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2015 Brown County, Ohio Tourism Guide A supplement of County boasts more than 30 quilt barns Wine divine in Brown County 10 Things you didn’t know about Brown County
2015 Brown County, Ohio
Tourism Guide
A supplement of
County boasts more than 30 quilt barns
Wine divine in Brown County
10 Things you didn’t know about Brown County
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937-392-4318 • 5280 US Highway 62 & 68 Ripley, OH 45167www.ohiovalleymanor.com
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Welcome!2015 Brown County
Tourism Guide
Quilt Barns .................. 4The Parker House ........ 6Holiday Forest of Lights ...................... 6Deer hunting ............... 8Fall in Brown County .............1010 Things You Didn’t Know about Brown County ...12Civil War scholar to visit ............14New U.S. Grant impersonator to visit ..15Ohio Valley Natural Fibers ............16Pipe Organs ...............19Rankin House .............20Theaters .................... 22The Old Home Place ..24Wineries ....................26
Brown County, Ohio Tourism Inc. formed
A group of Brown Coun-tians interested in promoting tourism in Brown County, Ohio have joined to form a not for profit Corporation under Ohio Law known as Brown County Ohio Tour-ism, Inc. The corporation will also apply to be des-ignated a 501(C) (3) tax exempt organization. The 501(C) (3) designation will enable donations to be tax deductible and qualify the group for grants and public assistance. The purpose of the corporation in its Articles of Incorporation is to devel-op, enhance, publicize, and encourage tourism in Brown County, Ohio.
The group assisted in the production of this tourism guide. The founding mem-bers are:
Carol Pulliam Stivers: Carol has long been inter-ested in promoting tourism in Brown County. She repre-sents the John Parker House of Ripley and various other groups interested in tourism.
Nancy Montgomery: Nancy is a former librarian for Felic-ity Schools and District Tech-nology Coordinator.
She wishes to share Brown County tourism opportuni-ties with others.
Susan Bean: Susan is a member of the Georgetown Village Council and an active member of the Georgetown community. She hails from New York State, where she was active in promoting tour-ism.
Betty Campbell: Betty is active in the Ripley commu-nity, especially the Rankin House and the National Underground Railroad Muse-um. Betty coordinates many tourists to Ripley and Brown County.
Natasha Coldiron: Natasha is an elementary teacher in the Fayetteville School sys-tem. She brings her social media skills to the group.
Stan Purdy: Stan is President of the U.S. Grant Homestead Association and promotes activities of the Association throughout the year and attendance at the Grant Boyhood Home and Schoolhouse.
Sonja Cropper: Sonja is the former Tourism Director for Brown County and has a wealth of information about Tourism in Brown County and from surrounding Coun-ties.
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Courtesy Photo
LOCATIONS1. Ohio Star5455 U.S. Rt. 62 & 68,
Ripley2. LeMoyne Star328 W. State St.,
Georgetown3. Kings Cross15218 U.S. Rt. 68, Mt
Orab4. Star and Cross6280 St. Rt. 68, Ripley5 .Lone Star849 St. Rt. 125,
Hamersville6. North Star12126 Purdy Rd.,
Sardinia7. Martha Washington’s
Star11853 Pool-Kuntz Rd.,
Sardinia8. Georgetown Circle760 St. Rt. 756, Felicity9. Union12681 U.S. Rt. 62,
Sardinia10. Double Star &
Double Star3241 U.S. Rt. 52,
Higginsport11. Ohio Star Variation7362 Tri-County Rd.,
Sardinia12. Corn and Beans8240 St. Rt. 125,
Russellville13. Clay’s Choice5075 St. Rt. 763, Ripley14. Pride of Ohio3311 St. Rt. 763,
Aberdeen15. Indian Star7689 Gooselick Rd.,
Ripley16. LeMoyne Star
Variation6071 Camp Run Rd.,
Georgetown17. Capital T20346 U.S. Rt. 68,
Fayetteville18. Martha Washington
Star10332 U.S. Rt. 68,
Georgetown19. Buckeye Beauty10501 Dayhill Arnheim
Rd., Georgetown20. Lone Star12126 Purdy Rd.,
Sardinia21. Pinwheel1065 U.S. Rt. 62,
Sardinia22. Bow Tie12440 St. Rt. 774, Bethel
Quilt Barns of Brown County
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716 N High St, Mt Orab, OH 45154 (513) 309-0781
40794171www.bardwellwinery.com
By Carol Stivers
Quilt Barns are a great example of public art for all to see and enjoy.
Quilting is an art form that has been around for centuries. Quilts are practical and beautiful. There are many popular and well known pat-terns as well as many one of a kind patterns.
Quilt Barns showcase quilt patterns and in some locations showcase heritage barns. There is a group of people who travel to visit Quilt Barns and take pictures. It is a tourist attraction all over the U.S. The Brown County Ohio goal was to have at least one Quilt Barn in each of our townships, so that people who follow the Quilt Barns would travel all over the county.
