Our wildlife conservancy at the 1816 Historic Shupe Homestead along Beaver Creek here in Amherst, Ohio is home to many kinds of wildlife.  This Spring we have noted two important bird sightings/events.  A Red-tailed Hawk family has made its nest in a large Pin Oak tree in our woods, and an American Bald Eagle was observed resting on a large White Oak branch over the Beaver Creek.  These are two significant sightings, among many others that we have documented here at the property.  The Eastern Bluebirds are again nesting on the property, along with a Mourning Dove who has once again chosen a porch light fixture as her nest site.

An enhanced photo of a Bald Eagle looking over Beaver Creek.

Red-tailed Hawk nest in the Preserve woods.

American Robin nest about waist-high in a pine tree located in a field habitat at the wildlife conservancy.

A new archaeological site has been located and documented by the New Indian Ridge Museum.  Currently agricultural land, this property is slated for development in the near future.  We have gained permission from the landowners to conduct an archaeological survey of this property and work to preserve any evidence of prehistoric inhabitance.

Agricultural land owned by the Hollstein family, contiguous to the Historic Shupe Homestead in Amherst, along Cooper Foster Park Road, has been identified as a prehistoric site.  The topography of the immediate area is characterized as gently rolling with a few steep valleys, especially closer to tributaries feeding Beaver Creek. Beaver Creek is located nearby and would have been an important source of water and nourishment for prehistoric peoples.  High cliffs along the Creek would have also aided in protection and fortification as well.

Through surface hunting operations and archaeological surveys, museum staff has been able to locate several artifacts indicating prehistoric inhabitance.  These include: 100+ flint flakes from the production process; a nutting stone/hammerstone multi-purpose tool; 2 fragments of Archaic Pentagonal projectile points; fire cracked rock; a multi-purpose stone tool; a green banded slate celt, and part of a stone mortar.

Archaic Pentagonal Point.

The farm field has not been plowed for several years, and a no-till crop planting technique has been employed most recently.  At an estate sale in April 2011 at the Hollstein farmstead, seven celts and an un-fluted Paleo projectile point were offered for sale. This old farm collection was probably assembled by either Mr. George Hollstein or his father, many years ago.  The artifacts were found on the family’s farmland during farming operations.  The New Indian Ridge Museum was fortunate enough to be able to purchase and secure these artifacts and keep them preserved in the area, not far from where they were made thousands of years ago.

The artifacts found by both the Hollstein family and the New Indian Ridge Museum indicate the site was inhabited by people of the Paleo and Archaic cultures.  By finding these different artifacts indicating a range of prehistoric cultures, it is very possible this area was used as an important “pass through” spot by the prehistoric people over the years, heading to other areas.  The presence of so many flint flakes makes us postulate that this area was an important campsite spot where tools were manufactured.

Portion of worked flint piece in situ at the site.

An assortment of flint flakes from the site.

On March 27, a celt (ungrooved axe stone tool) of local green banded slate material – seen below – was found in the field, further underscoring the importance of documenting this prehistoric site before it is developed.

The slate celt is seen here "in situ" at the site.

Side view of the bit end of the celt.

A portion of an Archaic Pentagonal point shown here "in situ" at the Hollstein Field Site in Amherst, found by Col. Nahorn April 3, 2012. This piece further confirms it was used by the Archaic prehistoric peoples.

Another view of the celt.

We are once again at that time of year when it is necessary to go into the woods and wildlife preserve at the Historic Shupe Homestead in order to continue our work to clear out non-native invasive plant species.  One of the plants we have been working to eradicate from the property along the Beaver Creek in Amherst, Ohio, is the Garlic Mustard plant.  It can quickly take over a large patch of ground in the woods and crowd out native wildflowers, consuming sunlight and nutrients.

Pictured here are a few May Apples, a native plant that usually comes out of the ground closer to the month of May; however, with this unseasonably warm weather, we have been seeing them sprout from the ground much earlier – the end of March.

May Apple plants, a native wildflower located in a bottomland floodplain forest at the Historic Shupe Homestead Wildlife Preserve.

