Friday, May 07, 1999
Restorations show rural life
BY WALT SCHAEFER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
EVENDALE — On the hillside above the bustle of Reading Road, a 100-acre working farm is bringing visitors in to catch a glimpse of American agricultural history.
The Cincinnati Nature Center's Gorman Heritage Farm, east of Reading Road, now features newly restored farm buildings and structures from 1835 into the 1900s — all standing where they were built.
The restorations were completed with funding from the center's just completed capital campaign — “A Natural Investment” — which generated $8.5 million for operations, renovations and improvements.
The center operates three facilities — Heritage Farm, Rowe Woods and Long Branch Farm — in Clermont County.
“Gorman Heritage Farm has historical objectives ... but, we also want to operate it as a working farm and at the same time open it to visitors,” said Bill Hopple, executive director of the Cincinnati Nature Center.
Keep up with times
“This is not a period farm, in that all of the buildings are from the same (historic) period. “Rather, we have decided to talk about the changes in farming over time,” he said.
The buildings span 160 years. A silo was built in the 1950s.
The renovated buildings include a bank barn — a barn built into a hillside. The original barn dates to 1835 with an addition made from wood salvaged from a Lockland covered bridge in about 1900.
Own spring water
The farm also has a sheep and alfalfa barn circa 1911.
There is an 1835 spring house, which until about a decade ago supplied the only drinking water to the farm for about 160 years.
A chicken coop from 1835, with bars made from old wagon wheels across openings to dissuade chicken thieves, and an old rabbit hutch have been restored.
Brother and sister Jim and Dorothy Gorman, who still live in the homestead on 1 acre, donated the remaining 99 acres of the tract.
They are direct descendants of the first settlers, who began the farm in the 1830s.
Owners' legacy
The Gormans turned down a multimillion-dollar offer from a developer and, with help from the center and the village of Evendale, were able to keep their wish “of preserving the farm as a working farm and using it for educational purposes,” Mr. Hopple said.
“People today might say: "My grandfather lived on a farm,'” said Jim Gorman, 84. “And, that's about as close as they have ever come to a real farm.
“Well, here is a farm people can come and see.”
Mr. Hopple said the farm can teach not only agriculture but also environmental education, natural history and glacial geology.
The Mill Creek Valley was formed about 20,000 years ago and the farms sits on three tiers, each formed by the glacier.
The farm's popularity has increased, from 106 visitors in March 1998 to 485 visitors this March, Mr. Hopple said.
Handicap access
Among them were Annette Newson's kindergarten class of special needs children from the Bobbie Fairfax School in Madisonville, operated by the Hamilton County Board of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities. About six in the class use wheelchairs.
“It was a wonderful experience,” Ms. Newson said. “The farm is wheelchair accessible and for those (children), they brought the animals out so they could see, hear, touch and smell them.”
Urban oasis
Mr. Hopple said an advantage is that the farm is centrally located in a metropolitan county — easily accessible to a large population.
“This is the only place where I can walk and talk with you about corn and how it grows ... about it growing in soil brought here 20,000 years ago by a glacier ... while out of one corner of your eye you can see an 1835 barn and out of the other a modern General Electric jet engine facility,” Mr. Hopple said.
“What better way to see the change of land use over time?”
head CAMPAIGN FACTS
• Goal: $5.7 million.
• Total committed: $8.5 million.
• Uses: Operations, improvements and special projects at all Cincinnati Nature Center facilities — Rowe Woods in Union Township, Clermont County; Long Branch Farm in Goshen Township; Gorman Heritage Farm in Evendale.
• Key contributions: $295,000, Kresge Foundation; $500,000, Kay Benedict, a founding trustee of the center; $100,000, Marcia Brady Tucker Foundation; $100,000, Greater Cincinnati Foundation; $100,000, Scripps Howard Foundation; and $100,000, nature center members. Total contributions: 2,400 from corporations, foundations and individuals.
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