Brown County now has over 30 Quilt Barns, 22 that were arranged by the Quilt Barn Com-mittee and 9 or 10 completed by private indi-viduals.
They are all important and add to the overall “Clothesline of Quilts” that started in Adams County and is now all over the U.S. Twenty-two of the Brown County Quilt Barns are listed with their location and quilt pattern.
A ‘clothesline of quilts’
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By Carol Stivers
The Parker House in Rip-ley, Ohio is an Underground Railroad site.
It has been awarded the status of a National His-toric Landmark which is the highest award given by the National Park Service to historic sites. It is the former home of John P. Parker, who was born a slave, bought his own freedom and became a successful businessman. Parker was an abolition-ist and a conductor on the Underground Railroad. By day he ran the Phoenix Foundry making all types of farm machinery and iron products and by night he helped fugitive slaves escape. He frequently crossed the Ohio River to transport those seeking freedom on the first leg of their journey north.
Parker was an amazing man. At age eight he was sold, chained to other slaves and made to walk ragged and barefoot from his original home in Virginia to Mobile, Alabama. It was on this jour-ney that his spirit was ignited with the anger and hatred of bondage that would fuel his lifelong passion for helping
others to freedom.In Mobile, Parker was
sold to a doctor. There he was taught to read, illegally, by the doctor’s sons. Sev-eral years later, Parker made multiple daring attempts to escape, but was returned to Mobile. In 1845, he was allowed to purchase his freedom by earning extra money at a foundry. Parker then moved to Ohio where he married Miranda Boulden of Cincinnati, and by 1849 the Parkers had settled in Ripley, Ohio a thriving abolitionist town of about 5000 with 300 members in their anti-slavery society. Parker worked with other Ripley conductors on the Underground Railroad, such as, the Rev. John Rankin and the Collins brothers.
Parker was successful in many arenas. During the Civil War, Parker was a key recruiter for the 27th Ohio Volunteer Infantry (Colored) Regiment. Parker’s foundry was a major employer in Ripley, employing both blacks and whites. He was a success-ful entrepreneur and inventor. Parker had three U.S. patents for agricultural inventions, among the earliest granted to an African-American.
Parker died in January 1900, leaving behind his wife, Miranda and six college edu-cated children.
At the Parker House you will hear about the life and times of Parker and see beau-tiful paintings depicting Park-er’s life. In the 1800’s Room, you can walk on the very floors that Parker walked and look through the windows from which Parker looked when he and his family lived in this home.
For more information about Parker check out his
autobiography “His Promised Land” or the website www.johnparkerhouse.org.
To visit his restored home/museum contact: John P. Parker Historical Society, Inc., 300 N. Front Street, P.O. Box 246, Ripley, Ohio 45167.
Hours of Operation are May through November, open Friday & Saturday 10:00 a.m.- 5:00 p.m. and Sunday 1:00-5:00 p.m. Admission: Adults $4, Students (7-18) $2. Group tours available year-round by calling 937-392-4188.
By Carol Stivers
The Annual Holiday Forest of Lights is a beautiful display of lights and trees located in the Parker Park at 300 N. Front Street in Ripley, Ohio next to the Parker House.
In this location across from the Ripley’s River Walk the night is filled
with lovely crystal lights during the month of December.
As a fund raiser for Parker House and, also, to take part in Ripley’s River Village Christmas Celebration. Individuals, families and businesses are asked to sponsor trees in memo-ry of loved ones who have died or in honor of loved ones still living.
Trees are tagged with both the honoree’s name and the donor’s name. There is always a program on December 1st when the trees are dedicated and the lights are turned on.
Be sure to make a trip to Ripley to see the Holiday Forest of Lights. For more information call: 937-392-1135.
Photo by Carol StiversThe Parker House in Ripley is a National Historic Landmark as designated by the United States National Park Service.
Holiday Forest of Lights
The Parker House6
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By Tom Cross
Division of Wildlife Deer Biologist Mike Tonkovich once said to me, and it’s often repeated by Buckeye Big Buck Club officials, “Anywhere in Ohio has the potential to produce a trophy buck.”
But there was always an addendum included; “as long as conditions are right.” And biologists know, it’s agricul-ture that has the most impact on deer population and antler growth.
“Southwest Ohio has been on fire for producing big bucks,” said Tonkovich. “Obviously the deer have an advantage in many of these southwest counties and that advantage is agriculture. Having access to crops ver-sus the strip-mine lands in eastern Ohio, you’re going to grow bigger deer and big-ger racks. You can’t deny the connection as corn provides carbohydrates during the fall and beans provide protein
during the summer when antlers are developing.”
