The Portage County Historical Society is ready to show off upgrades to the Salmon Carter House, which received $625,000 in improvements thanks to grants from the state of Ohio.
The historical society will host an open house from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Aug. 17 to show off the renovations. The event will take place at the Carter House, 6549 N. Chestnut St., Ravenna, and will include tours of the house and refreshments.
“There is so much work to do, but we’re getting there,” said Debbie Sunderland, president of the historical society.
What upgrades did the house receive?
Sunderland said the grant funding was used mostly for wheelchair accessibility, so people going to see the house could also visit the nearby museum without having to navigate steps.
Other work included a new roof, new wiring, air conditioning, leveled floors, new paint and a new alarm and fire system.
Instead of seeking monetary donations, Sunderland said the historical society focused on making the $625,000 go further using volunteer labor. Teams of volunteers from companies such as Loreal and Portage Community Bank volunteered on a regular basis.
The 1861 clock tower is being renovated, and the historical society would like to build a new tower to show the inner workings of the clock. The clock in the tower was once part of the old Ravenna courthouse and was saved when the courthouse was torn down in 1960.
History of the Carter House
One of the first-generation settlers in the Western Reserve, Salmon Carter built the house in 1835 and lived there in the later part of his life with his second wife, Lydia, Sunderland said previously.
Carter, she said, once owned a tavern but sold it when his first wife became ill and moved to the farm property he had purchased in 1811.
After Carter’s death in 1854, Willis Strickland, a wealthy farmer, bought the property. A decade later, he built a brick home on the property, and his married son moved into the Carter House. For more than 100 years, generations of the Strickland family lived on the property until Charlotte Strickland sold the land to the historical society.
The historical society uses the home as a museum. It is furnished in antiques to reflect the era in which it was built.
The Liberty Camp uses the site annually to teach history to children.
Future plans
The historical society is working on a 10-year plan for other renovation projects on its campus.
Those plans, Sunderland said, include widening the sidewalks to make them wheelchair accessible and work to the Strickland House.
The historical society also hopes to recruit younger members to carry on the legacy of preserving the county’s history. Right now, people can only visit the museum on Thursdays and Saturdays because of a limited pool of volunteers.
“My vision is that if we don’t take care of it, it won’t be there,” she said. “There’s so much to do and so little time. We have to keep it up over the next 10 years.”
Reporter Diane Smith can be reached at 330-298-1139 or dsmith@recordub.com.
This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Portage Historical Society holding Salmon Carter House open house
