Pioneer Life

2003-1803: A journey back in time celebrates Ohio’s 200 years of statehood

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Dayton Daily News • Springfield News-Sun • The Middletown Journal • JournalNews 2 | NEWSPAPERS IN EDUCATION | PIONEER LIFE | COX OHIO PUBLISHING

“We often don’t appreciate how hard- working and devoted these pioneers were,” Ohio Wilderness said John Zimkus, historian for the Warren County Historical Society. “These people were just as important as Daniel Boone. They just Quickly Tamed didn’t have the publicity.” Thriving communities appeared In 1787, the Continental Congress declared the land bounded by the Ohio River, within generation of first settlers Mississippi River, the Great Lakes and Pennsylvania to be the Northwest Territory, By Joanne Huist Smith muskets, broad axes and cook pots. Forests with Gen. Arthur St. Clair as governor. The area Cox Ohio Publishing rich in white oak, wild cherry and black would later be divided into five states: Ohio, They traveled down the banks of the Ohio walnut trees yielded plentiful building Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin. River and up the Great Miami in long, narrow materials for homes, furniture, even dishes, It was the Treaty of Greenville in 1795 that boats propelled by muscle and grit and long but created huge obstacles in a seasonal race cleared a path for white settlers in Ohio by wooden poles. Others traversed overland in to plant crops. ending hostilities between the United States creaky-wheeled, springless wagons, on Rivers slithered with leeches. Bobcats and and American Indians who lived in the horseback or on foot. wolves hid in dense undergrowth. Cholera, territory. Development started in Southern Pioneers, just before 1800, made the scarlet fever and diphtheria ravaged small Ohio and in the areas now known as treacherous journey from the Eastern settlements. Winter brought weeks of isolation. Cleveland, Steubenville and Chillicothe, the seaboard to the Miami Valley laden with But Ohio’s heartiest persevered. state’s first capital.

The Hipples of Sidney are your normal 21st century family. They use computers, microwaves, watch television and enjoy the creature comforts many of us have at home. But for one week the Hipples were willing to give it all up to experience history.They walked in the shoes of Ohio’s pioneers, experiencing what life was like back when the state was founded in 1803. Members of the For a week, the family of five abandoned Hipple family gather outside their suburban life to live at Caesar’s Creek Pioneer Pioneer Village cabin. From left: Village in Warren County, where they had no Mark (father), electricity, battled frigid temperatures and killed Sarah (front), Carol (mother), Leah their own food. and Aaron. SHILOH CRAWFORD III/COX OHIO PUBLISHING Sidney family experiences life in 1803, gains respect for state’s earliest settlers

By Joanne Huist Smith and Amelia Robinson family’s monthly schedule of soccer games, chess club, Girl Scout Cox Ohio Publishing meetings and church activities on a spreadsheet. As dad Mark Hipple descends the basement steps to his wood shop, Gunfire booms from the 23-inch computer monitor in the basement a mechanical voice announces the time on his watch. of the Hipple household, in sync with the beat of Aaron’s index finger But the family’s lifestyle is about to change. on a mouse. A headset connects him to the Internet, where he talks to Really change. friends online. Earlier this year, as part of an Ohio Bicentennial history project, 25 Seated beside the 14-year-old, his sister Sarah, 11, builds an Miami Valley families answered a call from the Dayton Daily News for imaginary amusement park on another computer, playing Roller volunteers willing to shuck fast-paced, fast-food lifestyles to live for a Coaster Tycoon. A third computer monitor sleeps as sister Leah, 13, week at Caesar’s Creek Pioneer Village as people did in 1803. reheats pizza in one of two microwaves upstairs in the kitchen. No cars, grocery stores or power tools — just a rough log cabin and In the family room of their home in Sidney, mom Carol Hipple back-breaking work. watches the evening news on a 27-inch Phillips flat-screen television Carol, 43, a substitute teacher, is an experienced Girl Scout leader set, balancing a laptop computer on her thighs. She’s plotting the COX OHIO PUBLISHING | PIONEER LIFE | NEWSPAPERS IN EDUCATION | 3

