Anonymous

“ Tavern is reassembled at Carillon Park next to the stone pioneer house. Rude log houses were typical of earliest frontier construction, although stone was often used in areas where it was plentiful. Chimney design of Carillon Park’s stone house, seen in background of the photograph, shows influence of the Moravians, a religious sect that came to Ohio from North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Georgia in the early 1800s. ”

“ Main room of Newcom Tavern contains long table at which early travelers were served. Utensils in the fireplace include a griddle, pots of various types and, visible at lower left, a bread toaster that could be moved up to the hot coals by a long handle. Board at right of the fireplace holds rifle, powder horn and bullet mold. Items in the Tavern are appropriate to Dayton’s earliest years, although not all of them were actually used by the Newcom family. ”

“ The Tavern is seen on its new site just after restoration.
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Robert Edgar, like most pioneer builders, used a wide range of woods—whatever was available in the surrounding forest. Ash, hickory, walnut, beech, elm, oak, sycamore—all these are identifiable in the Tavern. The large fireplace is lined with limestone and faced with rubble stone from the river. The logs rest upon one another at the mortised corners, without attachment, although wooden pegs can be seen in mortised interior beams. ”

“ NEWCOM TAVERN
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Col. George Newcom still revealed the flinty quality that tamed the wilderness when he sat for this daguerreotype in 1852 at the age of 81. Dayton was already a bustling town, with a classic courthouse that ranked among the country’s finest structures.
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Newcom’s first cabin, of round logs instead of square-hewn logs, later served as kitchen for the structure now in Carillon Park. Smaller building disappeared many years ago. (Etching courtesy of Otterbein Press.)
By the mid-1700s, a few intrepid men from “back East” had explored the land of the Miami Indians. ”

“ Late nineteenth century photograph of Tavern’s yard shows brick oven, split-log bench and primitive sharpening wheel.
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In 1896, on the hundredth anniversary of Dayton’s founding, these women donned pioneer dress and demonstrated the skills of their mothers and grandmothers. The picture, taken in one of the two upstairs rooms at Newcom Tavern, shows spinning, knitting, use of the flax wheel and quilting.
Things were desperate—hardly secure for family life and farming—until that able general, “Mad Anthony” Wayne, led a force of 3600 daring men into Ohio country. ”