The top pick for mega bucks and looking over the results of seasons past prove Clermont, Brown, Highland, and Adams are top counties for producing trophy white-tails.
One of the sleeper coun-ties in southern Ohio would have to be Brown County. From Brown County there has been some massive 170 and 180 inch deer harvested recently. Brown County has over 56 bucks entered into the Buckeye Big Bucks Club books since 2002 where minimum entry score is 140 inches. You don’t hear much from Brown County but it’s only when, not if, before a 200+ inch deer is tagged.
Although public hunt-ing opportunities in Brown County are not as generous as it is in other southwest Ohio counties, it does have public hunting available in the 1,626 acre Indian Creek Wildlife Area near Fayette-
Mike Bays arrowed this 172-7-8 inch monster typ
ical in Brown County.
Photos by Tom Cross
Look for acorns
early in the season,
Deer hunting in Brown County
Big rubs like these is what every deer hunter wants to see.
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ville. Nearby, in Clermont County, East Fork Wildlife Area has over 7,700 acres of public hunting. Adams County to the east has the 4,258 acre Tranquility Wild-life Area.
Don’t discount public hunt-ing. With enough effort, boot leather, maps and scouting you can find good bucks on public ground. Two years ago, Wilmington bow hunter Don Wilson tagged a 200 plus inch non-typical buck from a remote corner of Wayne National Forest in Athens County. A couple of years before that, Don tagged a monster typical whitetail from northern Brown County scoring 181-4/8’, making it one of the largest bucks taken
in the state that year.“Southwest Ohio might
be the hotspot of the state,” said Buckeye Big Buck Club scorer Dave Haynes.
Last season deer hunters in Brown County bucked the statewide downward trend by harvesting 2,596 deer which is up from the previous sea-son’s take of 2,526. Under this season’s regulations, Brown
County hunters can harvest no more than three deer and for the first time antler-less permits are not valid in Brown County as biologists try to put the brakes on the antlerless harvest.
These same regulations also apply to Adams, Cler-mont and Highland. Other changes in this season’s regulation is the dumping of
the statewide early antlerless muzzleloader season and an additional weekend gun sea-son, Dec. 28-29.
Archery season opens Sept. 26 and ends Feb. 7. Deer gun season is Nov. 30 – Dec. 6. After much debate youth gun season is open again on Nov. 21-22. State-wide muzzleloader season was moved a week later and is now set for Jan. 9-12.
For a list of public hunting areas request publication 77 from the Division of Wildlife. Maps of wildlife areas can be downloaded from wildohio.com.
Tom Cross has been the outdoors writer for the Peoples Defender for more than 30 years and is the author of “Fishing Ohio.”
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A couple of bucks in a bean field in late August.
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By Carol Stivers
Brown County, Ohio, is blessed with many hardwood forests and woods, also, nice specimen trees in yards and landscaping. We welcome Fall as the hills and woodlands turn from a rich green to yellow, orange, red and brown.
The change is amazing and dramatic as the landscape gives off a whole spectrum of color. The maple, oak and ash turn to beautiful orange & scarlet.
Water maples add a soft yellow to the pallet of colors. Even poi-son ivy and Virginia creeper do their part to add to the beauti-ful autumn landscape as they turn red and orange. Some of the oaks hold their rich brown leaves into the winter, but the height of fall color appears around October 7 and lasts for about two weeks.
Daniel Karell | Civitas MediaTrees in Ripley turn beautiful shades of red, orange, and yellow in October.
Brown CountyFall in
Dramatic autumn foliage a favorite of visitors
See FALL | 11
The official name is autumn but I still like to call the season fall. I enjoy seeing the leaves float or fall down to the ground on a windy day.
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Fall in Brown County.Photo by Carol Stivers
The official starting date of the season is September 23 and the official name is autumn but I still like to call the season fall. I enjoy seeing the leaves float or fall down to the ground on a windy day.
As early as August and September, the walnut trees and locust trees start to lose their leaves and so do most fruit trees. The leaves of
other hardwood trees lose their leaves later in the sea-son. The color that the leaves emit is from the minerals the trees have taken up and absorbed during the summer.
One tree of interest that is not a native tree is the ginkgo tree. It will not be found in our forests or woods. It is strictly a specimen tree used for landscaping and street trees.
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FALL, continued from page 10
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By Nancy Montgomery
1. New Hope Road Bridge is the longest single span covered bridge still standing in Ohio2. The John Rankin House was the first established station of the Underground Railroad north of the Ohio River.3. Albert Marquis, author and founder of Who’s Who In America was from Brown County.4. George M. Verity, the industrialist who founded Armco Steel was from Brown County.5. James L. Reed, who developed
Yellow Dent Corn (the most popular variety of field corn grown worldwide between 1900 and 1930) was from Brown County.6. Ohio first eagle’s nest in modern times is found in Brown County7. Brown County was carved out of Adams and Clermont Counties.8. White burley tobacco was created in Brown County.9. There are 24 sites and 2 village historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places.10. Chinese labor was used to make and form bricks and to cut stone to build Shuster Mill in 1843.