“In 1795, if you could see smoke from the cracks between the logs were chinked with were ready to become a state,” said Stewart cabin of your neighbor, for some people that wood and daubed with mud. Paper soaked in Hobbs, a historian with the Ohio Historical was too close,” Zimkus said. “Within 15 years, bear grease allowed light to filter through Society. “He thought that the well-educated we had thriving communities. The frontier in windows until glass was affordable. and the well-born should run things. He Ohio, really, was gone in one generation.” By 1800, about 45,000 white settlers had didn’t think Ohioans were ready for the A census of white males in 1798 showed the made their way to the Ohio territory. African responsibilities that came with becoming a Northwest Territory’s population exceeded Americans also came, but in smaller state, like voting.” the 5,000 required to select its own legislators. numbers, according to Andrew R.L. Clayton in President Thomas Jefferson had signed an The next year, the General Assembly met for Ohio: the History of a People. There were act in April 1802 empowering the Ohio the first time to establish a militia, a tax about 337 blacks living in Ohio at the turn of Territory to form a constitution. The following system and to reaffirm a Northwest Territory the 19th century; that number reached 1,890 November, 35 delegates traveled to Chillicothe ordinance that banned slavery. by 1810. The American Indian population, to attend the Ohio Constitutional Convention. Early settlers spent much of their time already small by 1800, waned further after the When St. Clair preached anti-statehood “clearing vast stretches of forests and War of 1812. sentiments during the convention, Jefferson attempting to provide the necessities for their By 1803, the population of Ohio had removed him from office. On Feb. 19, 1803, families.” Children toiled beside their parents grown to 60,000, making the territory eligible Ohio became the 17th state. as soon as they were able, according to the to join the Union on an equal basis with Ohio Memory Online Scrapbook. existing states. But political rumblings by This Pioneer Life supplement is a partial reprint of a Cabins were generally built of round logs Gov. St. Clair and the Federalist Party nearly series that ran last April in the Dayton Daily News.The series was developed as part of a bicentennial project with the frames of windows and doors delayed statehood. to celebrate Ohio’s 200 years of statehood. The series fastened to the house by wooden pins. The “St. Clair didn’t think the people of Ohio can be found online at DaytonDailyNews.com.

seasoned in camping and Dutch-oven cooking. Before they trek from the parking lot to the nearby Bullskin Inn, their Mark agreed to participate in the pioneer project, with reservations. socks and shoes are soaked. They’re greeted by village volunteers, who “I have a family to watch out for, and it’s a whole week,” he said. will become their guides to 19th century life. Theresa Muterspaw will “The cold is my biggest fear.” coordinate the women’s work — cooking, sewing and education. Aaron The Hipples’ sojourn to Caesar Creek falls in the last week of will be apprenticed to Mike Thompson, a Pioneer Village resident and February, during one of the coldest Ohio woodwright. Keith Hankey, a member of winters in two decades. Temperatures Capt. Logan’s Kentucky County Militia, hover between lows of 8 degrees at night will teach the men survival skills. to highs of 30 during daylight hours. The family dresses in layers of Mark, 46, an engineer, has the added petticoats, shifts and bed jackets or hindrance of poor eyesight. Since the age britches, waistcoats and shirts. of 17, he’s endured more than a dozen eye The Hipples are transformed into a surgeries (he stopped counting after 11), family moving to Ohio from South the result of his family’s car being hit by Carolina in 1801, seeking a new an alleged drunken driver. beginning on the frontier. As Ohioans The basement is Dad’s domain, with celebrate statehood in 1803, the family three networked computers Mark faces a harsh winter. customized for the family. His woodshop, When the Hipples get the first view of filled with presses, punches and saws of their cabin home, the temperature is all sorts, is his pride and a refuge. around 10 degrees. Aaron isn’t as gung-ho about the project A fire blazes inside the Mills-Taylor as his mom. He’s not happy about giving TY GREENLEES/COX OHIO PUBLISHING saddlebag cabin, built between up time with friends and video games. Sarah and Aaron enjoy one more computer game before abandoning the 21st century. 1795-1800. Even though logs crackle in But he’s not totally opposed. After the fireplace and the door is firmly learning to hunt and shoot in the virtual realm of his favorite closed, the Hipples can see their breath in the air. computer game, Counter-Strike, Aaron is looking forward to testing his The log cabin, built in two sections with a common chimney and a skills in real life. fireplace in each part, worries the parents from the start. The Hipples While her siblings banter over computer use, Leah played with the decide to stay in one section of the cabin only because it would be family’s three cats. Leah objects to the limits of 1803 amenities, difficult to maintain two fires. Wooden benches, bed frames, chairs, especially the outhouse located downhill from the log cabin. The cupboards and tables fill the room, making it difficult to walk across bubbly, tow-headed Sarah shares her mom’s excitement for the without bumping into something or somebody. adventure, but she’s not wild about wearing long, scratchy wool skirts. “We went from 2,600 square feet to to 116 square feet,” Mark says. Two days later, the Hipples’ journey back in time begins. A cast-iron pot of hearty beef stew, potatoes and turnips simmers on Pioneer Village, in Warren County, lies beneath 6 inches of the fireplace, compliments of Theresa. Aaron already misses McDonald’s. untrampled snow, remnants of the storm that cloaked the Miami Valley No one eats much or looks forward to a week of similar fare. in white two weeks before. “If we can make it through the first night, we can make it,” Carol says. 4 | NEWSPAPERS IN EDUCATION | PIONEER LIFE | COX OHIO PUBLISHING

