The Spring Hill Dig
The Site of our First Official Settlers - The Keplers
Back in 2002, John Berry, a teacher at Green High School, decided that the students in his science classes might enjoy conducting archaeological digs at a historic site in Green. He couldn’t get any professional archaeologists interested in excavating this site in Green because the site is only of interest to our local history. So, he learned about how to conduct an archaeological dig himself and he taught his students too. Mr. Berry and his students excavated and sifted dirt at the Spring Hill dig site for over five years. He then donated all of the artifacts that the students found to the Green Historical Society. The artifacts are on display in the upstairs of Lichtenwalter Schoolhouse. The information below is used to teach students in our Day in 1885 program about archeology and artifacts.
The Site of Mr. Berry’s Big Dig – The Kepler Farm – Our First Settlers
Mr. Berry knew his history very well. He knew John Kepler was the first permanent settler in Green Township. His brother Andrew brought John and his family here in a covered wagon pulled by four horses in 1809. John and Andrew bought 320 acres of land from the government. All the land in Green was once owned by the government and were part of the Congress Lands. All of these lands were for sale but you had to go to a government land office to make the purchase. At the time the Kepler’s came to Green, the land office was in Steubenville, Ohio – 284 miles away from the Kepler’s home in Strasburg, PA. From Steubenville, the Kepler’s would have to travel about 80 more miles to get to their new lands. There were no roads for parts of this journey in 1810.
Mr. Berry knew exactly where the Kepler Farm was located and local Kepler descendants told Mr. Berry where on the property their homes had been located.
Native Americans - When the Kepler’s arrived in 1809 were there Native Americans here in Green? Yes, the Keplers had a good relationship with the Native Americans and they would trade meal and other dry goods for Venison. Mrs. Kepler even had several local Natives into her home for dinner. Some other settlers did not have such good relationships with the Natives. The Native Americans enjoyed hunting in Green Township and there is evidence of their hunting in our artifacts here today.
Are the Native American artifacts found at the dig site from the same time period as the Keplers? Maybe – some could be much older. The Native Americans hunted these lands for thousands of years before the Keplers. Scientists believe the first Native American nomadic hunters arrived in Ohio 15,000 years ago after the last ice age.
Trash - So what do people leave behind? What did families do with their trash back in the 1800s? There was no municipal trash service in Green until the 1950’s. Families burnt their trash outside in their yards! Many things won’t burn up in a trash fire like glass, metal, and pottery. Whatever didn’t burn in the trash fire would be buried. These burn piles are an excellent source of artifacts.
Artifacts Upstairs
Display Case by Door – Spring Hill Artifacts:
These artifacts are primarily from the Spring Hill Dig performed by Mr. Berry and his high school students. The artifacts include many items from burn piles outside the ruins of the Kepler’s early homes. There are buttons, coins, china bits, doll parts, glass ware, buckles and pipes. There are also fossils (see fossil that looks like a button with a flower shaped hole) and Native American flint pieces and arrowheads.
Early Smoking Pipes - Called red clay pipes, particularly Mogadore hexagonal stemmed milled Chesterfields, made by the Akron Smoking Pipe Company. The Akron Smoking Pipe Company operated in Mogadore from 1885 to 1895. So, how old are these pipes? Are they as old as the Kepler ruins? Or are they younger?
Arrowheads/Flint - What is Flint? Flint found in Ohio and throughout the US is actually a form of Chert. Where does Flint come from? There are several small flint formations throughout central Ohio. Flint Ridge is an eight mile long vein of high-quality flint in Muskingum and Licking County (southern) Ohio. All of Ohio’s prehistoric peoples mined flint from Flint Ridge for tools, but the Hopewell were particularly fond of Flint Ridge. Flint is also prevalent in our area as it was deposited here by the glaciers. Local Indians made use of the flint they found locally from glacier deposits and they also traded with other tribes for higher quality flint. There is also an example of a simple flint tool in the artifacts.
Fossils - Fossils are the preserved remains of a plant or animal, or traces or marks left behind by a plant or animal. Fossils can be several thousand years old to many million years old. The glaciers dropped the fossils in Green way before our first settlers.