10 Things You Didn’t Know about Brown County
Nancy MontgomeryA mill in Brown County
As fall arrives its leath-ery fan shaped leaves turn a bright yellow. The tree holds most of its leaves until a hard frost and within 24 hours of the frost it drops all of its leave at one time. It’s very dramatic! If there is a ginkgo tree that you can observe, keep your eye on it this fall.
Taking a fall foliage tour in Brown County is as easy as taking a drive in the country. The self-guided tour can be along State Route 32, OH 125, U.S. Route 50, U.S. 52, U.S. 62, U.S. 68 or any of the county roads where there are forests or woods close to the road. You can decide where you want to drive to see this miracle of nature. The hills of southern Brown County along the river on U.S. 52 are always beautiful in October when they are in full fall color. A fall foliage tour in Brown County is waiting for you.
FALL, continued from page 11
Photo by Rachel BollmanA ginkgo tree in Brown County
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P: (606) 407-6031F: (606) 407-6058
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Civil War scholar Ed Bearss will visit Georgetown on March 5, 2016.Courtesy Photo
By Stan Purdy
America’s Historian and Civil War scholar Edwin C. Bearss will present “U.S. Grant, Cadet to General” at the Gaslight Theater on the corner of S. Main and State Streets, Georgetown, Ohio, on Saturday, March 5, 2016 at 1:00 p.m.
The lecture is sponsored by the U.S. Grant Home-stead Association, an orga-nization which celebrates the life, history, and legacy of Ulysses S. Grant through preservation and education. Deanne Kelly will sing a selection of Civil War songs at 12:30 p.m.
The cost of admission is $10 per person. Proceeds will go to the U.S. Grant Homestead Association and the Civil War Pres-ervation Trust, which is a national organization working to save America’s Civil War battlefields. Tickets may be purchased at the door.
Bearss is an indepen-dent scholar and historian whose public career began at the National Park Ser-
vice in 1955 in Vicksburg, Mississippi. His research there led to the recovery of the long-lost Union gunboat Cairo. He also located two forgotten forts at Grand Gulf, Miss., and was instrumental in hav-ing Grand Gulf named a state military monument.
In 1991, Bearss became the National Park Service’s chief historian for military sites. He received the Harry S. Truman Award for Meritorious Service in the field of Civil War History and the Depart-ment of the Interior’s Distinguished Service Award. In addition, he was a featured commentator for Ken Burns’ PBS Series “The Civil War”, and also appears on the Arts & Entertainment Channel’s “Civil War Journal”.
Bearss is the author of many works about the Civil War, including “Vicksburg Is the Key”, “Grant Strikes a Fatal Blow”, “Un-vexed to the Sea”, “Fields of Honor: Pivotal Battles of the Civil War”, and his most recent book is “Receding Tide”.
Since retiring, he con-
tinues to serve as a Civil War consul-tant and conducts detailed battlefield site tours and seminars for the Smithsonian Study Tours pro-gram.
Bearss’ lecture will discuss U.S. Grant’s per-sonal qualities that made him the greatest General of the war. He will bring his own insights on the topic, and of course, will present them in his own indomitable style.
Georgetown, the county seat of Brown County, is located approximately one hour east of Cincinnati, one hour west of Ports-mouth, one and one-half hours southeast of Day-ton, two hours south of Columbus, and two hours north of Lexington, KY. The theater is located at the southeast corner of East State St. (Ohio Rt. 125) and South Main St.
Civil War scholar to visit Georgetown
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By Stan Purdy
Dr. Curt Fields of Collier-ville, Tennessee will make his first appearance as U.S. Grant at the upcoming Historic Home Tour in Georgetown on December 6, 2015.
Dr. Fields is a former school principal and history teacher, and an adjunct sociology professor at the University of Memphis. Fields is the same height and weight as Grant.
He presents an accurate
persona of the Union General in speaking presentations at reenactments and civil War presentations.
Dr. Fields was selected by the National Park Service as U.S. Grant at the recent 150th recognition of General Robert E. Lee’s surrender.
In Georgetown, he will appear at many of the activi-ties of the local U.S. Grant Homestead Association, espe-cially the April Grant Days Cel-ebration on April 22-24, 2016.
New Grant headed to Georgetown
Courtesy PhotoDr. Curt Fields, a famous U.S.
Grant reenactor, will visit Georgetown on December 6, 2015, as part of the Historic Home Tour
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By Nancy Montgomery
Tucked into rural Brown County outside of Sardinia is a fiber mill full of old machines, exotic fibers, and a small staff who processes fleece to create rovings, bat-ting, custom rovings, and beautiful custom yarns.
