When you reach the stoplight at Kemp Road, turn right.  Just to the east on Kemp, across from Jacavanda Drive was the residence and gunshop of Sam E. Tobias, Inventor.  Considered a genius by many, Sam was a chief consultant to Winchester, Remington, Colt, and Ithica fire arms companies as well as a personal acquaintance of Henry Ford.  Sam was integral to the development of ballistics and was revered as one of the greatest gunsmiths around.

"Tobe", as Sam was known, reportedly worked on guns for Wild Bill Hickock and Annie Oakley as well as fashioning a gun for Henry Ford from the axle of a Model T!  Death claimed Tobias on November 11, 1927 after he developed an infection following the removal of some teeth.

The Beavercreek Chronicles (pages 157-160) offers great insight into one of the area’s most humble heroes who often shared ideas with others that made THEM rich, for Sam truly believed that money was the root of all evil.  Should you ever stumble upon a firearm stamped S.E. Tobias or a book entitled, Sam Tobias the Gunsmith by Gail Tobias Dorsey – buy them!

• Sam Tobias Sam Tobias
• SE Tobias Guns SE Tobias Guns
• Sam and Bessie Tobias Sam and Bessie Tobias
• Sam Tobias Pistol Sam Tobias Pistol
• Sam E. Tobias Sam E. Tobias
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On your left at 2017 Hanes Road is a home that Greene County dates to 1864, the year prior to Lee’s surrender to Grant at Appomattox Court House.

The owners home was sold to a developer in 2015.

• BHS Placard BHS Placard
• Former Kitchen Former Kitchen
• Former Kitchen Former Kitchen
• Dining Room Dining Room
• Parlor Parlor
• Owner's Suite Owner's Suite
• Summer Kitchen Summer Kitchen
• Upper Landing Upper Landing
• Bedroom Bedroom
• Privy Privy
• Corn Crib Corn Crib
• Headstone Headstone
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Continue straight on McKay Road when Lantz Road makes a 90° left curve.  In the neighborhood to your left was the 217-acre farm of Jonathan "Squire" (1802-1884) and Mary Smeltzer-Hanes, second son of Judge & Mary Haines. He was an active distiller, and followed his log cabin with a 13 room, two-story home with bricks fired from clay dug from nearby Bullskin Run creek.  The home burned during restoration in the early 1970's.

Turn right onto Maple Lane.  At the curve in the road you’ll find the 29-acre Karohl Park, formerly the Philip Harshman II farm.  This park is unique in that locals can rent 20’x20’ gardening plots to grow their own fruits and vegetables.

Bear right onto Maple Lane and you’ll see a small, young-growth sampling of why this entire area up to I-675 was known as ‘The Big Woods’.  Turn left on King James and then right onto Hanes Road.

• Jonathan "Squire" Hanes Home 1 Jonathan "Squire" Hanes Home 1
• Jonathan "Squire" Hanes Home 2 Jonathan "Squire" Hanes Home 2
• Jonathan "Squire" Hanes Home 3 Jonathan "Squire" Hanes Home 3
• Jonathan "Squire" Hanes Home 4 Jonathan "Squire" Hanes Home 4
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Thanks to everyone at Growing Up In Beavercreek Ohio for the assist in identifying the photos!

At the stop sign, turn left onto Beaver Valley Road and then immediately turn right onto Lantz Road.  Several parcels up on the south side of the road is a blue residence at 2469 Lantz Road.  This was another schoolhouse, Lantz School #5.  This school was unique in that it was frame construction and not the traditional red brick.  The upper level housed the secondary school and the main level, the primary.  There was a small, steam-operated sawmill nearby as well.  

The 8+ acre Virgallito Park is ahead on your left.

• Lantz School #5 Today Lantz School #5 Today
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At the base of the hill, you’ll cross the low bridge over the Big Beaver Creek, followed by the Siebenthaler Fen and parking lot.  This is a central access to the Beaver Creek Wetland Wildlife Area and the Koogler Wetland / Prairie Reserve, 725 acres within the Township managed by the Beaver Creek Wetlands Association.  It’s a beautiful place for a walk, you’ll surely catch a glimpse of some local birds and wildlife!

Where the road flattens out was the once infamous and unofficial Fairgrounds Road Quarter Mile, popular since the advent of the American muscle car.  You may even find remnants of ‘ancient’ start and finish lines, allegedly.

The farms between Beaver Valley Road and Trebein Road belonged to Henry Ankeney and John McCracken as well as those by the Steele, Stine, Dice and Shank families and later including the Coslers.

The beautiful 1854 Henry Ankeney farm at 1828 Fairgrounds Road remains in the family and is still actively farmed today.

Indulge us with a quick step to, and just over the edge of the township line.  We've shared many stories describing the settlement and development of our township, at the far eastern edge and just into Xenia Township are a couple tales of national interest.  The full version of the story is availble for download below...

If you're driving the Beavercreek Heritage Trail an want to skip this 'aside', turn left on Fairgrounds Road and skip ahead a page.

Upon crossing Fairgrounds Road, you're near location of the Hearthstone House, an 1820 log cabin constructed by Robert Roe. Also nearby is the Purdom Mound, one of five to seven small Hopewell Indian mounds. It is the only one officially excavated and documented with the first occurrence by Elmer Purdom of Antioch College in 1931. In 1973, Doug Bailey used the site for an archaeology course for Wright State. Artifacts found included a male mandible, a duck effigy vessel, sheets of mica, and skeletons of the interred. The Virginia Kettering Foundation provided funding for carbon dating and confirmed the dates from 50 BC to 50 AD. Most of the surviving artifacts are at the Dayton Museum of Natural History. This is located on private property, please do not enter.

