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Rose Hill Museum
The structure that houses the Rose Hill Museum was built in 1818 on the hill south of Lake Road by Joseph Cahoon and his family as their home. When the Cahoon family’s last area survivor, Ida Maria Cahoon, died in 1917, her will bequeathed the entire family property to the Village of Bay as a trust. The mayor and city council are ex-officio trustees. Rose Hill, as Ida Cahoon wished, became the city’s library from 1919 to 1960. Her will also stipulated that if Rose Hill ceased to function as a library, it should become a museum. It opened as Rose Hill Museum in 1960 and the contents of the Cahoon home became the base of the museum’s collection.

Osborn Learning Center
The Reuben Osborn house, the oldest frame dwelling between Cleveland and Lorain dating to 1814, was slated for demolition in the early 1990s and was moved from its lakeside lot to a spot near the Cahoon family home in Cahoon Memorial Park. It now serves as the Osborn Learning Center, and houses much of the Bay Village Historical Society’s papers, books and materials on the Sam Sheppard case, and a rotating variety of displays. Located in the historical district of Bay Village, the Osborn Learning Center is open on Sundays from 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.    

Community House
In 1936, as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project, men from Bay Village and the WPA worked on Lake Road and also remodeled the Cahoon family barn to serve as a community house for the growing city. The new building replaced the old red schoolhouse at Bassett and Lake roads as the center of community activities. The lower portion housed the city’s fire department for many years. The Bay Village Community House currently is home to the city's recreation department and the Village Bicycle Cooperative. Plans for the future will make it a modern up-to-date community center to serve us even better.

Cahoon Replica 1810 Cabin
Joseph Cahoon and his family drove into the valley in Dover Township, now Bay Village, on Oct. 10, 1810. Since winter was approaching, it was imperative to create shelter. They built a cabin on the east side of a creek near the lakeshore in four days. In 1818, construction of their permanent home was completed at the top of the path along the lake and it now houses Rose Hill Museum. In 1976, Bay Village Mayor Henry Reese established a commission to plan historical events for the American Bicentennial. Boy Scout leaders John Brant and Donald Harris, along with members of the Bay Village Girl and Boy Scouts, their parents and friends, worked 3,900 hours to construct the pioneer cabin. A ribbon cutting was celebrated on Oct. 10, 1981, 171 years after the arrival of the Cahoons in Bay Village.

Smoke House and Jail
A. Horace Wolf, who became the second mayor of Bay Village, serving from 1910 to 1915, lived on a property given to him by his father, Alfred, at 492 Bradley Road. (Horace had an airport in the 1920s located on the land behind St. Barnabas Church.) The old stone smoke house that stood behind the homestead house was used as a jail prior to Horace’s becoming mayor. It was used to lock up prisoners until the Marshall could take them to the county jail. The large homestead was purchased by the city and the house, about 101 years old in August 1973, was torn down to make way for the new Jaycee Community House, now the Bay Lodge. The smokehouse was moved near the herb garden just south of Rose Hill Museum, where it stands today.

 

A Tour of Rose Hill
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. [audio...

1818 Parlor
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. [audio...

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

Library
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...

Country Kitchen
In the 1800s, all manner of life revolved around the cooking area, which was the primary source of heat, light, and safety. [audio...

1818 Bedroom
The early families of Dover Township didn’t have the modern luxuries of indoor plumbing and spring mattresses. Their bedrooms would have featured rope beds and chamber pots instead. [audio...

Victorian Bedrooms
In contrast to the 1818 Bedroom, the Victorian Bedrooms for the adults and children are more ornate, filled with decorative pieces, engaging toys, and luxurious furniture. [audio...

Portrait Gallery
The portrait gallery showcases many of the photographs and portraits of the Cahoon family and other early Bay Village residents. In the Victorian era, technology was going through rapid...

 

Reuben Osborn house
Cahoon Memorial Park – 1815. The Osborns came from England in 1641 and are one of the oldest families in the United States. Reuben Osborn was born in Connecticut and lived in New York with...

