MOUNT VERNON — Following its traditional winter break, the Knox County Historical Society Museum will reopen with the first of a series of free public programs on Wednesday, March 5, at 7:30 p.m.
Longtime society member, trustee, and officer Gloria Parsisson will give an illustrated presentation titled “The Early Roads of Knox County.”
Soon after Ohio became the 17th State in 1803, pioneers and their families began to travel westward from the original colonies to settle the new lands.
Not only farmers, but skilled tradesmen, merchants, mill operators, schoolteachers, doctors, lawyers, bankers, and even Johnny Appleseed had settled in Knox County well before 1820 to become part of the growing communities that mostly still exist today.
They came on waterways, on horseback, or in horse-drawn wagons. Some walked, as did Johnny Appleseed, from Massachusetts to Mount Vernon, which he called his home base for more than 20 years until he moved farther west in 1828.
These new residents soon needed supplies and the services of the fledgling U.S. Postal Service to keep in touch with friends and family back east.
So, the existing Native American trails or even primitive animal trails began to be improved to establish what would become the early roads of Knox County.
Parsisson’s presentation will focus on the roads of Hilliar, Milford, and Liberty townships, as well as those three northwestern townships, Chester, Bloomfield, and Franklin, that were “stolen from Old Knox” in 1848 to become part of the brand new Morrow County.
The program is free and open to the public. All persons interested in area history are invited to attend.
For more information, call 740-393-5247 or 740-397-3503.
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