NEWSPAPER Modern-day pioneers get ACTIVITIES chilly welcome to life in the 1800s Weather By Joanne Huist Smith and Amelia Robinson be hungry when they summon the grit to get out of bed. • The weather in Cox Ohio Publishing There is no morning coffee. No packaged cereal or toaster February waffles. A scant mix of Johnny cakes, fried sausage, biscuits 2003 was MASSIE TWP.,Warren County — The glare of the sun on cold and freshly fallen snow temporarily blinds Mark Hipple as he or two eggs split between five family members can take snowy — steps from the log cabin, but its brilliance adds little more than an hour to prepare over the open fire. one of warmth to the frigid air. Once up, there’s little time to lounge. southwest Mark tightens the belt on his Mark keeps busy patching Ohio’s worst winters work-stained linen waistcoat, siding on their log home, splitting in recent history. adjusts the kerchief around his firewood, clearing trees from their Using your neck and picks up his ax. He fears homestead. Several times a day, newspaper’s current the night ahead. he fetches water with a yoke weather information, made of wood, fabric, and rope decide if now instead “Firewood is a priority,” he says. “We ran real low on logs last night. balanced on his shoulders. The of last February would yoke helps Mark carry two full be a better time to We’re learning. We’re learning real buckets of water, weighing about visit Pioneer Village. quick. As soon as the sun went Why or why down last night, everyone 16 pounds each. not? Would complained they were cold. It’s a A knock at the door could be there be tough winter for everybody.” Three anyone: a Methodist circuit rider any unique challenges inches of new snow hide the come to preach the Word, a to staying in Pioneer woodpile. Ice cements the neighbor with fresh wool to share, Village in the fall firewood to the ground. or a gang of four-legged hooligans instead of the winter? The family slept fitfully the night — Pioneer Village’s resident Can you think of any pygmy goats. advantages to living before, with wind whistling TY GREENLEES/COX OHIO PUBLISHING Sarah names each of the goats in Pioneer Village in through chinks in the cabin walls. Every two hours, Mark slips from Carol Hipple bundles up Sarah so she can play in the last bit of as soon as she meets them, long- the winter instead of daylight outside the cabin. horned Henrietta (called Henry at the fall? the relative warmth of two wool blankets and a homespun quilt to stir the dying embers of first glance) black-eyed George, black-footed Bob and Fred, • Early who has brown eyebrows. Later, she too tires of the goats’ settlers the fire. The temperature dipped to 18 degrees. Ice covers the water bucket when the family rises Monday never-ending shenanigans. She also learns that like relied Henrietta, most of the goats are female. heavily morning, even though it sits near the fireplace overnight. Pioneers in 1803 faced more than mischievous critters. on the Inside the cabin, Sarah Hipple, 11, sits with her feet weather perched as near the fireplace as her mother will allow. Wolves, snakes, bears and bobcats wandered Ohio’s vast for their Snow tracked in by Mark dots the floor in little clumps, but forests ravaging farms, and sometimes the farmer. survival. does not melt. But the greatest threats to early Ohio settlers were illness Without Buried in quilts, and with and natural disasters, groceries her feet tucked up to her according to Carl Becker, or convenience chest, Leah Hipple, 13, looks a retired Wright State stores, the settlers like a lump of white wool on University history professor. depended on rain to Journal Entries: the bed. “It’s cold in our cabin, so cold I can see my Neither hygiene nor disease nourish their crops Leah: were widely understood in and provide them The temperature inside in breath. My mom, sister and I got dressed while Theresa the cabin never rises above 43 1803. Tuberculosis, typhoid with adequate water. instructed us when what clothes went on. We saw my dad fever, Cholera and smallpox Crops were generally degrees during the Hipples’ and brother. I laughed at what they were wearing. We put wiped out whole harvested in the fall seven-day stay. The winter of our supper, beef soup, on the fire. It felt like three settlements, he said. for use throughout the 2002-03 produced more than hours later when we ate.” year. Use the weather 45 inches of snow — the Nationally, at the end of map in your fourth snowiest winter Aaron: “I am freezing right now and I am wearing all the 18th century, the newspaper to recorded in this part of Ohio wool (except for shoes). I am trying to get the fire up average life expectancy was determine which day — and the Hipples’ adventure more so it will be more than 30 degrees. It has been a 34.5 years for men, 36.5 or days this week fell in the middle of it. years for women, according would be best for long day and I’m tired so I am going to bed. Tomorrow, In the morning, Mark’s to the U.S. Bureau of harvesting your crops. I will be an apprentice for Mike. I don’t have a clue what the first out of bed, Historical Statistics for the Are there any days I am making. I’M COLD. PEACE OUT.” attending to the task of United States, 1789 to 1945. you would definitely What a difference one full want to avoid? building up the fire for the Sarah: “My hand is so cold I’m writing with a glove on morning meal. Carol follows, that is way too big for me and my handwriting is sloppy.” day on the frontier has made knowing the kids are going to to the Hipples.