As you continue east on Hilltop Road, we’ll briefly enter Xenia Township. In 1779, a skirmish on the river turned into a mission to drive the Shawnee from the Miami Valley. General George Rogers Clark, elder brother of William Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, ordered Col. Logan and Col. Bowman to destroy the Shawnee capital at Old Chillicothe (Oldtown), a mile south of here, just north of Xenia. Loss of surprise followed my miscommunication led to a hasty retreat by the Colonels and numerous losses.

The Shawnee, aided by their British allies and Colonel Henry Bird, formed an army at Old Chillicothe and retaliated against several forts in Kentucky. Colonel Bird proved unable to contain his Shawnee allies and their savage attacks precipitated further response from General Clark.

Returning from Kentucky, General Clark personally led over 1,000 soldiers, among them Daniel Boone and Simon Kenton, crossed the Ohio River near Cincinnati and burned five Shawnee villages, including Old Chillicothe, along the Little Miami River.

John Bradford wrote of Old Chillicothe in his famous work, Notes On Kentucky:

"About 2 o'clock oil the afternoon of the 6th of August, they arrived at the village. They found the town not only abandoned, but most of the houses burned down, and burning, having been set on fire that morning.”

Carefully turn north on State Route 235 and then make an immediate left on Ludlow Road.

The hilltop which now holds an abandoned orchard and conference center is almost exactly where the Shawnee watched their town, that they themselves had set ablaze, burn as General Clark’s army approached.

“The army encamped on the ground that night, and on the following day cut down several hundred (probably two hundred) acres of corn (and every tree which bore any kind of fruit was destroyed), and about 4 o'clock in the evening took up their line of march for the Piqua towns, which were about twelve, miles from Chillicothe”.

The Shawnee gradually withdrew due north during the first few days before finally engaging American forces seven miles west of Springfield, Ohio on August 8, 1780, this was the only major engagement fought in Ohio during the American Revolutionary War. The Battle of Piqua (also known as the Battle of Pekowee or Pekowi) took place along Route 4 southwest of Springfield at the current location of the George Rogers Clark Memorial and Tecumseh State Park.

There are many great stories about this area during the revolutionary times involving Daniel Boone, Simon Kenton and Simon Girty as well as Shawnee Chiefs Blue Jacket, Tecumseh and Blackfish.

For further detail, please download the attachments below.

Make a left on Trebein Road, followed by a right onto Fairgrounds Road and we're back on the trail!

• Battle Of Piqua Memorial Battle Of Piqua Memorial
• Simon Girty Simon Girty
• Tecumseh Tecumseh
• Daniel Boone Daniel Boone
• Simon Kenton Simon Kenton
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Very carefully turn left onto Fairgrounds Road.  Once through the sweeping left curve, much of the land on the left is actually Beavercreek Township park land known as Fairgrounds Park.  The creek at the bottom of the hill is known as Ludlow Run and will tend to rise above its banks after the heaviest rainfalls.

The northeastern quarter of the township was primarily larger tracts of land without close proximity to the towns previously described.  Prominent land owners in the area in the 1870’s were the Harner, Holland, LaFong and Koogler families.

Ludlow School #8 was located nearby on the north side of the road adjacent to Ludlow Run creek midway between Linebaugh and Trebein Roads.

Continue up the hill and through the stoplight at Trebein Road.  Many of the nearby homes and barns are in excess of 100 years old and are not only well preserved, but very much still in use today!

Proceed straight through the intersection onto Hilltop Road.  F.C. Trebein’s home, previously occupied by the Frost family, had been an inn and the stage coaches used to stop there.  It was formerly addressed as 1438 Dayton-Xenia Road and is now located on Hilltop Road.  In the 1950’s his home was converted to a restaurant and bar known as the Trebein Manor.

Babe's Trebein Tavern at the northwest corner of the train tracks was a popular destination before a fire caused its closure.  

Here you can see where the old one-lane bridge from Trebein was removed.  From Trebein you cross large tracts of land owned by the Andrews, Fogle, and Burrows families throughout the years and currently by the Nutter family.  The Burrow’s home still stand at 1351 Hilltop Road and pre-dates 1874 and possibly 1855!

• Trebein Manor Fire Trebein Manor Fire
• Trebein Tavern Fire #1 Trebein Tavern Fire #1
• Trebein Tavern Fire #2 Trebein Tavern Fire #2
• Trebein Tavern Fire #3 Trebein Tavern Fire #3
• Trebein Tavern Fire #4 Trebein Tavern Fire #4
• Trebein Tavern Fire Article Trebein Tavern Fire Article
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On the south side of the road at 1643 Dayton-Xenia Road is the Morningstar-Hanes House.  A beautiful Greek Revival brick, the original structure was constructed on 191 acres in 1830 by George Morningstar, a builder of many of the log cabins in Beavercreek in the early 1800’s.  In 1849, new owner Adam Hanes, a prominent farmer, added the east brick section.  Current owner, Robert Messmore added an identical brick section on the west end of the home and the center porch.

• 1962 Aerial Image 1962 Aerial Image
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