Continue north through the intersection. On the right are several farmhouses dating to the late 1800’s. Turn left on Tara Trail E. Beyond the third house is a clearing where you can look north and see the gorgeous Colonial at 2800 Tara Trail, built by Jacob Hanes (previously Haines) Jr. He, his wife Mary (Nesbitt) and their three children loaded into a covered wagon and immigrated to this 430-acre tract of land from West Virginia in 1805 that had been purchased by his father, John on a previous trip.
Jacob, later known as Judge Hanes, held some of the most prominent offices in the county, serving as an associate judge for seven years and a longtime Justice of the peace. He was also a veteran of the War of 1812. He and Mary had seven children including Jonathan ‘Squire’ (local distiller and farmer), Jacob (married Adam Coy’s daughter Susan and had seven children, John N. and Henry being Captains in the Union Army). The family also owned large tracts of land along Hanes Road, not-so ironically. Please return to N. Alpha-Bellbrook Road and turn left.
In the 1970's and 80's, the Parks family hosted a wide array of exotic animals on their acreage that's now part of Tara Estates. Amid the smell of Southern Comfort in the air, reports of a camel, buffalo, peacocks, llama, emu, a yak with a crush on a donkey, ostriches, possibly an ill elephant rescued from a circus and a beer guzzling bull are most prominent!