 On February 28th we hosted our Opera Tea in honor of famous opera soloist and Lebanon resident, Laura Bellini. Born in Lebanon, Ohio, Laura Bellini (1848-1931) was a soprano opera singer of note on three continents. Her magnificent singing voice was discovered when she was in a local church choir. Special Guests Christopher Milligan, the General Director & CEO of the Cincinnati Opera and Natalie Drury (Soprano Soloist). Menu Orange or Raspberry White Chocolate Scones Orange Marmalade or Raspberry Jam Clotted Cream Twinings Lady Grey Tea Quiche Lorraine Cumber Stack Sandwich Radish Sandwich tomato stuffed with blue cheese and bacon salmon on pumpernickel, grapes. The BonBonerie Bakery’s Opera Cream Cake We were pleased when attendees referred to the tea as both "elegant" and "wonderful." Future Teas: April 24th - The Cincinnati Shakespeare Company joins us for "A Celebration of Shakespeare" October 23rd - "A Shaker Tea" with Special Guest: the Whitewater Singers December 18th - "A Dickens of a Tea" It is rumored that Dickens himself will be joining us. For tickets and more information, click here.
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A sold out crowd enjoyed Stengal's Catering before Local author and historian Fred Compton took the podeum at our November 2019 Lunch and Learn.
Remember that time the SWAT team raided the Golden Lamb? Fred Compton remembers. 2019 marks the 10th anniversary of local author Fred Compton’s book The Golden Lamb: Tales From The Innside. To mark the occasion, Fred returns to The Warren County Historical Society to share some of the stories that didn’t make it into the first book for various reasons. Find out what it takes to get rid of a dead body in a dining room and what happens when the local SWAT team decides to storm the third floor. Hear about a future political leader who just needed some serious direction, a particularly memorable late-night telephone call and how a big piece of “Ohio’s Oldest Inn” gained new life several blocks away. Fred Compton spent the more than half his life at The Golden Lamb in a number of different roles. Starting in 1966 as a busboy Fred worked there throughout high school and college, graduating from Miami University in 1973 with a journalism degree. After graduation he continued at The Golden Lamb for what he thought would be a summer job. He wound up staying 35 years. You can see upcoming Lunch and Learn topics, as well as purchase tickets, under our "events" page. How many women out there have exercised their right to vote? On this day in 1872, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and two others, registered to vote at a barbershop in Rochester, NY, becomming the first women to do so. How'd they do it? Well, Anthony threatened to sue the registrars personally if they didn't let them. On Election Day, the ballots were secretly cast (the ladies dressed as men). Two weeks later Anthony was arrested and fined $100 (about $2,000 today), which she refused to pay. It'll be more than 40 years before the 19th Amendment will grant women the right to vote in the US. On November 2, 1920, more than 8 million American women will exercise their right to vote. 2020 is all about Women's Sufferage at Harmon Museum with talks and an exhibit featuring the women who fought for the vote in Warren County!  These are Brigadier General Durbin Ward's pistols which he carried during the Civil War. Durbin Ward was a law partner of Thomas Corwin. He was also a Democrat and a state's rights advocate. Everybody thought he would sit out the Civil War, Democrats were all for letting the south go. But when Lincoln called for volunteers in April of 1865, Ward, who was trying a case in court in Lebanon, left the Court House and went to Washington Hall (now the site of the LCNB drive thru in downtown Lebanon), and was the first to volunteer for the Union. He was in his early 40's and jointed the 17th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. These pistols are Colt Navy revolvers. They are not a matching set as one was made by the Colt works in Connecticut and the other by Colt in London.