Ohio Valley Natural Fibers was begun over 30 years ago by Kent and Ginny Ferguson. Kent Ferguson met men who had been in the commercial textile industry since just after the turn of the century. With their help, expertise and guidance, Ohio Valley Natural Fibers pur-chased its first 60 inch carding machine and the mill was born.
Kent died in 2010 and Ginny retired in 2015. After taking a group tour during which Diane Helterbrand and her spinning group were informed the mill would be closing, a friend joked that Diane and her husband Ron should buy it. There was laughter at the prospect. When Diane repeated the story to Ron, he didn’t think it was laughable.
From Sheep to Shawl
A sheep at Ohio Valley
Nature Fibers mill.
A llama at Ohio Valley Nature Fibers mill.
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Machines spin yarn on a loom, in photos above and below.
The front store area of Ohio Valley Nature Fibers.
In April, 2015, Diane and Ron Helterbrand ventured into the arena of owning a medium-sized fiber mill. There are only 6-7 similarly sized mills in the country. The employees are comprised of Diane and Ron and 3 experienced employees who worked at the mill before they bought it. Without the experienced employees continuing to work, Diane says they could not have survived.
A tour of the mill is a fascinating experience! As I first walked in, I was greeted by bags of fiber from sheep and llama. The mill handles exotic fibers of all kinds. Besides sheep and llama, they have spun camel, buffalo, rabbit, dog, yak, and more. They have custom-ers from Alaska to Florida.
Beyond the front room is the factory itself. The first machine I see is a huge carding machine from 1917! The machines were manufactured anywhere between 1916 and 1917 to the 1940’s. The equipment was bought from New England textile plants after the tex-tile business was shipped overseas.
Diane laughs about a time when one of the machines needed maintenance and she had to have a 75-year-old man from New England come in to take care of it.
As they’ve worked in the mill more and more, they began to understand the old giant machines. They are simple in their design but do an efficient job and are more suited to the exotic fibers they deal with.
Diane took me from the picking machine to the card-ing machine to the roving machine and the batt wheel. In the spinning room we see the cone winder, the ply machine, the skein winder, and the pin drafter with its ability to blend colors uniformly throughout the yarn. Machines are named for exactly what function they perform.
Yarn comes on cones, bobbins, or skeins. They can do 2-ply to 6-ply, in combinations with other fibers, bam-boo, silk, or whatever is needed to create the desired effect. Colors are blended from solid colored to multi-colored yarn. Back to the entrance, we stand in a store area where clients can purchase all sorts of aids for any fiber art including books, needles, and even silks and bamboos for those who want to make their own yarn.
Experienced clients will tell the mill staff exactly want they want in an end product. Others will know what they want to make, perhaps a comforter or a sweater, but not know what they need to get there. The staff will question them as to what type of fiber product they need, perhaps batting or yarn, if they want it thick or thin, fluffy nor not, stretchy or not, and colors desired. The staff will then know what needs to be blended to meet the clients’ needs.
Diane and Ron’s future hopes are to move the mill to their farm, where not only will they run the mill but also be able to offer day activity opportunities to developmentally handicapped adults, a special interest of Ron’s.
The Ohio Valley Nature Fibers Mill has been fea-tured on the PBS series Our Ohio and on The Discov-er Networks’ Dirty Jobs. Both videos are still available on line. Their website is http://www.ovnf.com/
Tours are available by appointment only. Call the mill at 937-446-3045 or email them at [email protected]
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A pipe organ at First Presbyterian Church in Ripley.
Tradition lives onBy Carol Stivers
Music has been around for thou-sands of years. It adds pleasure to any occasion.
Brown County is fortunate to still have three beautiful early pipe organs in good shape and in use in churches from Fayetteville to Ripley, Ohio. One is in the Sacred Heart Chapel on the campus of Chatfield College in St. Martin near Fayetteville, Ohio.
It was made in 1886 by Hilborne L. Roosevelt of New York, N.Y. (This Roosevelt was related to Theodore Roosevelt.) Its official number is Opus 345. Opus stands for the number of organs made by that company at that time. It has 244 pipes. The master organist of this organ is Sister Cecilia Huber, who always gives a Christmas Concert in the Chapel on the first Friday of December.
There are two pipe organs in good shape and in use each Sun-day in Ripley, Ohio. One is in the First Presbyterian Church and the other one is in the Centenary United Methodist Church.
The organ in the First Presby-terian Church was built in1885 by Augustus B. Felgemker & Co., Erie, PA. Its official number is Opus 472 meaning that Felge-maker had built 471 other organs before this one. It has 662 pipes. The master organist of this organ is Linda Fulton, who annually gives a Christmas concert and pro-gram on the Second Saturday of December.
The legend of this organ is very interesting.
