The Cahoon family once used this room as the informal kitchen dining area but now it serves as a library, honoring the family’s request that their house be maintained and used as a library and museum.

After traveling as a contractor for 20 years, Joel Cahoon, the third son of settlers Joseph and Lydia Cahoon, returned to Dover with his wife Margaret in 1842. He added this room to the original house where it served as the informal kitchen dining area for the Cahoon family.

Centennial International Exhibition of 1876

Texas Longhorn and calfskin chair, 1876, Cahoon Park Trustees.

When Joel Cahoon traveled to the Centennial International Exhibition of 1876 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he brought back with him an unusual Texas Longhorn and calfskin chair.

This was right at the start of horn furniture’s popularity. The art of making horn furniture was brought over from Europe, where elk and deer antlers made up most of the furniture. But now that the art was in America, craftsmen embraced the availability of the large and plentiful Texas Longhorn horns. Horn furniture gained a foothold in American decor at exhibitions and fairs like Pennsylvania’s Centennial International Exhibition.

Pennsylvania’s Exhibition was the first official World’s Fair to be held in the United States, and celebrated the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. In fact, this patriotic spirit was used to help raise funds for the Statue of Liberty’s base. The finished torch was put on display at the Exhibition where visitors could buy tickets to climb into the torch by way of a ladder. This generated funds through ticket sales as well as excited the public to help further fundraise for the base.

The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Photography
Collection, The New York Public Library. “Collossal hand and torch. Bartholdi’s statue
of “Liberty.”” The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1876.

While Joel may have seen and even climbed into Lady Liberty’s torch, what he likely didn’t know was that librarians from across the country were also gathering at the Exhibition. At this “Librarians’ Conference” they founded the American Library Association. Forty years later, the house Joel brought his unusual chair home to would become a library of its own.

“The Librarians’ Conference.” New-York Tribune, 07 Oct. 1876, p. 1. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers, Library of Congress.

From Sitting Room to Legacy

Ida Maria Cahoon, Joel and Lydia’s youngest daughter, was the last surviving member of the Cahoon family. It was her final wish that the family homestead would be turned into a library and museum. Her will reads:
“I hereby direct that the dwelling house now standing on said land and which was built in 1818, shall be forever maintained and used as a Library and Museum.” [Full PDF supplied by City of Bay Village]

Portrait of Ida Maria Cahoon, Bay Village
Historical Society.

After her death in 1917, the family home sat vacant until Emma Paul Pope and Olive Paul Bailey opened Rose Hill as the “Dover by the Lake Library” on May 24, 1921. The majority of the collection was made up of the Cahoon family’s private library, amounting to around 1,000 volumes. This included works written by Ida Cahoon herself such as “Looking Backward,” and “History of the Cahoon Family.”

The next year, in 1922, Julia Osborn Scott, great-granddaughter of Reuben Osborn, became the librarian of Dover-by-the-Lake. She remained the librarian for the next 24 years. In the early years of her tenure, the library was open five afternoons and three evenings each week. By 1935, the collection had grown to over 7,000 volumes.

Soon, the population, use of the library, and size of the collection prompted Dover-by-the-Lake Library to join the Cuyahoga County Library System in 1949. They underwent a remodeling of the Rose Hill, adding meeting rooms on the second floor to accommodate the needs of the public. However, this was not enough for the size of Bay Village, by that time numbering around 13,000 people. Eleven years later, in 1960, a new Library opened at the corner of Dover and Wolf Roads.

Despite no longer being the site of the main library, Rose Hill maintains the spirit of Ida’s final wish. Rose Hill’s reference library still contains Ida’s own published works, original Cahoon family books, letters, early settler journals, and other documentation bequeathed to the Bay Village Historical Society. Additionally, the Local Historical Research and Genealogy Library is housed next to the library room in what used to be used as a pantry in the 1880s.

The Bay Village Reading Club

The library became one of the many meeting places for the Bay Village Reading Club, a social and literary organization that was founded in 1912.