 Colonel Lewis Drake was an early pioneer to Warren County who came from Pennsylvania on horseback with his first wife. Legend has it he particpated in a shooting contest with Daniel Boone and Simon Kenton and won. His second wife (the first had 12 children before she died) was Rachel Lincoln Drake, daughter of Abraham Lincoln's Great Uncle John who is buried in Pioneer Cemetery. The Colonel and Rachel begat Dr. Issac Lincoln Drake and a whole line of well known Drakes issued thereafter. Think Drake Road and you get the drift.
by Dwight Rowe and Ron Hoffmann On the morning of July 13, 1950, a B-50D Superfortress bomber, tail number 49-0267, from the US Air Force Strategic Air Command (SAC), 97th Bomb Group, took off from Biggs Air Force Base in El Paso, Texas and began its long journey in-route to England with a planned stopover at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton Ohio: the aircraft was heavily loaded. It was flying over Warren County, Ohio at around 2:54 in the afternoon when the bomber suddenly fell from the sky and crashed approximately 4 ½ miles north east of Mason Ohio. The crash occurred west of State Route 741 and north of Hamilton Road and was being flown by Captain John Adams Jr who, at the time, had 1020 hours flight time. All sixteen crewmembers on board the aircraft were instantly killed in the crash. Clyde Shutts of Lebanon provided eyewitness testimony to the crash and said he was in his barnyard when he heard a racing engine. He said when he looked up, he saw the plane spiraling, nose down, toward the ground, and it appeared that the plane tried to pull up but then he lost sight of it as it went behind the trees. Mr. Shutts said he then heard a loud explosion. Additional eyewitness said the plane was flying at approximately 7000 feet when it began a fast decent followed by a stall at approximately 4000 feet where it began a spiral and nosedive and hit the ground. The Air Force Crash Report stated the B-50D created a crater in the ground that was approximately 125 feet in diameter and 20 feet deep. Upon impact, the explosion it created was deafening. Jerry Hoffmann of Clearcreek Township, Warren County, Ohio was 12 years old at the time of the crash and remembers hearing the explosion almost 11 miles away in Ridgeville. The loud explosion was caused by the fuel the plane carried for its 4 Pratt & Whitney R-4360 prop-driven engines and the deadly cargo it carried in its bomb bay: a Mark-4 nuclear bomb. The Mark-4 nuclear bomb, in use from 1949-1953, was based on the earlier Mark-3 Fat Man bomb design that was used on Nagasaki, Japan in 1945. Luckily for Warren County on that overcast and drizzly day, the bomb did not have its physics-package installed at the time of the crash. The physics-package is the part of a nuclear bomb that carries the fissile material which is imploded or exploded (depending on nuclear bomb design) to cause the nuclear reaction. The Mark-4 weapon on the B-50D that crashed in Warren County did have its high explosives installed though causing the exceptionally loud explosion. The high explosives are used to detonate the physics-package of the atomic bomb. Almost immediately after the crash, spectators began to arrive at the crash scene, and it was a gruesome sight as there were body parts hanging from the trees and on the ground. The local fire department arrived to extinguish the fire, and began putting up barricades to control the spectators. All highways leading to the crash site were jammed due to spectators trying to get a peek and figure out what was going on. It was estimated that 5000 people came to view the crash site that day. United States Air Force officers from Wright Patterson Air Force Base began arriving shortly afterwards. They took charge of the crash site and brought in bulldozers and clamshell diggers. They were searching for the nuclear bomb but did not tell anyone what they were looking for. Today, after almost 68 years and the loss of 16 lives on that fateful day in Warren County, there are no visible signs to remind us of that horrendous crash and the nuclear bomb that exploded in Warren County. Representatives of the Auto Pilot Branch, Aircraft Laboratory, HQ AMC were at the scene also to aid in the finding of parts of the auto pilot equipment and conduct further investigation into the possibility that the auto pilot may have caused the accident; the only identifiable part of the auto pilot found was an aileron servo motor. After a lengthy investigation by the US Air Force, Boeing, the aircraft manufacturer, and Pratt & Whitney, the engine manufacturer, the cause of the crash could not be determined because, as the crash report states: “ Due to the lack of information regarding the flight during which the accident occurred, and the almost complete disintegration of the airplane upon impact, it has been impossible to determine what part, or parts, of the airplane failed or malfunctioned, or any other cause factors to which the accident can be attributed.” *This article first appeared in the HistoricaLog for Summer/Fall 2018 as "B-50D Plabe Crashes with Nuclear Bomb Onboard in Warren County, Ohio"
Beedle Station was the first settlement in Warren County and consisted of three buildings. Two were lost to time long ago, but the last had been converted into a Victorian home and lived in until the 1970s! An order for demolition was put in for the removal of the building but our mission to preserve and present history led our director to intercede. Now, with the help of a team of volunteers, the cabin is being cleared of debris and will be moved to its new home in the park next to Harmon Museum. Learn more about the recovery/renovation project on the Dayton Daily News page.