It was actually meant to go to a church in Charleston, S.C. and was on a boat on the Ohio River on its way there in August, 1886. The boat captain received word that the Charleston church didn’t want the organ and as he happened to be near Ripley, asked if any church in Ripley wanted to purchase it, which the Presbyterians did.
The pipe organ in the Centenary
United Methodist Church in Ripley was made by the Votteler-Hettche Organ Co., Cleveland, Ohio in 1899. It has 543 pipes. The master organ-ist of this organ is Rhonda Frodge, who has, also, been playing pipe organs for many years. It takes a very talented and athletic organist to play a pipe organ as much foot work is necessary and the keyboard is extensive.
All three of the Brown County organs used to be hand pumped but
now have added electric blowers to supply the wind for the pipes to make their beautiful sounds.
The sound of pipe organ music is bold and wonderful. Try to take advantage of one of the Christmas Concerts. The Chatfield concert will take place in the Sacred Heart Chapel in St. Martin at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, December 4. The First Presbyterian Church concert will take place in Ripley at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 12, 2015.
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By Betty Campbell
The John Rankin House Historic Site sits on a hill overlooking the village of Ripley, the Ohio River and the state of Kentucky.
The house was the home of the famed Underground Railroad conductor, Rev. John Rankin. He and his family aided approximately 2,000 fugitive slaves during a 40-year period.
Rev. Rankin, a Tennessean by birth, accepted the call to become the minister of the Ripley Presbyterian Church in 1822. It remains an active congregation today and is known as Ripley First Pres-byterian Church.
His first permanent home in Ripley was located on Front Street along the Ohio River. A historic marker iden-tifies that home today. The
Rankin family moved to the house on the hill in 1829.
Rev. Rankin spoke against slavery from his church pulpit, wrote anti-slavery material and believed no one had the right to own another human being.
As Ripley’s role grew as a stronghold of anti-slavery activity, Rev. Rankin and other area conductors faced very real danger. in 1838 some Kentucky slave owners offered a reward of $2,500 for the abduction or assassina-tion of these conductors
The family of Rev. Rankin and his wife, Jean, was large and included nine sons and four daughters. It was the nine sons as they became teenagers who were given the responsibility of escort-ing fugitives from the Rankin farm to the next location. Many times they traveled to
Red Oak a distance of five miles. Other times the route would take them to Sardinia.
The Rankin family devel-oped a reputation of keeping a light burning in one of the front windows of their home. That light served as a beacon for fugitives cross-ing the Ohio River at night. Fugitives learned to look for the house on the hill and the
light in the window.Among Rev. Rankin’s
supporters were Dr.Lyman Beecher and his family.
Dr.Beecher came to Cincin-nati to serve as president of Lane Theological Seminary. Several of the Rankin sons attended Lane. Dr.Beecher’s daughter, Harriet Beecher Stowe, incorporated several of the Rankin’s efforts into
Photos courtesy of Ohio History ConnectionThe John Rankin House is a National Historic Landmark in Ripley, Ohio, and its where Reverend John Rankin lived and helped thousands of escaped slaves to freedom in the north.
Rankin House
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her best-selling novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. In the novel, her character, Eliza, is based on the fugitive woman who carried her child over the thawing Ohio River and found shelter at the home of Rev. Rankin.
As an older man, Rev. Rankin wrote his autobiog-raphy and several of his sons wrote their remembrances of their time in Ripley. This is the basis used by tour guides as they share the Rankin story with visitors.
The Rankins write of shel-tering fugitive slaves in a large barn that once stood on the west side of their house. The barn had a wooden floor and a secret door in the floor and space dug out under-neath where several people could be hidden.
Rev. Rankin took pride when he wrote in his auto-biography that he “never lost a passenger.” Meaning fugitives in the care of the
Rankin family were never caught by their owners or bounty hunters and taken back into slavery.
In 1997 Rankin House was named a National Historic Landmark. This is the high-est federal designation given to historic sites.
An August 2014 ceremony was held unveiling a major restoration that brought the house back to an accurate 1840s interpretation. The research revealed the walls in the two downstairs rooms overlooking the river had been stenciled. The stencil-ing has been recreated in the vibrant colors that first adorned the walls of the Rankin home.
Other families owned Rankin House after the Rankins left Ripley in 1866 and the Ohio Historical Society (now known as the Ohio History Connection) purchased the home in 1938. The house was not restored
and opened to the public until 1948 due to World War II.
The John Rankin House Historic Site is open to the public from May through October, Wednesday through Sunday. Hours are 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and 12:00 p.m. noon to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday.
In 1981 a local history group, Ripley Heritage, Inc. assumed management of the site through an agreement
with the Ohio History Con-nection. The phone number at the site is 937-392-4044 and the website is ohiohis-tory.org.
Recommended reading for more detailed informa-tion about the Rankins and other Ripley area conductors should include Beyond The River by Ann Hagedorn and Bound For Canaan by Fergus Bordewich.