Ida Cahoon was a prominent member of the Methodist Church, and in 1912 she suggested that the incoming pastor meet with the citizens of the eastern section of Bay Village in order to establish a religious service for the area. The new pastor was reverend W. C. Endly, D.D. of Elyria. Dr. Endly and the superintendent of the Methodist Sunday School, John D. Rumbaugh, set up a Sunday School service in the area just as Ida had hoped.

But that was not all that Dr. Endly and John Rumbaugh established for the people of Bay Village. That same year, Dr. Endly gathered a number of people in the church parlor to create a club “to follow some course of study, the discussion of literary topics and for the cultivation of social features.” The club’s first president was John Rumbaugh who put together a program committee of Clara Thompson, Mrs. Carrie Saddler, and Mrs. Clifton Aldrich.

The initial membership dues were 10 cents and the first club meetings were held at the church. As interest waned, the club decided to transition to meeting at different homes each week. This brought with it a chance for members to prepare and enjoy food during their meetings and provide entertainment such as musical performances. As time went on, the meeting places expanded to the library and the beach.

The Bay Village Reading Club meeting on the beach at the Drake’s in August, 1938.

The Bay Village Reading Club covered almost every subject imaginable, especially in the early years. The topics from the 1927-1928 season reflect the interests of the club members, covering everything from “Atlantis” to “Atheism.” The topics also provide insight into the concerns of the time period, such as: “Should Girls go to College,” and “Should Fruit Trees be Dusted or Sprayed.”

Bay Village Reading Club: Season 1927-28. Bay Village Reading Club, 1927. Bay Village
Reading Club papers, Bay Village Historical Society.

The Bay Village Reading Club lasted into the 1980s, having provided decades of social and intellectual entertainment for its members. By the time the club ended, they had gone on trips to Cedar Point, held yearly banquets, and, of course, debated “Can Jazz Music be Good?”

Link: Next Room: Country Kitchen

References

A Brief History of the Bay Village Branch Library. Cuyahoga County Public Library, 1991.
“A Few Reminiscences.” Speech. Bay Village Reading Club papers, Bay Village Historical Society, Bay Village, OH.
By-Laws of The Bay Village Reading Club. Bay Village Reading Club papers, Bay Village Historical Society, Bay Village, OH.
Flament, Catherine Burke. Retracing Footsteps: Lakeside Cemetery, Bay Village, Cuyahoga County, Ohio. Bay Village Historical Society, 2006.
Margino, Megan. “The Arm That Clutched the Torch: The Statue of Liberty’s Campaign for a Pedestal.” New York Public Library, 7 Apr. 2015.
“Philadelphia’s World Fair: Topics in Chronicling America.” Library of Congress.
Remembrance of Things Past. 1948. Bay Village Reading Club papers, Bay Village Historical Society, Bay Village, OH.
Rogers, Alan W. “The Horn Furniture of Herman Metz.” The Alan Rogers Longhorn Museum, 1991.
Tuttle, Edward Arthur “The History of Bay Presbyterian Church.” 100 Years at Bay Presbyterian Church, 2017, pp. 9.

After Joseph Cahoon’s death, Joel and Margaret Cahoon came to Rose Hill and ushered in the Victorian era.

Joel Cahoon left the family homestead in 1813 to join the Ohio Militia. He would return to assist his father in building Rose Hill before working as a mail carrier on horseback, riding between Cleveland and Maumee until 1822. From there, he and his brother Daniel started a contracting business building public works such as canals, aqueducts, viaducts, and railroads in Ohio, Indiana, and Maryland. During Joel’s time in Maryland, he met a young widow, Margaret Dickson Van Allen and the two wed in 1831.

Portraits of a young Joel Butler Cahoon (left) and a young Margaret Cahoon
(right) from the Cahoon Family Collection, Bay Village Historical Society.

After Joseph Cahoon’s death in 1839, the homestead sat empty and neglected for three years. In October 1841, Daniel, Joel’s brother and business partner of 21 years, passed away in Cincinnati. This prompted Joel to leave the contracting business and return to the family homestead. In 1842, Joel, Margaret, and their children rented a house in Rockport (now Rocky River) and began to fix up the old homestead and mills. Finally it was ready to live in and the old business boomed. Margaret gave the homestead it’s signature name in reference to the copious rose bushes her mother-in-law had planted. With this name, the homestead entered a new era.