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16 19 1) The Hipples talk after dinner on the Friday night before going back in time to live like the pioneers of Ohio. At right, Esther Cramer, Mark Hipple’s 79-year-old aunt, who was born in a log house. 2) The Hipple family learned that there is a big difference in weathering the season in a 200-year-old, 116-square-foot log cabin as opposed to its warm, 2,600-square-foot home in Sidney. 3) Carol brushes the straw from Aaron’s overcoat after he and Mark stuffed the ticks, or mattresses, with straw. 20 4, 5, & 6) The Hipple kids find a few moments to enjoy a little winter fun. 7) One last slice for Sarah before her week-long pioneer experience. 8 & 9) The gentlemen prepare the fowl for Carol to cook. 17 10) Theresa Muterspaw helps Leah get into her pioneer clothing for a week-long stay at Pioneer Village. 11) The Hipple women learned that running a household has drastically changed throughout the past 200 years. PHOTOS BY SHILOH CRAWFORD III, TY GREENLEES, AND JUDITH WOLERT-MALDONADO/COX OHIO PUBLISHING 12) Carol works hard to prepare another pioneer-style dinner. 13) Aaron struggles to pull on Newspaper Activities wool socks as part of his pioneer clothing. • Using the photographs above, compare the Hipples’ clothing before and after they visited Pioneer Village. What are the biggest differences? 14) Mark finishes sawing off a Look at photographs in today’s newspaper to see if there are any newly-chopped tree. similarities between clothing choices today and in 1803. 15) Mark hangs wood siding on the 200-year-old cabin. • Pick your favorite photograph from the ones on this spread and answer the following questions about the photo you choose: 16) Theresa leads the Hipple 1) What do you think happened just before the photo was taken? ladies from the Bull Skin Inn after 2) What is happening in the photo now? they dressed in pioneer clothing. 3) What do you think happened right after the photo was taken? 17) Carol preheats the mugs with boiling water before breakfast. • Taking a trip back to 1803 required the Hipples to give up many “wants” and concentrate only on their “needs.” Look through the 18) Mark (front) and Keith 18 newspaper for ads that feature needs and other advertisements that Hankey, of Pioneer Village, use a level to accurately hang new feature wants. Did you find more needs or wants advertised? Why do siding on the Hipples home. you think that was the case? Look at the photographs above and identify needs and wants featured in the photographs. 19) Leah, 13, stays bundled in her bed after a very cold first night in • Pick the photograph that you find most unusual from the ones above. the family’s cabin. Using rich adjectives and precise language, write a one-paragraph 20) Aaron leans over on the wood description of the photograph. Exchange your description with a vise bench after working for partner and see if he/she can add anything to your explanation. several hours. 8 | NEWSPAPERS IN EDUCATION | PIONEER LIFE | COX OHIO PUBLISHING

NEWSPAPER Responsibilities of adulthood came early ACTIVITIES By Amelia Robinson and Joanne Huist Smith Benjamin Logan’s Responsibilities Cox Ohio Publishing Company of young men “Huzzah,” the men yell, pointing weapons at an Kentucky County imaginary enemy ahead. Militia, a group of and women 28 Revolutionary in 1803 Mark and Aaron Hipple keep in step with their comrades during the re-creation of a 19th-century manual of arms War re-enactors, • Young men and exercise, fumbling only slightly when inserting ramrods portray Ohio women had a into their weapons. frontier much Together, the militiamen add the priming charge of militiamen, who different would have spent life in gunpowder to their weapons’ pans, then drop main gunpowder charges down the iron barrels from the muzzle, most of their time SHILOH CRAWFORD III/COX OHIO PUBLISHING 1803 in crop fields, not Aaron learns how to use a Charleville rifle before a than followed by the lead balls. They pull triggers releasing the battlefields. hunting trip at Pioneer Village. they do in 2003. Use spring-loaded mechanisms that cause flints to strike steel your newspaper to frizzens. Frizzens are metal bars on the guns. Warfare between Native Americans and whites dropped locate examples of Sparks drop off sharply after the Treaty of Greenville in 1795, says activities that onto the priming Andrew Cayton, a Miami University professor. Still, students your age powder in the occasional problems stirred anxiety in some parts of the enjoy. How many of flash-pans, state until about 1815, he says. Settlers were frightened of these activities were sending flames American Indians, says Cayton, author of Ohio: The History available to students through the of A People. Bears, deer and wild turkey roamed in 1803? Can you touch-holes to free under the wide umbrella of trees that was Ohio. adapt any modern- Occasionally, when pantries were bare, settlers hunted day activities so reach the main charges. With the game, says Mike Thompson, who lives at Pioneer Village. pioneer children could The Hipple men enjoy them? first blast from the muskets and rifles, call off their mock • Find examples in hunting the newspaper of whoops come from 11-year-old expedition. typical teenage Chopping and responsibilities today. Sarah Hipple and sawing wood in What responsibilities 7-year-old in 1803 would be Madeline the arctic air similar? Muterspaw. leaves Mark’s hands aching and • Early settlers Aaron, 14, has his fingertips relied on eagerly awaited their standing chest-to- bandaged. They children to chest with the were supposed to take part militia all week. SHILOH CRAWFORD III/COX OHIO PUBLISHING capture and skin in the daily When the Aaron Hipple helps his father clear an area by chopping old brown rabbits TY GREENLEES/COX OHIO PUBLISHING down a small tree. operations opportunity for a hearty stew. Aaron works in the unheated wood workshop with woodwright Glen Thompson. of the comes to fire again, Aaron is disillusioned. By the time a household. “It didn’t go,” he grumbles when his rifle doesn’t fire a male settler was Aaron’s age, he was finished with school. Find articles second round on Militia Sgt. Ron Poppe’s order. If he was lucky, he became an apprentice for a blacksmith, in your a woodwright or other frontier professional. Thompson, newspaper Don Dunkelberger, the militia’s commander, isn’t impressed with what he sees from the group donned in the a furniture maker, takes Aaron as his apprentice. that Seated on the old shaving horse, trying to shape a hunk demonstrate the way functional wear of 19th-century farmers. of wood into an herb dryer with a draw knife, Aaron says we still rely on each “I know it’s been a rough winter,” says Dunkelberger of other today (example: Somerville. “But you need to practice at home.” the idea of attending a 21st century high school sounds We rely on police In 1803, Aaron would be two years away from mustering great. His back aches and his hands cramp. officers to protect us and not six months away “Pioneers can live like from crime.). from a driver’s license. Law this, but I don’t want to,” Aaron says. Still, he stays on • Make a list of words required every male in a in this supplement community between the ages Journal Entries: task in the unheated that are unfamiliar to of 16 and 60 to join a muster Carol: “Aaron and Mark helped Keith side one of the woodwright shop. you. Using context or face a fine. Members houses in the morning. In the afternoon, Mark went back Thompson can craft the clues, see if you can gathered for practice every to help out Aaron was tired and cold and slept.” drying rack in 15 minutes, determine their few months. but it takes Aaron all day. meaning. Leah: “We started school today. We made pens. We also “It’s a lot to get used to,” Pioneer Village volunteers started sewing.” and six members of Capt. says Thompson. COX OHIO PUBLISHING | PIONEER LIFE | NEWSPAPERS IN EDUCATION | 9 to pioneer youth