Side Shelves (stove side):
The artifacts in the wooden shelves (stove side of room) are primarily larger Native American stones used as tools. Most were found in farm fields in Green. There is also a large obsidian rock found buried in a yard here in Green. Obsidian is not a native rock here. Obsidian is a volcanic rock found in the Western United States. How did this rock end up in Green? Glaciers? – nope, glaciers did move lots of rocks and fossils down from Canada, but they didn’t move rocks from the West to us here in the Eastern Midwest. Just like the flint and chert that we found in Spring Hill, Native Americans used Obsidian for tools and decoration. Tribes traded useful rocks like obsidian and flint across the country.
The Site of Mr. Berry’s Big Dig – The Kepler Farm – Our First Settlers
Mr. Berry knew his history very well. He knew John Kepler was the first permanent settler in Green Township. His brother Andrew brought John and his family here in a covered wagon pulled by four horses in 1809. John and Andrew bought 320 acres of land from the government. All the land in Green was once owned by the government and were part of the Congress Lands. All of these lands were for sale but you had to go to a government land office to make the purchase. At the time the Kepler’s came to Green, the land office was in Steubenville, Ohio – 284 miles away from the Kepler’s home in Strasburg, PA. From Steubenville, the Kepler’s would have to travel about 80 more miles to get to their new lands. There were no roads for parts of this journey in 1810.
Mr. Berry knew exactly where the Kepler Farm was located and local Kepler descendants told Mr. Berry where on the property their homes had been located.
Native Americans - When the Kepler’s arrived in 1809 were there Native Americans here in Green? Yes, the Keplers had a good relationship with the Native Americans and they would trade meal and other dry goods for Venison. Mrs. Kepler even had several local Natives into her home for dinner. Some other settlers did not have such good relationships with the Natives. The Native Americans enjoyed hunting in Green Township and there is evidence of their hunting in our artifacts here today.
Are the Native American artifacts found at the dig site from the same time period as the Keplers? Maybe – some could be much older. The Native Americans hunted these lands for thousands of years before the Keplers. Scientists believe the first Native American nomadic hunters arrived in Ohio 15,000 years ago after the last ice age.
Trash - So what do people leave behind? What did families do with their trash back in the 1800s? There was no municipal trash service in Green until the 1950’s. Families burnt their trash outside in their yards! Many things won’t burn up in a trash fire like glass, metal, and pottery. Whatever didn’t burn in the trash fire would be buried. These burn piles are an excellent source of artifacts.
Artifacts Upstairs
Display Case by Door – Spring Hill Artifacts:
These artifacts are primarily from the Spring Hill Dig performed by Mr. Berry and his high school students. The artifacts include many items from burn piles outside the ruins of the Kepler’s early homes. There are buttons, coins, china bits, doll parts, glass ware, buckles and pipes. There are also fossils (see fossil that looks like a button with a flower shaped hole) and Native American flint pieces and arrowheads.
Early Smoking Pipes - Called red clay pipes, particularly Mogadore hexagonal stemmed milled Chesterfields, made by the Akron Smoking Pipe Company. The Akron Smoking Pipe Company operated in Mogadore from 1885 to 1895. So, how old are these pipes? Are they as old as the Kepler ruins? Or are they younger?
Arrowheads/Flint - What is Flint? Flint found in Ohio and throughout the US is actually a form of Chert. Where does Flint come from? There are several small flint formations throughout central Ohio. Flint Ridge is an eight mile long vein of high-quality flint in Muskingum and Licking County (southern) Ohio. All of Ohio’s prehistoric peoples mined flint from Flint Ridge for tools, but the Hopewell were particularly fond of Flint Ridge. Flint is also prevalent in our area as it was deposited here by the glaciers. Local Indians made use of the flint they found locally from glacier deposits and they also traded with other tribes for higher quality flint. There is also an example of a simple flint tool in the artifacts.
Fossils - Fossils are the preserved remains of a plant or animal, or traces or marks left behind by a plant or animal. Fossils can be several thousand years old to many million years old. The glaciers dropped the fossils in Green way before our first settlers.
Side Shelves (stove side):
The artifacts in the wooden shelves (stove side of room) are primarily larger Native American stones used as tools. Most were found in farm fields in Green. There is also a large obsidian rock found buried in a yard here in Green. Obsidian is not a native rock here. Obsidian is a volcanic rock found in the Western United States. How did this rock end up in Green? Glaciers? – nope, glaciers did move lots of rocks and fossils down from Canada, but they didn’t move rocks from the West to us here in the Eastern Midwest. Just like the flint and chert that we found in Spring Hill, Native Americans used Obsidian for tools and decoration. Tribes traded useful rocks like obsidian and flint across the country.