Jonas Seaman traveled from New Jersey to the Ohio Country and bought a $4 license to operate a “house of Public Entertainment” on Broadway in the newly-founded village of Lebanon in 1803. He probably never have imagined that more than 200 years later his establishment would still be offering food and lodging for travelers. Today, the Golden Lamb is recognized as the oldest continually operating business in Ohio.
The Golden Lamb owes its early success due to location – halfway between the great river town of Cincinnati and the National Road (now U.S. Route 40). Seaman’s establishment got its name from the sign hung outside the business – an image of a golden lamb – because many early travelers could not read. Robert Jones took over the property in 1926 and began transforming it into the restaurant and hotel that it has become. The Jones family still owns the Golden Lamb today. A fire at the Golden Lamb in 1928 forced the Jones’ to purchase second-hand pieces to replace furniture that had been lost. Little did they know their purchases would become a beautiful collection of Shaker artifacts and rare antiques that are still in use today throughout the restaurant and hotel. Throughout its 200+ years, the Golden Lamb has hosted, entertained and provided lodging for many notable guests, but none more honorable than 12 United States presidents. From its early days as a stopping point between Cincinnati and the National Road to its historic legacy as a political stop in a battleground state, United States presidents have visited the Golden Lamb before, during and after their time in our nation’s highest office. Presidents that have visited the Golden Lamb include:
Ohio is known around the world for its pottery made from the rich clay deposits found throughout the State. More than 2000 years ago the prehistoric Hopewell peoples who lived in Ohio used the clay of Ohio’s earth and fashioned a variety of utilitarian vessels. Fast forward into the late 19th and early 20thcentury and Ohio became nationally known for art potteries such as Rookwood Pottery, Roseville Pottery and Russel Wright.
But the story doesn’t end there. Unlike many early forms of art and handcraft that are today seen only in museum programs or historic re-enactments, the work of the potter continues to flourish in Ohio. The potters represented in the gallery show use wood, electricity and/or gas to fire their kilns to as high as 2300 degrees Fahrenheit. The effect that these fuels have, in this violent atmosphere of the kiln, can create on the surface of the ware, results that are often unpredictable, sometimes subtle, but always uniquely beautiful. Be sure to catch the Earth & Fire Exebition running January 18th to Feburary 22nd! "If birds can glide for long periods of time, then why can't I? - Orville Wright
On December 17th, 1903, the Wright Brothers made history with the first powered flight at the dunes of Kitty Hawk. The flight lasted 12 seconds and covered a distance of 120 feet. The brothers would go on to complete three more successful flights that day with the longest lasting 59 seconds and covering 852 feet. Now that's progress!  Currently in the Mote Gallery of the Harmon Museum is a unique collection of artifacts and memorabilia displayed to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the Armistice of WWI. Included in the exhibit is A distinctive medallion minted to venerate the infamous sinking of the Lusitania. With this cruel act, the push for United States’ involvement in the Great War escalated. Original Western Star newspaper articles tell of the patriotism of the citizens of Warren County. The people of this county assembled in great numbers behind their boys, gave at very successful war bond drives and, even in the midst of the Spanish Flu epidemic a terrible sickness, kept the boys from Warren County close to their hearts and prayers. The display also has The doughboy olive drab uniform and personal gear of Dr. Harold Drake, which gives a glimpse into the daily life of a soldier in wartime. As the assistant to a general, Corporal Drake always had carried his gas mask close at hand. There are also well-worn maps and a captured German rifle that were a witness to this brutal confrontation across the Atlantic. With the Armistice on November 11, 1918, peace could finally come to end this Great War, our first world war.