Furnishing The Victorian Home

Joel and Margaret Cahoon made Dover their home at the beginning of the Victorian era. This was the period of Queen Victoria’s reign, from 1837 until her death in 1901. It was a time of rapid change and growth in manufacturing, immigration, and technology. The middle class exploded as did the machine-made goods that they could now afford. More people could now afford the luxuries previously afforded only to the upper class. With an influx of new customers and a manufacturing sector to match, advertising was truly born.
The Cahoons now had access to an expanded world of goods from the new factories and the increased ease of shipping via the Great Lakes and railways. The house no longer had to rely on being furnished by goods brought in wagons from Vermont or from what could be made by hand. Joel and Margaret could decorate Rose Hill in the latest styles, recreated here in the Victorian Parlor.

“B. A. Atkinson & co. house furnishers.” Geo. H. Walker & Co. Lith., 1888, Boston, MA. Jay T. Last Collection of Graphic Arts and Social History, Huntington Digital Library.

Victorian era interiors were characterized by ornate velvet furnishing, dark-rich colors, and the appearance of luxury. There was not one dominant style of furniture in the Victorian period. Designers modified many styles from Gothic, Tudor, Elizabethan, English Rococo, and Neoclassical eras.

French motifs are also hinted throughout the Victorian Parlor, characteristic of the American Empire style rooted in the First French era (1804-1814) under Napoleon Bonaparte’s rule. This movement represents the late Neoclassical themes of geometric forms, use of columns, and excessive use of Rococo exuberance.
This walnut and green velvet matching set of settee, chair, and footstool belonged to the Cahoons and was likely made between 1850 and 1870. They are prime examples of stylish and whimsical Victorian interior design, with the footstool bringing “Good Luck” to the house in the form of a horseshoe.

Memento Mori: The Aldrich Hair Wreath

During the Victorian era, hair art was closely associated with memento mori, an artistic or symbolic reminder of the inevitability of death, as a token of remembrance. It was used in jewelry, love tokens, family trees, friendship keepsakes and hair wreaths. The techniques used to create decorative items from hair varied, with an incredible attention to detail. Clean, flattened hair was woven, dyed, accessorized with beads, looped around wire, and/or even mixed with sap-like material then crafted into shapes and patterns. The finished piece usually went under glass or on top of ivory for jewelry.
In England, Queen Victoria’s mourning of Prince Albert, who died in 1861, included commissioning hair work with the prince’s hair. This in turn, helped to popularize mourning jewelry. This popularity diminished with the outbreak of World War I as people were expected to donate time and money.

Horsehair flower on Aldrich hair wreath, 1900. Purchased from Drake Estate by Bay Village Historical Society, 1980

The Aldrich family made this hair wreath around 1900. It was passed down through the generations to Marguerite Guthery Drake. It is woven in macrame of human and animal hair. Most of the flowers are of family hair, and the middle flower is from the family horse.

Music and Leisure in the Victorian Era

Manufacturing and the growth of the middle class also brought with it the rise of leisure and popular music. A parlor such as Rose Hill’s Victorian Parlor would be the site of impromptu performances by family and friends of the latest songs, literally called parlor music. Sheet music publishing flourished as did the manufacture of instruments for the parlor.

The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Picture Collection, The New York Public Library. “Romance without words.” The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1891.

Chartola Grand Zither

The Chartola Grand zither is an example of the mandolin, fretless, or guitar zither that was popularized in the late Victorian era.

Chartola Grand Zither, gift of Kay Laughlin to Bay Village Historical Society, 2018.

It would have been an acceptable instrument for a middle- and upper-class lady to learn. Her performances would have provided a way to display her attractive qualities to potential marriage matches in the family parlor. Her skill with the zither or instrument of choice was also a reflection of the family’s wealth and security, as only the well-to-do could afford the instrument, sheet music, lessons, and time to practice.

Instructions for Tuning the Mandolin-Guitar. Oscar Schmidt Inc. Gift of Kay Laughlin to Bay Village Historical Society, 2018.