The woodwright’s shop is a far cry from Mark’s basement Pioneer Village comes to life wood shop of electric saws, presses and pricey dust collection system where Mark crafts wooden dishes, By Amelia Robinson transforming a farm field into the furniture and the occasional science project. Cox Ohio Publishing In another part of the village, the focus turns to Ohio frontier. insulating the Mills House. It is the easiest of all the Pioneer MASSIE TWP.,Warren County – The end result is Pioneer Village cabins to heat, but cracks and gaping holes spot its Folks protested and filed lawsuits, Village, a living history museum timeworn walls and allow in the cold air. but there seemed no stopping it dedicated to the promotion of a The Hipple men and Keith Hankey, a Pioneer Village — water was coming through the deeper understanding of the volunteer, find plenty of places to spread a dirty taupe- Caesar Creek valley and people history of the Southwestern Ohio colored mix of clay and sand in a process known as and homes had to get out of frontier during its settlement “chinking” and “daubing.” the way. from 1793-1812. “It was rough back then,” Mark says. “Everything’s so By May 1973, bulldozers, axes The village has 19 log time-consuming. Our main battle is trying to keep up.” buildings, including a The Hipple and progress obliterated New Burlington. Three hundred blacksmith shop, tavern, school men nail natural and Friends Meeting House. The wood panels to villagers, a grocery store, three meeting house, built in 1849 on the front side of churches, a garage, a Masonic the Githens hall and a cemetery on New Burlington Road, was the House, a modest top of a hill would be in cabin containing the path of the U.S. Corps CAESAR CREEK 73 N a spinning wheel, of Engineers’ Caesar PIONEER VILLAGE Caesar Creek Lake a loom and gold- Creek Lake Project, CLARKSVILLE RD. colored flax, a Area shown started in 1971. Harkrader OREGONIA plant used to Barn RD. But not all of the Blacksmith WARREN make linen. Wood Shop 71 homes set for demolition Collet Furnas COUNTY siding covered House House would be lost to flooding General Hawkins logs in the 1800s, SHILOH CRAWFORD III/COX OHIO PUBLISHING Store Hatfield House House Hankey says, Sarah helps her mother, Carol, spin wool. and clearing. School Githens When siding, drywall House House because siding increased insulation and preserved the logs. VILLAGE GREEN Mills House Keith balances the wood as Mark positions it using a and plaster were pulled Friends TRADE FAIR from the Levi Lukens Meeting Elam Lacy Springhouse homemade preacher’s stick, a piece of wood fashioned to House House Heighway overlap the siding. House in 1972, antique Toll Lukens Lukens Cabin House House Barn “A good son always helps his father,” says Mark, now logs were discovered. Bullskin using a reproduction of a 19th-century level, a wood In 1972, Lukens' Parking Inn triangle with a lead weight dangling from a string. descendents and a small COX OHIO PUBLISHING “I am not a good son,” Aaron jokes. but devoted group of Unlike Aaron, Leah and Sarah are too young for work history lovers formed Caesar only building professionally outside the home, so they attend school, pioneer style. The Creek Pioneer Village Inc. The moved to the village. curriculum aims to turn them into graceful young ladies Lukens house would remain near Keith Hankey, a village and good homemakers. Hen Peck, also called Willman, volunteer, said other buildings The girls practice writing with quill pens, using ink made were deconstructed and from strawberries. Then it’s time for a game of “Graces.” where it was built in 1807. Soon other sturdy, handcrafted reassembled like ‘Lincoln Logs,’ Leah and Sarah wrap colorful ribbon around the inside of a coming from several counties, large embroidery hoop to make it fancy. Each girl gets two structures built by Quakers in the including Warren, Clinton, dowel rods, which they use to toss the hoop back and forth. early 1800s would join it around “The game was supposed to make you more graceful,” a common village green. A Highland and Scioto. teacher Cathy Sewell says. handful were from the areas now Today, the village survives by Leah, at 13, looks forward to high school. But, women on underneath the the will of committed volunteers. the frontier married young — as early as 14, with their man-made lake. During fairs, artisans, period re- parents’ consent. A woman could expect to live until her Volunteers — about enactors and musicians mix with late 30s, and the number of pregnancies she could expect 30 to begin with — sacrificed crowds of all ages. Even when there ran into double digits, according to Booth. weekends and endured calloused are no events, the village attracts “You’d have your first baby at about 17 and keep having hands while restoring the curious jogger, sightseer and them until your body gave out,” Cayton says. “It was not a deteriorating cabins and amateur photographer. happy event. They worked right up to their birth and picked up right after.” 10 | NEWSPAPERS IN EDUCATION | PIONEER LIFE | COX OHIO PUBLISHING

