original windows, and with the installation of a Victorian mantle around the original heating fireplace.
The Twentieth century also brought its share of changes and additions.

At the present time all modernization and additions to the building have been removed, exposing the original structure.

This house exemplifies the typical log architecture in Warren county. This building, being above average size, is an excellent example of a prosperous business mans home.

 

This gate house for the Village was historically a toll house for the Waynesville-Wilmington Pike at the Massie-Wayne Township line. Later it was moved across Route 73 and used after about 1900 as a farm granary.