‘Lesson No. 1 “Home Sweet Home.”’ Self Instructive Sheet Music for Zither. Oscar Schmidt Inc., 1919. Gift of Kay Laughlin to Bay Village Historical Society, 2018.

A. B. Chase Walnut Chapel Organ

A cottage organ manufactured by A.B. Chase Organ, Norwalk, Ohio sits in the Victorian Parlor. The company was founded in 1875 by Allen B. Chase.

A. B. Chase Organ Co., Norwalk, U. S. A. W. J. Morgan & Co. Lith., 1870, Cleveland, Ohio. 19th Century American Trade Cards, Boston Public Library.

They offered a variety of case styles for their organs to suit the variety of tastes and styles in Victorian parlors. The organ at Rose Hill is the walnut Chapel Organ in ‘case style 2’ with Eastlake influenced carved decorations. (Read more about the Eastlake Movement in the Victorian Bedroom.)
Rose Hill’s organ can be seen on pages 9-10 in the “A.B. Chase Organ Sales Catalog 1890.” To view a scanned copy of the original sales catalogue and other ephemera visit Antique Piano Shop.

Regina Music Box

Not everyone had the musical talent to play parlor music. That’s where the music box stepped in. When you visit Rose Hill, you can see a Regina table model music box.

The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Picture Collection, The New York Public Library. “The Regina music box.” The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1895-12.

Traditional music boxes gained popularity in the 18th century with the French court of Louis XIV. In the 1880s, a new music box style appeared in Leipzig, Germany, the interchangeable disc music box. This new disk-playing machine allowed the player to change discs with ease.

Regina music box plate of “Serenade” by Schubert, given to Bay Village Historical Society by Louella Lauer.

The popularity of these boxes spanned from about 1890 to 1915, with Regina producing more than 100,000 music boxes. The rise of more advanced instruments, like the gramophone and player piano, in the early 1900s, as well as the impact of the Great Depression (1929-1939) on the U.S. economy, led to a dramatic decrease in music-box sales. Only a relatively small number of Regina music boxes have survived from two world wars, scrap metal drives, and other forms of destruction.

References

Flament, Catherine Burke. Retracing Footsteps: Lakeside Cemetery, Bay Village, Cuyahoga County, Ohio. Bay Village Historical Society, 2006.
Harper, Siobhan. “Domestic Parlour Music and beyond in the nineteenth century and its literature.” Music Matters, University of Kent, Jan 2020.

After living in a log cabin built in only four days for eight years, Joseph Cahoon and his son Joel built Rose Hill for the Cahoon household in 1818.

The house had two floors with four rooms each. There were two fireplaces on the first floor and a third fireplace under the house for cooking. The 1818 Parlor features one of the original fireplaces built in 1818, with hearth stones sourced from Lake Erie.

Moving House

Not everything had to be built from scratch like the hearth. The Cahoons, and many families like them, brought prized items with them to Dover Township to start a new life.

Crown Glass
The outside doors are made with glass brought by the Cahoons from Vergennes, Vermont. Called crown glass, it was formed by spinning a hand-blown balloon of molten glass into a disc. The disc was then cut into panes of glass. This created rather small panes of glass by modern standards. The parlor door required nine panes of glass to create the desired effect.

“Glass-Blowing.” The New York Public Library Digital
Collections. 1883.

Cahoon Family Cookie Jar
Another prized item brought from Vergennes, Vermont was this cookie jar decorated with papier mache flowers and birds. It was handed down by Mary Cahoon, the oldest daughter of Lydia and Joseph. Mary married George Sexton and came with her parents from Vergennes, Vermont, bringing this cookie jar along with her. The jar was used by five generations of the family before being placed in the care of the Bay Village Historical Society by Mary Cahoon’s great-great-granddaughter.

Floral papier mache cookie jar with lid, c. 1810. A
Bicentennial Gift from Lucille C. MacClellan to the Bay
Village Historical Society, 1976.

Flax and Wool: A Staple of Self-Sufficiency

“Spinning By Hand With A Single Spindle ; A Mule Spinner, Operated By One Hand, Carrying 3,000 Spindles, Doing The Work Of 3,000 Girls.”
The New York Public Library, Digital Collections.