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Photos of the interior of the Rankin House, where recent renovations returned the interior to what it may have looked like in the 1840s.
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By Nancy Montgomery
Two theater groups exist in Brown County, The Gas-light Theater Players and the Christian Theatre for Children.
Both exist to allow a creative outlet for their members and to entertain the public. The two groups perform their productions at the historic Gaslight Theater in Georgetown, Ohio.
In 1967, some members of the community formed the Georgetown Players com-munity theater group. They were able to obtain a loan for $4,000 and used that money to renovate the Grant Theater, renaming it The Gaslight Theater. A few years later, in an effort to be more inclusive of the surround-ing communities, the group renamed itself The Gaslight Theater Players. The group used and maintained the theater until 1999 when the theater went through a major renovation.
The Gaslight Theater Play-ers put on 2 or 3 productions every year. Past productions include classics like Harvey, Arsenic and Old Lace, Little Shop of Horrors, and The Odd Couple. The productions
Courtesy PhotosThe Christian Theater for Children performs at the Gaslight Theater.
Daniel Karell | Civitas MediaWooden seats in the balcony of the Gaslight Theater.
in Brown CountyCurtains up
See THEATER | 24
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are normally at 8:00 p.m. on Friday and Saturday on con-secutive weekends. Tickets are $10 ($8 for seniors).
The Gaslight Theater Play-ers also perform their version of Love Rides the Rails for community groups. This is normally in conjunction with a dinner and has been a suc-cessful fundraiser for many groups.
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By Susan Bean
Granola! Who knew that a delicious breakfast mixture would be the foundation of a brand new business for Delbert Schla-bach and his family?
Although they expected to sell only Amish hand-crafted furniture and gifts when they moved to Brown County and opened the “Home Place” in 2006, by 2007 they also offered a variety of sweet treats, including the soon to be famous granola, as well as creme horns, peanut butter pie and, of course, homemade bread.
The granola quickly developed a follow-ing of satisfied fans and now seven variet-ies are sold as far west as California, as far south as Florida, as far east as Maryland, and as far north as Minnesota. While some of the product is still made in the kitchen of the “Home Place”, most is made in an added baking facility in Warsaw, Ohio, under the brand name “Tried and True Granola.
The store, the “Home Place,” has been a labor of love for the Schlabachs, and it shows in the well-lighted, sparkling clean interior and the unfailing excellent service offered by the staff. All of the merchandise, from the Amish-crafted furniture, quilts and home decor to the Walnut Creek cold cuts, velvet ice cream and the goodies from the bakery and grocery is of the very high-
est quality and most is made regionally.Here, in a small part of this crammed
11,000 square foot space, you will also find fresh local produce, cook books, candles, incredibly sharp kitchen knives, hand-made soap, candy, pretzels, lawn chairs, bird-houses and so much more.
Are you traveling? Forgot to pack a lunch? The sandwich special is a true bar-gain, and delicious at that. Stay for a while and get to know some of the kids, and maybe meet Delbert. He is never too busy to say hello, and he will tell you that to suc-ceed.
“You must love what you’re doing and I love it with a passion,” Delbert Schlabach said. “I love my customers — I see my customers as friends we built a relation-ship with. We provide a quality product and service with a smile — we want to feel good about and believe in the products we carry. What we use at home we want to share with our customers. Our principles come from believing in the Lord and what He has done for us and serving with a joy-ful heart.”
The Home Place is located at 7771 U.S. Route 68, at the intersection of State Route 125 just east of Georgetown. Call 937-378-3400 for hours and directions. Never open on Sunday.
On the web: http://www.thehomeplace-furniture.com
Granola at the Old Home Place
Photo by Susan Bean
Auditions are open for all produc-tions, and experience is not required. The Gaslight Theater Players are also always looking for other volunteers – stage crew, lighting/sound, directors, marketing. If you interested in any of these opportunities, please contact them.
Their next productions are Mind Game, October 30, 31, November 6, 7, 2015, and A Christmas Cactus, Novem-ber 20, 21, 27, and 28, 2015.
The Christian Theatre for Children exists to help children discover their God-given talents, to find joy and pas-sion in mastering and sharing their talents with the community and to provide a place for those talents to be displayed.
Dody Staker, with 29 years of experi-ence directing children’s theater, moved
to Georgetown and noticed the lack of fine arts education for children in Brown County. To fill that void she joined with other interested citizens and formed the Christian Theatre for Children.
All children are welcome and no auditions are required. They cur-rently have children participating from Brown, Clermont, and Adams Counties. The all-volunteer staff runs two summer theme camps, one for kindergarten through 5th grade and one for 6th grade through 12th grade. This year’s themes were the circus and 1950’s Rock and Roll. At the end of the camps full productions are performed.