The exhibit will be on display through January of 2020.  Thomas Best, Jr. was a silversmith, jeweler and clock works maker. He and his wife, Margaret Manley Best migrated to Lebanon from Cincinnati sometime before 1808. Thomas was the son of Thomas Best, Sr. a noted early Cincinnati silversmith. Advertisements in the Western Star newspaper for June 9, 1808 announce Thomas Best, Jr. has set up in business as a jeweler and silversmith in Lebanon. The ad further announces that “all kinds of swords and dirks made and cutlery ground and the highest price will be given for old gold, silver and brass.” Then in August 4 of that same year in the same newspaper is an announcement that Thomas Best has opened a shop for clock and watch making. His wife, Margaret Mannly Best opened a millinery shop near the Golden Lamb Inn which she called the Golden Bonnet. Their son Henry became a silversmith in Dayton and his descendants continued the silversmith business until 1924.
 These are Brigadier General Durbin Ward's pistols which he carried during the Civil War. Durbin Ward was a law partner of Thomas Corwin. He was also a Democrat and a state's rights advocate. Everybody thought he would sit out the Civil War; Democrats were all for letting the south go. But when Lincoln called for volunteers in April of 1865, Ward, who was trying a case in court in Lebanon, left the Court House and went to Washington Hall (now the site of the LCNB drive thru in downtown Lebanon), and was the first to volunteer for the Union. He was in his early 40's and jointed the 17th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. These pistols are Colt Navy revolvers. They are not a matched set as one was made in the Colt works in Connecticut and the other at Colt in London. Ward began his army career as a private and advanced up the ranks quickly to Colonel Durbin Ward. He and the 17th OVI fought at the ill-fated battle of Chickamauga in September of 1863 (Gettysburg was July 1863) and was so badly wounded he was left for dead by the side of the road. A General, who knew him, came upon him and offered him whiskey to ease his passing. The whiskey revived him and he survived but was breveted out of service as a Brigadier General and sent home. He spent two years in Washington after the War working for Andrew Johnson, trying to enact Lincoln’s plans for the reconstruction of the South, but the Republicans in Congress would have nothing to do with those plans, so Ward came home and married Elizabeth Probasco. Her father and brother bought them Glendower, which he renamed Edmonton. He lost the use of his left arm from his wounds, but was known for his garden and orchard. He died at Glendower and is buried in Lebanon Cemetery.  The rock on the grounds of Rock School in Warren County, Ohio is a glacial erratic rock that was deposited in Warren County when the glacier receeded. The rock is a metamorphic rock (a rock that went through changes to become a different kind of rock) and its scientific designation is gneiss (pronounced like the work nice). Gneiss rocks show bands of different minerals that make up the rock, or you could say it displays gneissic banding.
What is Mounts Park? A 200+ acre area park in Morrow, OH, located on Stubbs Mill Road just before you come to Rt. 22/3.
Why is it Historically Significant? Probably the first settlement in the county, settled in 1795...made by the William Mounts’ family and five other families. It was known as Mounts’ Station... As soon as the news of their safe arrival on their lands reached their friends in Virginia, where many had been anxiously awaiting the result and report of the advance, there was at once the most tremendous tide of emigration from all the east, but especially from Virginia and Pennsylvania...Many of the first settlers had been soldiers under General Wayne in the Indians Wars.1 In 1940 the first significant thing the Warren County Historical Society did was erect a marker to Mounts Station. Approximately 300 people attended the dedication of the monument near the site of “old Mounts Station” on what was called in 1940 “Stubbtown Road, just north of the CCC Highway.” Today the location would be said to be on Stubbs Mill Road just north of US 22 and SR 3. The stone was unveiled by six young girls, all descendants of William Mounts. They were Evelyn Fisher, Dorothy and Miriam Rogers, Dorothy Mounts, Virginia Moise, and Nancy Newman. Why the Urgency? The land has been owned by Hamilton Township for over 10 years and is part of Mounts Park. Now the Township wants to sell Mounts Park. What can You DO to Help? Spread the word and sign the petition here. 1From an article which originally appeared in the Winter 2015, Vol. II, Issue 1 edition of Pathways: Morrow’s Past, Today, the newsletter of the Morrow Area Historical Society. |
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