It was a snapshot in time of a brief meeting that took place two centuries ago, but members of one local historical society made it as real as they could — complete with a raccoon pelt — during a 15-minute skit to kick off the year-long Auburn/Bainbridge bicentennial celebration.
It was a snapshot in time of a brief meeting that took place two centuries ago, but members of one local historical society made it as real as they could — complete with a raccoon pelt — during a 15-minute skit to kick off the year-long Auburn/Bainbridge bicentennial celebration.
“There were a couple of glitches, but I don’t think the audience noticed them,” said Charles Hesse, former Bainbridge Township Trustee, who now heads the Bainbridge Historical Society.
Hesse wrote and produced the re-enactment, which was held April 23 at Kenston High School as part of the school’s second annual Fine Arts Showcase.
“We wanted to pay honor to our founding, as well as to folks in our historical society,” Hesse said Monday.
Ten Bainbridge and Auburn residents practiced for several weeks to re-create the Geauga County Commissioners meeting of March 3, 1817, at a time when the State of Ohio was 14 years old, Geauga county was about a decade old and the area was a forest of massive trees, with no roads.
Many of the earliest pioneers walked for weeks from their homes in Massachusetts and Connecticut, across the mountains of Pennsylvania, to claim land and forge a new life in the wilderness of Ohio’s Western Reserve.
At the March 3, 1817, meeting, Commissioners Jedediah Beard, Jesse Dodd and Solomon Kingsbury listened to residents of one section — including pioneers David McConoughey, Gamaliel Kent, George Smith and his wife, and Bildad Bradley and his wife from an adjoining area — describe the hardships they faced in trying to settle the new land.
Hesse said he wrote the script based on the minutes from that meeting. Costumes were borrowed from the Chagrin Valley Little Theater or were rented from a costume shop, to add authenticity to the production.
One of the two areas was called by several names, including Kentstown, Troy and Austintown. McConoughey (portrayed by Mark Kautzman) told commissioners he had walked for 53 days to reach his 100 acres, which he had settled in 1811.
Kent, a farmer, (portrayed by Jacob Spencer) told commissioners (played by Auburn Township Trustee P.J. Cavanagh and Bainbridge residents Bill Takacs and Glenn Wozniak) about the hardships of his failed mercantile business and his back-breaking attempts to clear his land for farming.
Auburn pioneer Bradley (portrayed by local actor Matthew Blowers), dressed in buckskins, told how he had built his original cabin in Newbury Township by mistake and had dismantled it and re-built it on the correct parcel of land nearby. He described trapping the abundant wildlife and brandished a raccoon pelt, which he tossed to Smith’s surprised wife (portrayed by Barbara Phan).
The commissioners heard the residents’ requests to form a township and have local government, but decided that, under the laws of the new State of Ohio, a township would be five miles square, so two townships would be formed.
At that time, there were 72 residents of the larger community and about a dozen living to the area to the east.
Thus, the two townships were approved simultaneously. The residents of the first township — each wanting a different name for their new community — put their names into a hat, and commissioners drew the name of George Smith (who was portrayed by Rich Childs). His choice for the new township’s name was Bainbridge, in honor of a popular naval hero of the War of 1812, Commodore William Bainbridge, who commanded the USS Constitution, better known as “Old Ironsides.”
The source of Auburn Township’s name, however, is lost to history, after a courthouse fire in 1868 destroyed many early records, Hesse said.
During the presentation, historical maps, drawings and photos depicting early life in the townships were shown in a PowerPoint presentation above and behind the actors.
“That was wonderful,” said Bainbridge Township Trustee Kristina O’Brien after the skit. “And all due to Chuck (Hesse).”
Hesse later said the next event in the year-long joint bicentennial celebration will be a portrayal of Bainbridge’s first township clerk, Enos Kingsley, done by Childs, during Memorial Day observances May 28 at 11:30 a.m. at Restland Cemetery.
“We want history to come alive for our residents,” Hesse said.
