Heritage Village Museum's Columbia Settlement 1788 Explores Early Cincinnati History

You can take a step back in time to the early days of Cincinnati history at the Heritage Village Museum this weekend.

The museum, located in Sharon Woods in Sharonville, will host the Columbia Settlement 1788 event on Saturday, Aug. 24 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Attendees can learn more about the first Anglo-American settlers to arrive in the Cincinnati area through historical interpreters, who will be doing a variety of demonstrations like hearth cooking, blacksmithing, foraging, butter churning, fabric dying, quilting, log hewing, spinning and sewing.

Interpreters and vignettes will also bring pioneer stories to life, with key historical figures like John Cleves Symmes and Sgt. William Brown being represented. Linda Wedding, a descendent of Benjamin Stites, who founded Columbia, Cincinnati’s first settlement, in 1788, will also be at the event to share her family’s history and more information about Pioneer Cemetery , the oldest cemetery in Hamilton County.

Attendees will also get the chance to try quill and ink writing, play historical games, learn about genealogy, do gravestone rubbings and make crafts, like corn husk dolls and pinwheels. There will also be a petting zoo filled with the types of animals that would have been brought to the early settlement.

Admission is $12 for adults, $8 for children ages 4-11 and free for Heritage Village Museum members and children ages 3 and under. You may also need a Great Parks motor vehicle pass to enter the park.

The Columbia Settlement 1788 event was founded by Joe Wenning and first organized through his participation with the Starfire Council, a nonprofit that helps people with disabilities.

Heritage Village Museum and Educational Center (located in Sharon Woods behind the Sharon Centre), 11500 Lebanon Road, Sharonville. More info: heritagevillagecincinnati.org .