While the Cahoons brought glass and furnishings from Vermont for their house, they were still living far from the comforts of town life. The family had to be self-sufficient. Joseph Cahoon established a grist mill and saw mill on the creek. Apple, peach, and pear trees were planted on the hillsides and a peach brandy distillery was built. Flax for clothing was also grown and processed before being spun, woven, and sewn into finished garments by the women of the family.

Flax spinning wheel, c. 1846. Gift of George Drake to Bay Village Historical Society.

This flax spinning wheel belonged to Hannah Smith Porter, an early Bay Village settler. The flax roving wound on the spinning wheel’s distaff was made by Ada Powell Pepper, the daughter of Sophia Saddler Powell and Thomas Powell. These flax fibers were grown in Dover Township around 150 years ago, which Ada combed with a hatchel to create this roving which would then be spun into thread on the spinning wheel.

  Flax roving, 1859-1919. Gift of Allen
Shaw to Bay Village Historical Society,
1983.

Flax hatchel, 1700s. Purchased from Saddler Estate by Bay Village Historical Society, 1986.

References
Free, Simon. “History of Architectural Glass for Windows.” Sash Window Specialist.
Oppenheim, Valeria. “A Common Misconception.” Corning Museum of Glass, 05 Sept. 2013.

Whether you’re following along in person at the Cahoon Homestead, or you’re exploring from home, please enjoy this tour of Rose Hill Museum and learn more about the Cahoon family.

Rose Hill was the home of the first settlers of Dover, now Bay Village. Three generations of the Cahoons lived on this hill for a little over a century, from the time they arrived on the morning of October 10, 1810 until it was put into the care of the city in 1917. Rose Hill Museum shows life throughout this dynamic century for the Cahoon family from the self-sufficiency of the early 1800s to the modern fashion of the Victorian era.

Before the Cahoons

For millennia, Bay Village was part of a hunting ground for Native American tribes. However, when Europeans arrived, this land was claimed by Connecticut under the terms of its royal charter in 1662.

Reed, Abner. Map of the Western Reserve. Reed and Rollo, 1842, East Windsor, CT. Map Collection, Cleveland Public Library.

Following the Revolutionary War, Connecticut ceded sovereignty of some of this land to the United States in 1786 but retained a portion for itself, called the Western Reserve. This coincided with the beginning of the Northwest Indian War as American settlers, the British, and Native Americans fought over ownership of this remaining territory. The war ended through a series of controversial treaties, including the Treaty of Greenville in 1795, which officially ended the war. These treaties ceded Native American land to Connecticut in pieces until the territory was finally sold to the Connecticut Land Company.
The following year in 1796, the Connecticut Land Company sent Moses Cleaveland to survey the territory and portion out 25 square mile townships for development by settlers. Nehemiah Hubbard and Joshua Stowe bought a large parcel along the lake, stretching from Rocky River to Avon and south to Olmsted Township. They named the township Dover, after their hometown in Connecticut. Distributed into lots, the settlement grew rapidly throughout the 1810s.

Reed, Abner. Map of the Western Reserve. Reed and Rollo, 1842, East Windsor, CT. Map Collection, Cleveland Public Library.

From Vermont to Rose Hill

Joseph Cahoon, a miller from Vermont, first visited the Western Reserve in 1799 and it evidently stuck with him. He and his wife Lydia Kenyon Cahoon, along with their children, finally set out 11 years later from Vergennes, Vermont for Lot #95 in Dover Township.

First sale of lots in Dover Township between 1810 and 1818 by lot number, year, and name of buyer. Rogers, Kelsey. Dover Township Lots 1810-1818. Bay Village Historical Society, 2021. Based on Hopkins, Griffith Morgan, Jr, and S. H Matthews. Map of Cuyahoga County, Ohio. S. H. Matthews, 1858, Philadelphia, PA. Map. Retrieved from the Library of Congress.