On Saturday, March 24, 2012, Col. Matthew W. Nahorn participated in the annual Vermilion River Watershed Open House at the Vermilion-on-the-Lake Clubhouse along Lake Erie in Vermilion, OH.  He represented the Beaver Creek Watershed Protection Group as Watershed Coordinator.  A display highlighting and explaining the Beaver Creek Watershed was accompanied by a display of early prehistoric tools from the region.  These tools, from the collection of the New Indian Ridge Museum, were presented to demonstrate tools that were used by early prehistoric inhabitants of Northern Ohio.  The open house was well-attended, and many interesting conversations took place.

Col. Nahorn at his display at the annual Vermilion River Watershed Open House where he represented the Beaver Creek Watershed. Photo courtesy Jean Rounds, NIRM official photographer.

An addition to an existing barn on the Shupe Homestead property will be constructed.  Groundbreaking took place March 15, 2012 as shown in the photo below.  The barn will serve to hold tractors and other machinery required in maintaing the property, conserving its natural resources, and storage space for historic materials that are planned for use in the restoration of the Historic Shupe House, among other items.  We are pleased and excited to begin this new project.

Col. Nahorn at the groundbreaking ceremony for a barn addition to be constructed at the Historic Shupe Homestead.

At this time it is necessary for the New Indian Ridge Museum’s office to release an updated and revised statement regarding the approximate date of construction of the Shupe House – the first frame house in Amherst, Ohio – and its history relative to other early houses and settlers’ arrivals.

Jacob Shupe came to Black River Township (now Russia Township before it was detached from Amherst/Black River in 1825) in 1810 where he constructed a small, crude log cabin.   A year later he moved to a point on Beaver Creek about a mile and a half north of the present-day City of Amherst on what would become Cooper Foster Park Road.  In 1811 he permanently settled here, probably constructing a second log cabin at this site.  In 1813 he built the first mill in Lorain County, powered by the flowing water of Beaver Creek.  His sawmill and gristmill were most probably located in the same building being powered off of the same water wheel.  In 1815 he constructed his distillery.

Not long after his mills were finished, construction of his frame house began, probably in 1813.  It was first taxed in 1826.  Houses in Lorain County were first recorded and taxed in this year.  The 1827 records state that he had a house of wood being taxed at $250.  We strongly believe that the Shupe frame house, which was the first to have been built in Amherst, and is one of the oldest of its kind still standing in Lorain County, was finished before 1818.  It is of the Greek Revival style.

Written histories state that Mr. Shupe did in fact build the first frame house in Amherst, and another early settler who arrived soon after Shupe, Frederick Onstine, built the second frame house.  The Chiliab Smith (arrived about 1815) house is also in the running for the second frame house; we are unable to make a positive verification of which early settler in fact did build the second.  It has been said that Frederick Onstine, who returned to America after moving to Canada, brought his house building supplies from the East.   He came between 1815 and 1818.  If this anecdote is true, he would have his building supplies readily accessible and did not need to construct a log cabin, as many early settlers did.  Chiliab Smith probably did build a log house before the frame structure.

Please direct any inquiries regarding this updated history to the New Indian Ridge Museum’s offices.

The Jacob Shupe Homestead along the Beaver Creek in Amherst.  Construction was started in 1813 and finished before 1818.

During a recent Museum tour (November 2011), a local resident of the area who lives along Beaver Creek, just south of the mouth at Lake Erie, mentioned to us that Beavers have returned to Beaver Creek.  She mentioned that there was evidence of this on her property, clearly showing that the Beavers had been working on trees.

I was extremely excited and wanted to learn more.  This information subsequently led to an excursion of the area and the photos below. These photos, made at the “Beaver site” along Beaver Creek, which we are now calling it, clearly show evidence of their existence once again in the Beaver Creek Watershed.  Beavers have not been noted as being inhabitants of the area for many, many years, so this is quite a find.  The trees that they are working on look to be mostly Cottonwood.  We plan to continue to monitor this development and will travel this portion of Beaver Creek with a kayak at some point in the near future to learn more about the beavers in this area.

