Hale Farm and Village is a historic property of the Western Reserve Historical Society in Bath Township, Summit County, Akron, Ohio, United States. It is within the boundaries of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Hale Farm was the original homestead of Jonathan Hale, a Connecticut farmer who migrated to the Western Reserve in 1810. In 1973 Hale Farm was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Jonathan Hale Homestead. The Hale House was built in 1825.
At the Cuyahoga Valley’s southwestern edge sits an impressive three-story red brick house surrounded by 140 acres of fields, gardens, and woods. Familiar to many school children, it is now a popular regional attraction overlooks a recreated historical village. Despite the building’s grandeur, Hale Farm began like any other farm: with hard work.
Walking through the Hale Farm and Village, visitors can hear the clanging of a blacksmith’s hammer, feel the heat of a glassblower’s kiln, and smell freshly cut timber from a woodworker’s shop. The Hale Farm and Village is a living outdoor history museum that educates visitors about daily life in the nineteenth-century Western Reserve. The farm and village contain restored structures, including a church, log schoolhouse, law office, and several craft shops. In 1957, the Western Reserve Historical Society received the Hale Farm as a donation from Clara Belle Ritchie, the farm’s first owner Jonathan Hale. Bed Bug Exterminator Akron
Wheatfield
The Western Reserve Historical Society opened Hale Farm in 1958 after receiving the property from Clara Belle Ritchie, a descendant of Jonathan Hale. The eastern half of Hale Farm and Village is a living history museum with various historic buildings, most relocated from elsewhere. This recreated village is called Wheatfield. Most of Wheatfield’s structures are inhabited by people who present their location but acknowledge the modern world. This technique is known as third-person interpretation.
First-person interpretation means that the inhabitants of a structure work as actors who play out the livelihood of a particular year and setting. The timeframe reenacted by the first-person interpreters at Wheatfield was 1862 in 2007. Each year, the actors will move forward one year until they reach 1865, the end of the American Civil War, at which point they will revert to 1861, which was the beginning of the war. They also offer programs such as A Fugitive’s Path to Freedom. Hale Farm and Village also has demonstrations of various nineteenth-century trades such as candle, broom, brick making, glass blowing, and a blacksmith shop.
Restaurants Nearby
- Lanning’s Restaurant is located at 826 N Cleveland Massillon Rd, Akron, OH
- Melt Bar and Grilled is located at 3921 Medina Rd, Akron, OH
- Ken Stewart’s Lodge is located at 1911 N Cleveland Massillon Rd, Bath, OH
Check out other attractions like Perkins Stone Mansion