NEWSPAPER Sidney family gets ACTIVITIES taste of 19th century cooking Food, Nutrition By Joanne Huist Smith and Amelia Robinson and Cooking Cox Ohio Publishing • Look at Carol’s Cupboard and see The Hipples are hungry — and they miss modern-day food. what was inside for The family craves a supper other than boiled pork and the family’s week at potatoes. Green beans and a bag of wheat flour sit largely Pioneer Village. How unused on the shelf. many of those items “We like the beans that come in a can,” Carol Hipple are in your cupboard says. “We’re a white flour family.” at home? Which items But the bleached, white flour we use today would not be are not regularly processed until the end of the 19th century, and the found in your kitchen? Hipples are mired in 1803. Converting their modern-day If you were to create palates (and cooking skills) to a 19th century diet takes a lot a list of staple items of adjustment. “(Settlers) didn’t have the variety of foods we that could or should do,” Ohio historian Stewart Hobbs says. “They ate the same be found in your cupboard, what 10 foods over and over again.” items would you list? The garden was their grocery store. “(Early settlers) had CAROL’S CUPBOARD FOR THE WEEK SHILOH CRAWFORD III/COX OHIO PUBLISHING fresh fruit and Carol Hipple learns the challenges of cooking over an open fire. vegetables Two 3-lb. pork roasts salt 3 gallons apple juice in-season Pioneer Life in Dayton and Vicinity: 1796-1840. Carol’s Two 31/2-lb. beef roasts pepper lard only,” Hobbs experience with Dutch-oven cooking becomes a lifeline to 2 live rabbits nutmeg butter says. “That you the present. can walk into a “Her roast is so good,” Leah says. “It’s just like 2 live chickens cinnamon coffee and a cloth filter store and when she cooks it at home.” one 2-lb. bag of perch honey 2 gallons of milk purchase But Pioneer Village volunteers limit the family to one 7 eggs 5 lbs. of carrots dried pinto beans broccoli when roast per day to make the experience more authentic. That’s it’s not in a lesson hard learned during the family’s first full day. ground sausage 3 lbs. of green beans onions season would “We had sausage and fried potatoes for breakfast,” 5 lbs. of wheat flour 10-lb. bag of potatoes raspberry preserves have seemed Mark says. “That wasn’t a big hit, but Mom did her best.” 15 lbs. of cornmeal 1 artichoke block cheese amazing to By lunchtime, the aroma of pot roast makes their mouths water. So much so that the meat, meant to last through two maple syrup 3 lbs. yams summer sausage people back then.” meals, is gone in one. Leah gets the last bit of beef, but 2 large bags of apples The image of when she fetches a cup of water, Aaron snatches the bite. frontiersmen While her family leaves the table satisfied, Carol knows • Use your science or on the hunt for wild game is largely romanticized. Ohio supper will be cooked vegetables and broth. health book to settlers preferred the meat of domesticated animals — The rest of the week, Carol works to make sure the family categorize the items cows and pigs — to that of wild game. Chickens were more has meat or eggs at every meal. At noontime Friday, they in Carol’s Cupboard valued for their eggs than meat and would not have been gather around a single pewter plate divying up four thin by their food group. eaten until their egg-laying days were over, Hobbs says. slices of fried sausage, stewed apples and several slices of In which food group Salt, common in most modern households, was a luxury hard, yellow cheese. did the family have in 1803. Carol works throughout the meals, flowing from table to the most items? In hearth, making sure everyone gets a share of food and which group were Cookfires were made with slow-burning buckeye logs, stirring the evening meal they most deficient? plentiful in Ohio at that time. Kitchen utensils were already simmering on the • Look in your simple and few in number — hearth. With the cabin just a newspaper for articles bit warmer than the 28 about health, nutrition a long-handled shovel, tongs Journal Entries: degrees outside, she or exercise. Create a and an iron pot with a lid Carol: “I had put a large pot roast in intending to have collage or fill a called a Dutch oven. The pot, it for lunch and supper, but it wasn’t ready for lunch.” continually pokes at the fire. bulletin board with loaded with meat and While the kids squabble ideas for improving vegetables, bread or a pie, Sarah: “I had a wonderful dinner, pork, and steamed over sausage crumbs, Carol your own health or rested on a hot bed of coals potatoes. Yum!” tantalizes them with a fitness routine. with more coals piled atop promise of fried chicken Carol: “Breakfast this morning was leftover beef, beans, for supper. the lid and along the sides, salami and cheese.” according to John F. Edgar in COX OHIO PUBLISHING | PIONEER LIFE | NEWSPAPERS IN EDUCATION | 11

