HOWARD — A steady stream of visitors traveled to the edge of Knox County and down a rare dirt road to get a peek at one of the area’s best kept secrets and historic pieces of land.
The former Eli Nichols farm, known as Wolf Pen Springs, was open to the public for the first time ever to tour the grounds on Saturday.
“It was wonderful,” said Jim Gibson, director of the Knox County Historical Society Museum. “We had 225 visitors. We had no idea how many to expect.”
The 200-acre parcel, complete with the Nichols family cemetery, stone home and springhouse and vegetable garden are currently owned by a private owner. The property had been left to the Ohio Historical Society by Mary Staats, a descendant of Nichols, who purchased the estate in 1984.
According to Gibson, the OHS felt it could not do all that could be done with the property due to financial shortages in its budget. As a result, it sold the property. As part of a stipulation of the deed transfer, the owner is required to hold an open house-like tour of the grounds only.
“This was the first time for any kind of open tour [of Wolf Pen Springs],” said Gibson.
While part of the property lies in Knox County, the vast majority of the 200 acres is in Coshocton County, according to Gibson. Because Coshocton County does not have an organized historical society like Knox, KCHS was invited to serve as the host group for the event.
“We are so proud to have been part of this event. We didn’t know how it would go, but for a trial run it was very successful,” Gibson said.
Twenty-two members of the KCHS volunteered in two-hour shifts to help with parking, direct visitors and talk about the history of the grounds.
Janet Jacobs, KCHS member, made the three-quarters of a mile trek to the cemetery to talk with guests. Jacobs suggests that next year ribbons are handed out to those daring to make the journey back to the stone-encompassed graveyard.
“We should have had some way of acknowledging people that did come back here,” said Jacobs.
Gibson was impressed with the diversity of visitors on Saturday. He said there were those who had visited the property before, those who have only heard of it and those who didn’t know it existed until this week. A group from Akron, including a KCHS member, was also on hand to tour the grounds.
Gibson said the event was so successful for the society, the owner and those on the tour that he hopes the society can serve as host for many years to come.
