Autumn at Hale Farm & Village

One of Northeast Ohio's historical treasures
is Hale Farm & Village in Bath, Ohio. A
living history museum set in the 19th
Century, there are several areas of the
property used a little differently. Nestled
in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park (right,
click to enlarge), the setting can really
transport you back into time.

On a crisp autumn day a few years ago I
had a meeting at Hale Farm and after it
was over tried out a new camera on the
property. The fall foliage served as
a great backdrop.


The first part of Hale Farm that you
generally visit when leaving the Visitor
Center is the Mill and Carriage House.
The Mill (left, click to enlarge) is
operational and at times can be
heard steaming away for quite
a ways. It is certainly loud, but a
wonderful feel for how it was "back
then" in time.






A path from the Carriage House and Mill lead to a restored log cabin that was transported from Goodyear property by their blimp hangar in Suffield, Ohio (about 30 minutes east of the village).

Admittedly, the picture shown here (right, click to enlarge) was tweaked a bit using Photoshop to enhance the reds, but the picture of the leaves blanketing the ground as you see the cabin from the woods (below, click to enlarge) is as it was captured by the camera (hard to say "on film" anymore!).



The village part is a recreated village
from the mid 1800s, with many of the
structures being relocated from
Northeast Ohio and originally in
the same time-frame.

Prior to reaching the village is the
Jonathan Hale house, built on this
spot in the early 1800s. The property
stayed in the family for a long
period of time before being turned
into a living history village.

The village, fictionally called Wheatfield, used to be centered in 1848 with the inhabitants of the structures playing first-person roles. About 10 years ago or so on a family visit I tried to stump the occupant of a house looking to rent a room to a boarder whether he preferred a German, an Irishman or a free Black. His answer was right on the money for the time. Unknowingly I had tried to stump the person who went on to be the director of the village from the early 2000's through 2008.

The Meeting House (right, click to enlarge) is the center of this New England-style village. It serves many purposes and I especially like some of the evening programs (such as the Fugitive's Path program portraying the Underground Railroad) where the acting and the atmosphere lend an air of reality to the history.

Other parts of Hale Farm show authentic 19th Century farming and crafts/artisans using traditional methods.

- J

Ohio and the Civil War

Ohio has a unique place in the Civil War. Only Pennsylvania and New York sent more men to fight, but Ohio provided the military firepower to win the war. Grant, Sheridan and Sherman were Ohio-born. Lincoln's brain trust, part of the original "team of rivals," included Ohioans Salmon Chase and Edwin Stanton. Today Ohio is still significant when it comes to the Civil War.

Ohio has many Civil War re-enactment units and re-enactment opportunities. As an educator I have brought to my middle school the 19th Ohio Light Artillery, based out of Clinton, Ohio. The picture to the right is of the 19th Ohio, with a sepia effect added (notice cars in the parking lot and the parking lot light).

The cannon itself is an 1860's antique, but the limber a reproduction. The unit will actually haul the cannon to Michigan and participate in live shoots on a firing range! ( to enlarge)

A nice 50% powder charge is used to demonstrate the effect of the noise and it appropriately rattles our building, sets off a few car alarms and gets the middle school kids buzzing with energy (see right, click to enlarge). We have even used Styrofoam soldier cutouts (about 8-feet tall in size) as props on the field and the shock waves obliterate the Styrofoam.


There are re-enactment events scattered all about the state, from Findlay's Heritage Days to the Ohio Regimental Ball at the McKinley Grand Hotel in Canton, Zoar's Battle of the Ohio-Erie Canal and Hale Farm and Village's "Drums of August" Civil War Day. It was at one of these Civil War Day's at Hale Farm that I took a bunch of pictures shown here. To the left is a rebel reenactment group marching from the field of battle by the saw mill at Hale Farm. (click to enlarge)

Hale Farm is the perfect spot where a little photo-editing filtering of sepia tones can give the impression that the photo is authentic to the time. I have done some Photoshop fun to blend the sepia filtering with full color of the reenacting. Below is the same Confederate unit assembling in formation. (click to enlarge)


To better access this period in history, Hale Farm & Village has changed their living history year in the historically fictional town of Wheatfield from 1848 to 1862. Each year they will move the calendar forward until 1865 and then reset to 1861 and repeat the cycle. The historical buildings, most relocated here from northeast Ohio, give an authentic flair to Civil War reenactment. The two photos below are again Photoshop fun with sepia and modern tones. One is of a Union regiment on the march to battle, the other of "colored troops" (the moniker of the time) in camp. (click left or right below to enlarge)















One of the units at the Civil War Day was the Camp Chase Fife and Drums. Based in central Ohio, this unit performs throughout the country. (click pictures below to enlarge)












I had some some more Photoshop fun with a water color special effect on the soldiers marching off to the reenactment battle below. (click below to enlarge)

And yes... I get into the act too. My school purchased a reenactment uniform and I have used it to do small scale living history to my students. My uniform was based partially off of my great-great uncle, Joseph Hinson, who as a teenager enlisted in the 1st Ohio Infantry, saw action at Bull Run, then re-enlisted in the 33rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry (see right, click to enlarge). He rose to rank of Captain but regimental records show he finished the war (minus one arm) as the commanding officer of the regiment. Today there is a 33rd OVI reenactment group based out of West Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio.

- J.