Every Christmas a musical is also performed. This is for children in grades 3 through 12. This year’s A Christmas Telethon will be performed December 4 – 5 at the Gaslight Theater in Georgetown, Ohio. All performances
are open to the public and free of charge.
The Christian Theatre for Children has a show choir for children in grades 3 to 12 which performs at various venues including nursing homes, high school alumni dinners, National Prayer Day, and many others. Again, there are no auditions required.
If you are interested in more infor-mation on the group, either find us on Facebook (Gaslight Theater Players), or go to our website, www.gaslight-theaterplayers.com . You can also send us an email at [email protected] if you have any questions, or if you would like to be put on a mailing list for productions or audition notices.
For more information, visit the Chris-tian Theatre for Children’s website at http://www.christiantheatreforchildren.com/ or their Facebook page, Christian Theatre for Children
THEATER, continued from page 22
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Builders and do-it-yourselfers can pick up lumber, metal roofing and siding, windows & doors, insulation, plumbing and electrical supplies, hardware and paint, or get prompt delivery.
We deliver complete post building packages, or we can install a turnkey building on your lot from start to finish. Please let us quote your next building project.
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Fax 937-544-0324937-544-8010
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Kinkaid Ridge Winery in Ripley prepares bottles for sale.
Photo by Carol Stivers
By Carol Stivers
Brown County, Ohio and the Ohio River Valley is now a destination for wine lovers as there are five wineries in Brown County and three more close by.
Several years ago, the area 10 miles on each side of the Ohio River was des-ignated a vineyard growing area by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The soil and climate are ripe for growing good, quality grapes that make excel-lent wine.
Several of the local wineries have products that have won national and international awards with their estate wines. In order to be an “estate wine” the grapes for that wine have to be grown on site (on the estate).
Meranda-Nixon Winery between Ripley and Georgetown has produced estate national & international award
winning wines, as has Kinkead Ridge Winery in Ripley. Estate wines are now produced by La Vigna Estate Winery near Higginsport, Harmony Hill Vine-yards & Estate Winery near Bethel and Moyer Winery near Manchester. The last two winters have taken a toll on some of the vineyards but the vintners are rebounding nicely.
One of the events that wine lovers look forward to is the Annual Ohio River Valley Barrel Tasting, which takes place each year the Saturday after Thanksgiving from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
You can even finish your Christmas shopping in some of the Wine Shops. The Barrel Tasting event lets cus-tomers taste the vintage wines that are still aging in the “barrel.” These wines will be bottled next year and released around Memorial Day. It is a
sneak preview of the wines before they are bottled and released. There is a minimal charge to take part in this fun tasting event. Usually you get a compli-mentary wine glass and you can, also, choose to pay for various appetizers and hors d’oeuvres that are available. Each winery conducts their tasting to their own standards, but it is always a fun event to visit all of the wineries taking part in the Ohio River Valley Barrel Tasting.
The wineries taking part in the Annual Ohio River Valley Barrel Tasting on November 28, 2015, are: Meranda-Nixon Winery (Ph: 937-392-4654), Kinkead Ridge Winery (Ph: 216-551-9093), La Vigna Estate Win-ery (Ph: 937-375-1104), Harmony Hill Vineyards & Estate Winery (Ph: 513-734-3548), and Baker-Bird Wine near Augusta, KY (Ph: 606-756-3739).
Wine divinein Brown County
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Wine barrels sit in place at Meranda Nixon Winery.
Brown County, OhioMeranda-Nixon Winery Estate International Award Winning Wine6517 Laycock Road, Phone: 937-392-4654 recently featured in Ohio MagazineRipley, Ohio 45167 Seth & Maura Merandawww.meranda-nixonwinery.comKinkead Ridge Winery904 Hamburg Street Phone: 216-551-9093Ripley, Ohio 45167 Don & Anna Marie BowersLa Vigna Estate Winery Phone: 937-375-11046035 State Route 505 (off U.S. Rte 52-1 mile north of Higginsport, Ohio)Georgetown, Ohio 45121 Brad HivelyIndian Spring Winery10862 Fite Hauck Road Phone: 937-446-9463Sardinia, Ohio 45171
Bradwell Winery716 N. High Street Phone: 513-309-0781Mt. Orab, Ohio 45154
Clermont County, OhioHarmony Hill Vineyards & Estate Winery2534 Swings Corner/Point Isabel Road Phone 513-734-3548Bethel, Ohio 45106
Augusta, Ky.**Baker-Bird Winery Phone: 606-756-3739 S-S4465 Augusta-Chatham Road Phone: 859-620-4965 M-FAugusta, KY 41002
Adams County, OhioMoyer Vineyard Winery & Restaurant3859 U.S. Rt. 52 Phone: 937-5492957Manchester, Ohio 45144
Area wineries
Photo by Carol Stivers
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