The Great Squirrel Plague(s)

In Ohio, hundreds of thousands of squirrels swarmed over farmland and destroyed crops the early settlers relied on to feed themselves. Read more…

The Castle by the Lake

Once upon a time there stood a castle on the shores of Lake Erie. Really! The castle, known as Ruetenik Castle, stood on the northeast corner of Townline Road in what was then North Madison township

The Back-To-The-Land Movement

The Back-To-The-Land Movement Grape cultivation in Lake and Ashtabula Counties goes back to the early 1800’s, chiefly Concord grapes introduced by settlers from New York. Lake, Ashtabula, and Geauga Counties have a rich history of farming, and there was a special group of farmers primarily dedicated to viticulture and fruit orchards in the early nineteen-hundreds […]

Ohio’s Civil War ‘Squirrel Hunters’

Madison resident and MHS member Wayne Reed recently loaned us some unique, amazing pieces of his great-great grandfather’s history.