Although they were the first settlers to arrive, they were not alone. Later that same day, Asahel Porter and his family arrived at Lot #94 (present-day Huntington Reservation), along with Reuben Osborn and Leverett Johnson, all from Woodbridge, Connecticut. In fact, Joseph sent his third son, Joel, to a nearby Native American trading post during the first days of their arrival. Through trading, they were able to feed themselves while building their first house in time for the winter. The Cahoon family built a log cabin down by the creek in four days. A reproduction of a log cabin of the same period was built by the Boy Scouts in 1976 to celebrate the American Revolution Bicentennial. Read more about the cabin here (link to Cabin page).
After living in a log cabin by the creek for eight years, Joseph Cahoon and his son Joel built this house for the Cahoon household in 1818. In its first iteration, long before it was called Rose Hill, the house had none of the Gothic and Greek Revival influences seen in its later additions. Instead, the house was simply made by the Cahoons themselves. It had two floors with four rooms each.

Through the Generations

In 1839, Joseph Cahoon passed. His son Joel Butler Cahoon, returned to Rose Hill with his family in 1842. Joel’s mother, Lydia, had planted rose bushes throughout the property, prompting his wife, Margaret, to name the house and grounds Rose Hill.

A portrait of Margaret Van Allen Cahoon and John Butler Cahoon, Cahoon Family Collection, Bay Village Historical Society.

The homestead was now in the Victorian era. They no longer lived the life of pioneers. Joel’s children were successful members of the growing middle-class of the industrial revolution fueled Victorian era. Their house and possessions reflected this as can be seen in the Victorian Parlor and Victorian Bedroom.

A portrait of the surviving children of Joel and Margaret Cahoon, taken sometime between 1910 and 1917. Cahoon Family Collection, Bay Village Historical Society. Back row, left to right: Thomas Cahoon, Elizabeth Hughes Cahoon (his wife), Ida Cahoon, and John Marshall Cahoon. Front row, left to right: Laura Cahoon, Lydia Cahoon, with a chair left empty for recently passed Martha Cahoon.

Thomas Havenner Cahoon ran the lumber business Cahoon & Havenner and was a member of the City Council of Cleveland. John Joseph Cahoon was a mechanical engineer in Memphis, Tennessee. Leverett Judson Cahoon and John Marshall Cahoon built and operated a grocery store and boat house in the area. The four daughters became school teachers across northern Ohio.
In 1882, Joel Cahoon was near the end of his life, spurring thoughts of a lasting legacy. That year a barn was built for Joel and the family decided that upon the death of the last family member, their history would be preserved by giving Rose Hill to the city with the stipulation that it be converted into a library or museum. Later that year Joel Cahoon died at 90 years old but his legacy was ensured. His youngest daughter and last surviving heir, Ida Cahoon, wrote her will to honor the family’s decision. As a result, Joel’s barn is still standing as the Bay Village Community House, the grounds are now Cahoon Memorial Park, and their house is Rose Hill Museum. (To read more about the will visit The Library .)

A Cahoon family portrait in front of Rose Hill and Joel Cahoon’s barn sometime before 1910. Cahoon Family Collection, Bay Village Historical Society. Back row, left to right (daughters of Benjamin Reynolds Cahoon, brother to Joel Cahoon): Helen Cahoon Clark Bullock, Abigail Cahoon Schneerer, Jeanette Cahoon, and Minerva Cahoon Hollenbach. Front row, left to right (children of Joel Cahoon): Martha Cahoon, Lydia Cahoon, Thomas Cahoon, Ida Cahoon, and Laura Cahoon.

Today, the museum proudly displays their history and the history of their neighbors, giving us a glimpse into the lives of these early settlers. Enter the museum and visit the 1818 Parlor to begin the tour.

References

Barrow, William C. “Western Reserve.” Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, Case Western Reserve University. Accessed 25 May 2021.

“Connecticut Western Reserve.” Ohio History Central, Ohio History Connection. Accessed 25 May 2021.

Hemenway, Eric. “Summer 1795: The Treaty of Greenville creates an uneasy peace.” National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, 6 March 2015,

Flament, Catherine Burke. Retracing Footsteps: Lakeside Cemetery, Bay Village, Cuyahoga County, Ohio. Bay Village Historical Society, 2006.

Richner, Al. “Brief History of Dover Township.” North Olmsted, City of North Olmsted, . Accessed June 22, 2021.