Hardin County Pioneer Village
14344 CR 144
Fairgrounds Road
Kenton, OH  43326

The Hardin County Historical Museums, Inc. is supported entirely by donations and memberships.  Please consider helping them to keep their doors open by becoming a member of the Museums or making a donation.

The Farm is open by appointment May through September to schedule a tour call the Hardin County Historical Museums at 419-673-7147 or by e-mail.

The barn is original to the Burnison Farmstead and contains artifacts document rural heritage, from pre-historic farmers to 20th century "Corn Kings". The Barn was probably built in the 1880’s.  It was a dairy barn and used as a race horse stable during the county fair.  It has a three story hay loft with the hay fork still in  place.

The 'General Store' was in use as the Dunkirk jail in 1861 and later as a general store. It was moved on site in 1985. It had four cells and the grooves in the walls indicate where they were located and the front part of the jail was used as office space. 

This building is currently being turned into a pioneer era wood working shop by the historical society.

Beech Grove School was erected in Cessna Township circa 1869 and rebuilt in 1893 located at SR 309 and TR 105 the school was closed in the Spring of 1937.

The Beech Grove School was formerly called the McCoy School and is thought to have been built in 1869 and condemned in 1893 at which time the 'new' Beech Grove School was built.

The Walnut Grove United Brethren Church was organized in the winter of 1863-64, at the Beech Grove Schoolhouse, by Rev. Andrew Johnson. They continued to hold their services at schoolhouse until the summer of 1874, when they erected their present frame church, at a cost of $1,000. It is one of the few remaining examples of scholastic wood frame architecture in Ohio.

Ada Railroad Building circa 1879. The building could have been used as a crew house, dining hall, or a telegraph office.  Originally it was a two story structure and it is the last one known to be in existence.

This cabin was built and occupied by J.W. and M.B. Staadt in 1877. John Staadt died in 1900; his widow, Elizabeth Margaret (Becker) lived in the house until 1903. Later the house was occupied by there descendants well into the 20th century. It was original located in Washington Township and moved on site in 1989 an is an example of single pen** architecture.

The log house was built in 1877 by John Wilhelm Staadt.  The foundation sills are cherry trees trimmed by axe and used for the flooring to lie upon.  Other hardwood trees were hand hewed and laid to form the outside walls.  The home consisted of two room’s down-stairs, one being a bedroom, the other a family room used for the kitchen, dining room, and living room.  Upstairs is one large open room which served as a bed room for the family’s children and a storage area.

** A single pen house consisted of one log room usually about sixteen feet square, with side gables, a rear shed, and an exterior chimney centered in one gable wall. Aligned front and rear doors facilitated ventilation. Height varied from single-story, usually containing a sleeping loft, to story-and-a-half. Double-pen houses consisted two full-sized log rooms, occurred in several types, the most common being dog-run houses, in which the two pens are separated by an open breezeway.

Other information about the location:

The Hardin County Commissioners were awarded a 2000 Nature Works Grants for the amount of $14,742 to build rest rooms at the Burnison Farmstead.  The total amount of grants given across Ohio that year was $3,420,283.

About the Nature Work Grants:

May 25, 2000

COLUMBUS, OH -- Governor Bob Taft and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) today announced $3,420,283 in state Nature Works grants to Ohio communities for local parks and recreation improvements. The 108 awards represent the sixth annual round of a total of more than $50,000,000 in competitive grants to be funded by the Ohio Parks and Natural Resources Fund bond issue, approved by voters in November 1993. Each grant requires a 25 percent match with local funds.

"Through its continuing investments in hometown parks and recreation facilities, the Nature Works program provides new and improved opportunities for Ohio families to enjoy our state's great outdoors," Taft said.

According to ODNR Director Sam Speck, the department received a total of 198 applications for this round of Nature Works grants. A population-based formula, adopted by the General Assembly in 1994, is used to determine the proportional share of grant funds available in each county. Applications are then ranked competitively by ODNR on a broad range of criteria.

Since 1995 the Nature Works local grants program has awarded more than $50,000,000 to Ohio communities for parks and recreation projects. Additional Nature Works grants totaling $2,690,000 have gone to local projects that increase boating and fishing access to Lake Erie and the Ohio River. Also, county Soil and Water Conservation Districts have shared $7,300,000 in special Nature Works grants for streambank restoration and nonpoint source pollution control projects throughout the state.

The $200,000,000 Nature Works bond issue program, designed to fund major renovations and improvements for Ohio's state and local parks, state forests, nature preserves, wildlife areas and other natural resources facilities, was established in 1994 following voter approval the previous year.

"At the Burnison Farmstead near Kenton Mr. Burnison was out plowing one day.  He looked across the furrow and saw a mantle clock, his wife’s prize possession.  He thought, “O my God, someone has ransacked the house!” He grabbed the clock and ran to the farm house, only to find that his wife had just died." Page 199; Haunted Ohio V

• The recorder that was with the mini box was left running and when she went to check it there was only 15 minutes of audio recorded.
• A digital recorder was placed in the cabin when we first arrived. Upon review it only have 5 separate files with only a few seconds each recorded on it. It works fine when tested later with the same batteries that it had during the investigation.
• The two way radio kept setting off a weather alert but there were no weather alerts out that night. During a 45 minute investigation of the school alone the alert sounded three times. Which just happened to be the same time the above photograph was taken.
• One investigator took a couple hundred photographs. When they went back to review there photographs only three pictures were left on the memory card. Upon checking the camera it works correctly with the same batteries and memory card that it had during the investigation.

The next orb is most likely a piece of dust or some other air born particle. If you look closely you can seen some diffraction rings in the 'orb'.

BSPHI Museum Investigation #092707

Grave Addiction (museum)

Grave Addiction (village)

Hardin County Historical Society

Remarkable Ohio (Hardin County)

U.S. Army Military History Institute

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