An appreciation for NEWSPAPER cold realities of pioneer life ACTIVITIES Family emerges from visit to 1803 Ohio with respect for state’s settlers Ohio Cities • Even though Ohio was By Amelia Robinson weather, we would have spread out,” officially a state in and Joanne Huist Smith Mark says. “I’d do it all again on the 1803, many cities Cox Ohio Publishing assumption that I could come out a were settled before then. We can’t week ahead of time and get ready. The Despite frigid temperatures, almost celebrate Ohio’s endless toil, wet firewood, a scare from worst thing for me was the five-foot Bicentennial without field mice and several cooking accidents, doorways. I’ve got some marks I’m taking a peek at some the Hipple family has survived its week- going to take home with me.” of Ohio’s famous long journey back to 1803. Carol, who convinced the rest of the cities. Do you know “Even with the obstacles, they had it family to become pioneers for a week, that Ohio has over 200 good compared to half of the world’s found it harder than she anticipated. cities in 88 counties? population today,” says Pioneer Village “I knew it would take a long time to Here are a few of the larger cities in our caretaker Mike Thompson. cook, but I didn’t know it would take this long,” Carol says. “A real pioneer state. Which city was By 1803 standards, an abundance of settled first? Which fresh vegetables and meats filled the woman would have had a hard time keeping up with everything.” one is the largest? family’s pantry, including pork, beef, How does your city Aaron, by Saturday, was just ready rabbits, chickens, yams, potatoes, compare with some of to go home. apples and even artichokes. SHILOH CRAWFORD III/COX OHIO PUBLISHING the others in Ohio? Most food available on Ohio’s The Hipple family reflects on their experience before “We did better our last two days — frontier in 1803 was preserved by salt leaving Pioneer Village and heading home. they were the warmest. Heating the City or drying in winter months, Pioneer Village volunteer cabin was hard. You had to carry wood. County,Year Settled Population* Theresa Muterspaw says. It wasn’t just like turning on an air conditioner.” Leah and Sarah liked wearing their period clothes and Carol used almost none of the vegetables provided by Akron village volunteers other than potatoes. Honey and milk making crafts in the pioneer school. Summit, 1807 provided to the family froze, making it even harder for Carol “We learned the work was harder and to be thankful for 217,074 to come up with menu ideas. what we have,” Leah says. Canton But even with those “I think (pioneers) would go Stark, 1796 transgressions, the Hipples’ back to their own time 80,806 success should not be period if they spent a week Cincinnati Journal Entries: in ours, except maybe they’d Hamilton, 1787 minimized, says village 331,295 volunteer Keith Hankey. They Leah: “My feet are freezing. My moms says we will take a heater.” As the meal dishes are Cleveland faced temperatures that didn’t go to McDonald’s on the way home. There’s so much Cuyahoga, 1769 rise above freezing until their on my mind.” washed in buckets of 478,403 final day in the cabin. Even steaming hot water, the Columbus Sarah: “It is my last day here and party is in about Hipple family had a final Franklin, 1797 with a fire burning in the 30 minutes. The bobsled is here and it’s time to go to hearth, they could see their surprise. 711,470 breath when they spoke. the Quaker meeting. It’s different because they don’t sing Two Percheron draft Dayton and you just sit there and meditate on what people say. horses, named Ted and Montgomery, 1796 Drinking water froze in their 166,179 cups. And, the outhouse was After the meeting, we went to McDonald’s. I think everyone Barney, transported the Hamilton nearly a football field away enjoyed that meal the most this week. We are on the way family to an authentic 1803 Friends’ meeting in a green Butler, 1791 from the cabin. (to a hotel) to live the life of luxury for one night. 60,690 wagon with sleigh runners. “A family with less We are going to take showers and then go to the pool.” Middletown After the service, the experience would not have “Last day here. About 6:30 a bobsled with two Butler, 1791 survived,” Hankey says. Carol: Hipples can’t wait to travel 51,605 The Hipples have mixed large horses arrived to take us to the Quaker meeting back to the 21st century. Springfield feelings about the house on the other side of the commons. The Quaker Hitting the drive-thru at Clark, 1790 65,358 experience. meeting house was very plain. Men sat on the far right, the Waynesville McDonald’s Toledo Mark, who really tried to women to the far left and children either in the center was a priority for the kids who had visions of French Lucas, 1794 remain in character all or with the women. After the meeting, we were the first 313,619 week, says he would do it one back in the bobsled for the trip back to the Inn to fries, milk shakes and hamburgers. Youngstown again if given the chance. change clothes. It felt weird walking without all that Mahoning, 1797 “Five people in a weight. At McDonald’s I got several ‘thank yous’ from “All of the memories have 82,026 been set,” Mark says. 116-square-foot room is a my kids — most unusual.” *2000 Census different reality. In warmer 12 | NEWSPAPERS IN EDUCATION | PIONEER LIFE | COX OHIO PUBLISHING

Find out more about primitive life in Ohio Southwest Ohio has a rich history, as demonstrated by the growing number of area facilities created to preserve it. As Ohio’s Bicentennial year draws to a close,make plans to visit all of these locations to find out more about the people who have inhabited this area before us, some since prehistoric times.To continue your tour of area historical hot spots, visit www.ohiohistory.org and discover more intriguing places to visit.

