24 Oct 2003            Previous Page

 

Look to Clermont Students Take County History on the Road

Clermont County is rich in the number of historical sites that can be visited, and the Look to Clermont Class of 2004 spent the day with County Historian, Rick Crawford, doing just that. Rick is a wonderful storyteller, and had lots of stories of Clermont County’s history and Clermont County’s hauntings to share.

Having not seen each other since the Camp Friedlander teambuilding retreat in September, students spent the bus ride from University of Cincinnati Eastgate to Grant’s birthplace in Point Pleasant, enjoying each other’s company and the guitar playing of Michael Weigand and Junior Bataille. With the assignment to document six of the most interesting stories they learn about today, they listened attentively as Loretta Furhman talked about the birthplace of our 18th president. Along the Ohio River and US 52, Rick Crawford highlighted the home of Dr. John Rogers who delivered President Grant, Parker Academy, the first school in the northwest territory where girls as well as boys could attend school, the Spate House in Moscow, the most famous haunted house in Clermont County, the grave of Diana Whitney, a 16 year old who died on a west bound wagon train, the mouth of the BullSkin Creek, the haunted Wattle house in Utopia and the underground church in Utopia.

We enjoyed a sunny afternoon lunch at the Captain Anthony Meldahl Dam, where students visited more informally with Rick quizzing him about more ghost stories. Following lunch we traveled through Felicity, Bethel, and Williamsburg, the oldest community in Clermont County. After a brief stop at Harmony Hill, the office of the Clermont County Historical Society, we returned to University of Cincinnati Eastgate.

What did the students most enjoy?

  • Going down under the house on the underground railroad where the slaves actually hid
  • See the underground church
  • Learning so much through Rick’s enlightening stories
  • The King Louis Philippe story in Neville
  • The school where girls could also attend
  • The ghost stories

With Halloween just around the corner, I think Rick left the students wanting to hear more about the hauntings.

Clermont 20/20, Inc.