April is National Poetry Month, so what better way for Dayton Unknown acknowledge this occasion, than to recognize our own local poet, Paul Laurence Dunbar?
Circa 1890. Source: Wikipedia.
Announcing the Dayton Unknown RiverWalk!
Worldwide Instameet Day is May 17th, 2014! Dayton Unknown is hosting a RiverWalk along the Great Miami River. We are currently making arrangements, so check back for more details!
To sign up for the event, please visit the InstaMeets page! Signing up isn’t required, but we want to get a rough guesstimate for planning purposes!
On this day in 1796…
In March of 1796, the Thompson party started its journey from Cincinnati to Dayton. Split into two groups, one by land and one by water, they traveled 60 miles, pulling the boat through shallow channels with a rope tied to a tree, sometimes for miles. On land, they lead the Thompson cow that paid for itself in milk.
Hometown Eats
Hungry? There are many delicious restaurants local to the Dayton area. If you visit any of these locations, make sure to let them know you heard about them from Dayton Unknown!
Woodland Cemetery Series: The Boy and His Dog
Johnny Morehouse is perhaps one of the most famous graves in Woodland Cemetery. Johnny drowned in the mid 1800s, and there are many stories about his dog’s death.
One story is that Johnny’s dog jumped in the river and drowned trying to save him. The family was so moved by his loyalty to the boy that they had the grave marker sculpted of him and Johnny.
Dayton’s First InstaMeet
Last week, (March 8) Dayton played host to our first Instameet and photowalk!
The event kicked off with everyone meeting and greeting at Press Coffee Bar. It was a large turnout, with people waiting outside for our walk to start due to elbow-room-only inside.
Cox Arboretum
Cox Arboretum is located on Springboro Pike near Moraine and Miamisburg.
Park hours are listed as, “daylight,” but that is based upon the season:
April 1-October 31: 8am-10pm
November 1 – March 31: 8am – 8pm
Closed Christmas and New Year’s Day
Urban Legend Series: Library Park
Library Park was once a cemetery in Miamisburg. Known as Village Cemetery, it set a record for the most ghost sightings in one location in Ohio. In the 1880s, people reported seeing a ghostly figure of a woman roaming the cemetery grounds. Day after day, more and more people from the town reported seeing the same thing. People from all over came to town to see this, gathering at 9 PM. She was seen on such a regular basis for so long that people would have been more surprised if they didn’t see her.
However, the residents of Miamisburg were not so pleased by this apparition. People became agitated at her nightly appearance, and started to disinter the graves, moving them to nearby Hill Grove Cemetery, in hopes that the haunting would end.
Urban Legend Series: Carpenter Road
Carpenter Road is a small country side street located in Sugarcreek Township. Seemingly innocuous, this road has been host to many ghost hunters and daring teens over the years.
Local Street Names
While many of the streets in our area are named after important people to Dayton, some simply refer to geographic terms. Let’s look at a few examples of both.
- Alex-Bell Road: the route connects Alexandersville to Bellbrook.
- Patterson Road and Boulevard: All are named after either John H. Patterson, the founder of NCR, or his grandfather Colonel Robert Patterson.
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