The New Indian Ridge Museum is celebrating 11 years of preservation and education this month.  We are also celebrating the important acquisition of some remains of a Woolly Mammoth skeleton.  The lower jawbone (with 2 teeth), a vertebrae, a bone from the foot, and lower leg bone were found by J. Alex Justice in the late 1800s in an iron bog off of Green Road here in southern Lorain County.  Mr. Justice was a local outdoorsman who lived in a cabin at the corner of Route 18 and Quarry Road just South of Wellington, OH. (in Brighton, OH.).  He would often walk to Florida, in search of artifacts and items he could add to his home “museum.”  He passed away in the 1920s. Most of his artifacts ended up in the Southern Lorain County Museum (in Wellington, OH.), but Col. Vietzen, as a friend of Mr. Justice, acquired some of the material before Justice’s death.  The Mammoth remains were among some of that material.  These bones rested in the Paleo case at Col. Vietzen’s museum for many years.

After Col. Vietzen’s Indian Ridge Museum was sold, Col. Ron Sauer acquired the Mammoth remains.  In November 2011, the Rounds family purchased these important local artifacts for preservation at the New Indian Ridge Museum.  We are excited to preserve these unique pieces.

Just think, this Mammoth roamed Lorain County thousands of years ago!

The Mammoth Bones in a case at the New Indian Ridge Museum.  The tag in the photo with the words “Mammoth Lower Jaw Lorain Co., O.” is in Col. Vietzen’s hand and accompanied the jawbone in Col. Vietzen’s case. 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 18, 2011

RE: Curator of the Amherst Historical Society Position

Please be advised:

Col. Matthew W. Nahorn, Director and Founder of his New Indian Ridge Museum in Amherst, has been named Curator of the Amherst Historical Society effective immediately.

“The Amherst Historical Society, a nonprofit 50lc(3) organization, was founded in April of 1973 and currently boasts about 350 members. The Society became accredited in 1990 by the Ohio Association of Historical Societies and Museums (OAHSM). Only about 15% of Ohio museums and historical societies have achieved such accreditation.”  It is located at the intersection of N. Lake Street and Milan Avenue in Amherst.

Col. Nahorn, 22, is excited to accept the responsibilities of this new position, in an effort to continue his life-long passion of preserving our local history and educating residents on our rich past.  He stated, “The Amherst Historical Society is a prestigious local institution, and I am pleased to have been chosen to curate its important collection of artifacts, historical documents, and buildings here in Amherst.  As a lifelong Amherst resident, I look forward to continuing to study our past while preparing for our future.”

Col. Nahorn will immediately delve into a research project this January, working with historical documents and related information, in an effort to compile a history of “early Amherst” which will document the years around the time of the City’s founding.  It will be a fitting project, as this is Amherst’s Bicentennial year.

For more information, please visit or contact:

http://www.amhersthistoricalsociety.org/

http://www.newindianridgemuseum.org

Submitted by the Office of the Director of the New Indian Ridge Museum

Mr. Jack Scaife, a contributor to the New Indian Ridge Museum and friend of Museum Director, Col. Matthew W. Nahorn, has donated an important historic wood specimen to the Museum.  On November 4, 2011, during a tour of the Beaver Creek on our Museum Preserve Grounds, Mr. Scaife made the donation.  Mr. Scaife is an avid researcher and collector of history and prehistory – both of geologic and archaeologic significance.

The specimen he donated is a large chunk of a White Oak (Quercus alba) tree that was found a good eight feet deep into the ground while excavating a house foundation in Tiffin, Seneca County, Ohio, just west of the Sandusky River, in 1970.  In 1999, the log section was found to be 400 years old through an analysis performed by the University of Toledo.  The tree had fallen into a boggy, clay area 400 years ago and was preserved in this largely anoxic area, away from decomposers that would have broken down the wood.  The specimen is in excellent shape, and even after four centuries of being sealed in the boggy area eight feet below the surface, it still has a nice white oak “wood” smell.

This is a great piece of Northern Ohio’s history, and we are very pleased Mr. Scaife chose the New Indian Ridge Museum to preserve this unique specimen for years to come.  We look forward to studying the piece and gaining knowledge from the specimen’s rings and other interesting preserved features.