10. Going-Home

JOURNALING:
GOING “HOME”
My twin sister and I were born in Marietta, OH, but, the first real house we ever lived in was our paternal grandparents’ home in the Morgan Co. village of Chesterhill, Oh. The place was named after Chester Co. PA, from which many of the first settlers had come. It was within our first year of life that our parents moved us to Columbus OH, where we grew up.
Recently, my sister and I had been talking about going back to Chesterhill to see if we could locate the old family home, and I had even found what I was SURE was the place on Google Maps. When my health took a bad turn in 2022, I realized “talking” needed to become “doing.” And, in June, with a surprising “all clear” diagnosis, we decided “Now” was the time. So, on a lovely autumn day in September, we headed to the rural Appalachian hills of SE Ohio. And, right where I thought it would be was our first “home,” still standing, but showing every bit of its century age. It still has the quaint feel of the Quaker farmers who settled the area in the mid 1800’s. But the decline in farming and mining has hit the area hard and the population now numbers just around 300.
Chesterhill has a rich heritage of “tri-racial” families, including Black, White, and multi-tribal Native Americans. During the Civil War, the Underground Railroad went through Chesterhill. The Quaker faith laid the foundation still prominent today of faith, love of nature, and equality. In the 1970’s, Amish families were drawn to the area for those same reasons and for the available land, and low taxes.
I’m proud that my roots are grounded in a reverence for God, a heritage of self-reliance, a love for the diversity of mankind, and a respect for nature.
“To families that reside in Chesterhill, this land is so much more than a village - it is a paradise.” [Quote by Lauren Santucci]
CREDITS: PHOTOS: by KAPOH and Pups_r_Paps; KIT: "Inglewood" by Rachel Jefferies; FONT: Gabriola