Events Calendar
In This Section
Does it work? Test team returns to try out new products advertised on television
Tragedy to hope: Family creates foundation for bereavement therapy
Here are some tips for those grieving for a loved one during holidays
'The Lacuna' is well worth 10-year wait
Feast your eyes on essays from Times food writer
'Twilight' legends alter community
Most Read Stories
Police accuse bank robbery suspect of gobbling up note (with dashcam video)
Dad accused of forcing son into field, killing him
Man found dead in North Akron home is identified
Victim of beating in Kent last week is declared dead at Akron hospital
Coventry man killed in crash at I-77 ramp
Browns' roster nearly devoid of consistent players
College student mistaken for deer, shot to death
NFL star Chris Spielman's wife loses cancer battle
Blogs:
Pets:
Cat-loving chihuahua suckles seven abandoned kittens
The Heldenfiles:
Friday Night Notebook
Patrick McManamon:
For your Saturday entertainment …
Akron Zips:
Hitchens leads Zips in second-half comeback
Tribe Matters:
Seven players added to Tribe’s 40-man roster
Cleveland Browns:
Robiskie, Harrison inactive
Kent State Sports:
Kent State blown out in second half, loses to Temple 47-13
Cleveland Cavaliers:
Gameblog: Cavs vs. Philadelphia 76ers
Buckeye Blogging:
OSU – Michigan college football rivals meet in Baghdad
Varsity Letters:
Four area football teams play tonight
All Da King's Men:
The Sunday Sanity Challenge
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Will Health Care Reform Pass?
Akron Law Café:
Health Care Financing Reform: (69) The Brookings Institute Study on "Bending the Curve" – Four General Strategies
See Jane Style:
Vintage Chic
Car Chase:
TIME TO GET YOUR COLLECTOR CARS WINTERIZED
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Silverdome Potentially SOLD!
Ohio Travels with Betty:
George is looking for a Thanksgiving buffet in Akron.
Sound Check:
Steely Dan Plays "The Royal Scam" at E.J. Thomas Hall
HRLite House:
Colloquium at University of Akron
Akron Gamer:
Nintendo's Mario endures even as games come and go
Shaw family built house in 1853 on farm. Updates disguise its age
By Mary Beth Breckenridge
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Saturday, May 10, 2008
Lori and Dan Nelson aren't just owners of an old house. They're stewards of its history.
The Nelsons own the Lorenzo Shaw property in Bath Township, complete with a house and barn built by a member of one of Bath's early families. The home is one of five that will be featured on the Bath Volunteers for Service Annual Home Tour on May 22.
The house was built around 1853 by Shaw, who was born in Bath in 1832. His parents, Samuel and Charlotte Shaw, had settled in the northwest part of the township in the early 1830s, according to information from the volunteer group.
Lorenzo Shaw's 25-acre farm was near other family farms along what is now Shaw Road. It was a small farm ''and rather poor,'' Dan Nelson said, yet it supported Lorenzo, his wife, Eleanor, and their eight children, one of whom died in infancy and one in childhood.
Lorenzo Shaw died in 1889, and his wife stayed in the house until 1904.
The property — now just about three acres — has since had several owners, including the Sandin family, for whom nearby Sandin Drive is named. The Sandins lived on the farm about 40 years and called it Sagoland, Swedish for ''happy land.''
Canvas for gardening
The Nelsons, both retirees, bought the property 20 years ago as a canvas for their gardening hobby. But they've also come to embrace its heritage — not surprising, considering Dan Nelson's background as a history professor at the University of Akron. Lori Nelson was a kindergarten teacher for 20 years at Hillcrest School in Richfield Township.
The original house has been repeatedly expanded and modernized at the hands of its various owners. In fact, it had changed so much from its original form by the time the Nelsons bought it that they hired an architectural historian, Rebecca Rogers of Youngstown, to determine its style, Greek Revival.
A front porch was added in the 1870s and a Williamsburg-style living room in the 1930s. A renovation project in the 1970s involved adding a kitchen and turning two or three rooms in the rear part of the house into one large space. The Nelsons brightened the room by adding a skylight and use it as a dining area and family room.
Their contribution to the series of expansions was adding a first-floor bedroom in the 1990s, designed to fit the style of the rest of the house.
The house maintains the charm of an older country home, although the updates disguise its true age. It's filled with homey touches, such as white wainscot and blue-and-white wallpaper in the living room and Lori Nelson's stenciling on the walls. Rows of colored glassware catch the sunlight in a bay window, including three bottles found
by a neighbor on land that was once part of the farm.
A number of antiques decorate the house, including a clock from the 1830s that sits atop a pie safe in the kitchen and a dry sink with a damaged back edge that Lori Nelson cheerfully attributes to having been chewed by ''some horse or something.'' There are also family pieces — among them a hutch and desk that belonged to Lori Nelson's parents and beds that belonged to Dan Nelson's sister — as well as artwork from the couple's travels.
Making their mark
In an upstairs guest room, the Nelsons have hung old photos of the house, many of them from previous owner Donald Walkley. They also display a framed photocopy of a 1949 article from the Beacon Journal's Rotomagazine featuring the home when it was owned by the Sandins.
The Nelsons have made their mark on the grounds, as well. They've added gardens and planted an estimated 250 trees, and they've turned what had been pasture into a small apple and pear orchard bordering the long driveway.
A path Dan Nelson constructed from pavers salvaged from a patio connects the house to the barn, which maintains its old horse stalls but is now used mainly for storage.
The barn also houses Lori Nelson's monarch butterfly rescue operation. She gathers butterfly eggs from milkweed growing on the property, raises the larvae in canning jars, watches as they form chrysalides and then releases the newly emerged butterflies into the wild. The process helps protect the threatened butterflies from predators and the forces of nature, she explained.
It's much like the way the Nelsons and the owners before them have watched over the metamorphosis of the old farm over the years.
Home tour in Bath
The Bath Volunteers for Service Annual Home Tour is from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 22, starting at Bath United Church of Christ, 3980 W. Bath Road.
Paid reservations are due Friday. General admission is $30.
To reserve a ticket, write a check to Bath Volunteers for Service and mail it to P.O. Box 673, Bath, OH 44210.
The price includes a luncheon and style show. In addition, artisans will display works for sale at the church.
The tour is not wheelchair-accessible and is not recommended for children younger than 12. Flat, comfortable shoes are recommended.
Proceeds benefit programs in Bath Township, Akron and other nearby communities.
For information, call 330-665-4338 or send e-mail to information@BVSHometour.com
Mary Beth Breckenridge is the Beacon Journal home writer. She can be reached at 330-996-3756 or mbrecken@thebeaconjournal.com.
Lori and Dan Nelson aren't just owners of an old house. They're stewards of its history.
Get the full article here.
Comments
Click here to post your comments