Rose Hill Museum
Cahoon Memorial Park – 1818. Joseph Cahoon, wife Lydia and family came to Bay Village, the place that he called, “the most beautiful spot in all of America” in October, 1810. He and his...

Aaron Aldrich House
30663 Lake Road – 1829. Aaron Aldrich and his wife Betsy, both of English families, moved to Dover from Rhode Island in 1816. Their home still stands today, occupied, with the outside,...

Selden Osborn House
29059 Lake Road – 1832. This is the second-oldest inhabited home in the city. The Osborn home was the birthplace of three generations. Nancy and Selden lived here all their lives. The house ...

Dexter Tuttle House
25547 Lake Road – 1845. Dexter Tuttle came from Massachusetts in 1823 when he was 16 years old. His family drove an ox cart, waded across the Cuyahoga and Rocky Rivers, and settled in...

Thomas Powell House
576 Bradley Road – 1852. Thomas Powell, of English descent, came from New York in 1830. He met and married Sophia, the daughter of William and Elizabeth Saddler, in 1832 when he was 29 and...

Sherman Osborn House
29560 Lake Road – 1853. Reuben Osborn bought his land from the Connecticut Land Company for one dollar an acre. Reuben gave his grandchildren Sherman, Reuben, Samuel, David and Betsey each...

The David Foote Barn House
30912 Lake Road – 1855. David Foote was born in Colchester, Conn., in 1760 and married Betsy Hamlin of the same town. He served in the Revolutionary War. They had 10 children. In 1815,...

Henry Hagedorn House
603 Bassett Road – 1858. Sometime in 1852, Henry and Katherine Hagedorn and their five children left Hanover, Germany, and made the long and difficult journey to America. After several...

Wischmeyer Hotel Cook House
26566 Lake Road, and former location of Wischmeyer Hotel, 26556 Lake Road, both c. 1874. The 1879 Crisfield Johnson “History of Cuyahoga County” states: “Henry Wischmeyer came out from...

 

The Bay Village Historical Society is offering plaques to the owners of homes in the city that are more than 100 years old.The plaques, made of cast aluminum and colored black and gold, are 10 inches by 14 inches oval, and include the words “Bay Village,” “Century Home” and the year of construction.The cost is $150.00, which includes delivery and a one-year membership in the Bay Village Historical Society.
For more information call (216) 319-4634.

1892 Map

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Water Tower at Huntington
The Huntington water tower, a well-known landmark, was used to store water pumped from Lake Erie below to irrigate John Huntington’s orchards and vineyards. Though it looks like a...

Fuller House at BAYarts
The Irene Lawrence Fuller House was part of the complex of homes built by industrialist Washington Lawrence in the 1870s. Lawrence had seven daughters and built a house for each. The...

Train Station and Caboose at BAYarts
The Nickel Plate Dover railway station was located on Dover Center Road in Bay Village next to the railroad tracks. In 1963, the closed station was donated to the city of Bay Village. It...

Trestles at Huntington
The Lake Shore Electric Railway connected the city of Cleveland from its station at 25 Public Square to its western suburbs and beyond. Skimming through Bay Village, the interurban cars...

Cashelmara / Lawrence Estate
The Cashelmara condominiums, located on the shores of Lake Erie in eastern Bay Village, boast a rich history beginning in 1898 with a mansion built by Washington Lawrence, a pioneer in the...

Dover Bay CC Golf Course
Bay Village resident Washington Lawrence indulged his family's and friend's wishes and developed the oldest golf course in Cuyahoga County. According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, golf was ...

Lakeside Cemetery
"There is a history in all men’s lives."-- Shakespeare, King Henry IV, Pt. III, i.80 The half-acre Lakeside Cemetery was founded in 1814 out...

 

In recognition of Rose Hill being Bay Village’s first public library “Dover-by-the-Lake Library,” we encourage you to visit our free library on the south side path of Rose Hill Museum where you may drop off and/or pick up a book (no magazines or children’s please!). This small library is named after one of Bay’s first and the longest serving librarians, Julia Osborn Scott, who was a descendent of one of Bay’s first settler families, the Osborns. Julia served as librarian and caretaker of Rose Hill from 1922-1946.