Tuesday, April 06, 1999
Icon of early Clermont history restored
April 18 event will dedicate it
BY TOM O'NEILL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
WILLIAMSBURG — It measures only 10 by 10 feet, but contains a wealth of local historical significance.
And now, two centuries after it was built, the stone dairy house at the original Lytle homestead in Williamsburg will be unveiled following a restoration project.
It is the only structure remaining from the home of Maj. Gen. William Lytle, who settled in what is now Williamsburg in 1801.
The dedication ceremony, at 2 p.m. April 18, will coincide with the 1999 Grassy Run Rendezvous at the Harmony Hill Grounds that weekend.
“Here in Williamsburg, since we're the first town in Clermont, history is very important to us,” said Izella Cadwallader, secretary of the Harmony Hill Association, which was involved in the restoration.
The dairy house has a unique place in the heart of Ms. Cadwallader, who has been a local history buff for more than 30 years. Her great-great grandfather, Ephriam McAdams, was among the settlers of Clermont. In 1776, she said, he bought his first lot from Maj. Gen. Lytle.
The structure probably was built in 1801 or the preceding year, local historians say. It was constructed of stones from the banks of the nearby East Fork. It is one of the oldest structures in Clermont County.
It was used like a refrigerator, storing perishables.
The first American patent for an ice machine was issued in 1851 to Dr. John Gorrie, and by the time refrigerating compressors were in use in the 1890s, the dairy house became obsolete.
And so it sat. And sat.
“It was empty for decades, the roof fell in, the stones fell,” Ms. Cadwallader recalled Monday.
Local organizations, includ ing the Clermont County Historical Society and the Grassy Run Historical organization, finally began a fund-raising campaign to buy the 1.19-acre lot on which the dairy house sits.
The land cost $115,000, and the dairy house restoration cost another $10,000. Much of the labor was done by volunteers.
The dairy house property also contains an apartment building that will be a historical museum for Williamsburg and Clermont County.
Part of the building will be open to the public with displays by the Clermont County Historical Society when the county observes “Historic Museum Day” Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m.
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