Caesar’s Creek Pioneer Village Fort Ancient State Memorial Miamisburg Mound 3999 Pioneer Village Road 6123 St.Rt. 350 City of Miamisburg Parks Department Waynesville, OH 45068 Oregonia, OH 45054 101 North First Street (513) 897-1120 (513) 932-4421 or Miamisburg, OH 45342 www.ceasarscreekvillage.org toll-free (800) 283-8904 (937) 866-4532 Pioneer Village is a living history museum. A www.ohiohistory.org/places/ftancient/ www.ohiohistory.org/places/miamisbg/ collection of original log cabins has been Fort Ancient features 18,000 feet of The largest conical burial mound in Ohio – restored with the hope that Ohio’s heritage will earthen walls built 2,000 years ago by and possibly in the eastern United States – is be preserved for future generations. School American Indians. The site includes the located in Miamisburg. The mound was programs, volunteer-staffed restoration remains of the prehistoric mounds for constructed by the prehistoric Adena weekends and many festivals are held there visitors to see. The museum at Fort Ancient Indians on a 100 foot bluff and measured throughout the year. The village is located near contains 9,000 square feet of interactive more than 850 feet around. The original State Route 73 in Warren County. exhibits focusing on 15,000 years of structure was more than 70 feet tall. Today, American Indian history in the Ohio Valley. visitors ascend 116 steps to reach the mound’s summit. The park includes 37 acres Carillon Historical Park Fort Ancient is open daily 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. from May 1 – Oct. 1. From March 1 – April 30 with picnic tables and a playground. 1000 Carillon Blvd. and Oct. 4 – Nov. 23, the hours are Wednesday Miamisburg Mound is located one mile Dayton, Ohio 45409 – Sunday, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Admission is $6 for south of exit 44 — State Route 725 — and (937) 293-2841 adults and $2 for students. Children under age three miles west of exit 42 off Interstate 75, www.carillonpark.org 5 are admitted free. in Montgomery County. The park is open Carillon Historical Park is a 65-acre outdoor year-round during daylight hours, and admission is free. museum dedicated to the preservation of Heritage Center of Clark County Miami Valley history. The park is home to 23 117 South Fountain Ave. exhibit buildings and structures, and is the SunWatch Indian site of the 57-bell Deeds Carillon, Ohio’s Springfield, OH 45502 largest. The park’s collection includes the 1905 (937) 324-0657 Village/Archaeological Park Wright Flyer III, the world’s first practical www.heritagecenter.us 2301 West River Road airplane, and now a National Historic The Heritage Center of Clark County is Dayton, OH 45418-2815 Landmark. Carillon Historical Park is south of located in Fountain Square in the heart of (937) 268-8199 the University of Dayton. downtown Springfield. The building, listed www.sunwatch.org The park is open from April 1 – Oct. 31, on the National Register of Historic Sites, SunWatch Indian Village is located just Tuesday – Saturday from 9:30 a.m. – 5 p.m. was constructed in 1890 and was previously south of downtown Dayton. The village, and Sunday from noon – 5 p.m. On Monday used as City Hall and as a farmers’ market. a National Historic Landmark, is a holidays, the park is only open from noon – 5 The facility now houses artifacts featuring reconstruction of a settlement built by p.m. Adult admission is $5; children ages seven generations of area history. Fort Ancient Indians more than 800 years 3 – 17 are $3; seniors are $4; and members The museum is open Tuesday – Saturday ago. The Village also includes a museum with and children under age 3 are admitted free from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m., excluding major multiple Indian artifacts. of charge. holidays, and is free of charge. SunWatch is open year round Tuesday through Saturday 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. and Sunday noon – 5 p.m. (Gift shop and Village close at RECOMMENDED READING 4:30 p.m. but the museum and video remain available an additional 30 minutes.) Admission FICTION BOOKS NONFICTION/ PICTURE BOOKS is $5 for adults, $3 for seniors, $3 for students Beaded Moccasins: The Story of INFORMATIONAL BOOKS Warm as Wool by Scott Sanders ages 6 – 17 years, and ages 5 and under are free. Mary Campbell by Linda Durrant A Historical Album of Ohio Shoe Tree of Chagrin Danger Along on the Ohio by Charles Willis by Patrick Lewis by Patricia Willis Ohio History by Marsha Schonberg Brought to you by — List courtesy of Dayton Metro Library Newspapers In Education