the Pioneer Home
THIS HOME OF AN OHIO PIONEER IS DEDICATED TO THE EARLY SETTLERS OF THE MIAMI VALLEY. THROUGH COURAGE, TOIL AND PERSEVERANCE, THEY OVERCAME HARDSHIP AND DANGER, AND BROUGHT CIVILIZATION TO THE WILDERNESS.
The Pioneer Home, which serves as an Information Center for Carillon Park, is believed to have been built about 1815.
It was originally located in Washington Township about five miles southwest of Centerville on Social Row Road, about halfway between Sheehan Road and Yankee Street. In the spring of 1953 it was torn down and moved to Carillon Park, where it was rebuilt, using the original stones and timbers.
Abstract records in the Court House show that the 20-acre plot on which this house was originally located was sold by Abner and Patsy Garrard on February 14, 1815, to William Morris and his wife. The purchase price was $140. Later records show that the Morrises sold the property on September 18, 1838, for $753. The difference in the purchase and selling prices was the largest in over 50 years and indicates that the house was built sometime during that 23-year period.
Since 1858 the property has had a number of owners, including an Elizabeth Morris, who bought it in 1856 and lived there for 30 years. Whether she was related to the builder of the house is not known. In 1896 the property was purchased by Mr. and Mrs. Hugh E. Brunk, who lived in the house until 1907.
Most houses built in the early 1800’s were made of logs and chinked with plaster made of lime and sand. This house was built of a good quality white limestone, the reason probably being that stone was easier to obtain than logs in this particular location, because a stone quarry was located scarcely a quarter-mile away. The old quarry, near Sheehan Road, long since has been abandoned.
