When a recent business trip I was planning was abruptly cancelled due to heavy winter storms blowing in, we decided to make "snow cones out of snow" – the winter version of “lemonade from lemons.” We decided to make the best of a “snow day.” Since the airports, schools and businesses were closed for two days, we called some friends and looked to a local historical site for some winter fun – snowboarding and sledding on Hawthorn Hill.
If you know anything about the history of Dayton, Ohio, you will know it’s the birth place of Orville and Wilber Wright – the Wright Brothers. And as luck would have it, I just happen to live in the community that Orville called home for over 35 years. Hawthorn Hill is now a National Historic Landmark and open for educational and historic home tours. While living at Hawthorn Hill, Orville would host wonderful gatherings and lawn parties for guests such as Lindberg, Governor James Middleton Cox as well as President Franklin D. Roosevelt. So as we were sledding, I wondered if Orville was looking down and grinning as our community came together on that very lawn for the best downhill sledding in the neighborhood. Parents and children were all bundled up with snow sleds and snowboards for a day of fun – which I imagine to be similar to ones the colorful Wright Brothers shared during their time in Dayton.
Alas, the business meeting has been rescheduled and the airports are back on schedule, but “taking a time out” and having fun with nothing better to do than seeing who could get to the bottom of Hawthorn Hill first was time well spent!
Historic Homes Tour
If you find yourself in Dayton, and are interested in historic homes, you may want to check out a historic homes tour. Other historic homes of Dayton residents include:
- The Patterson Homestead – This was originally the home of Revolutionary War veteran Colonel Robert Patterson and his wife. The homestead is open year round for tours, and the artifact collection has grown to include family-related artifacts that are housed in six period-style rooms.
- Paul Laurence Dunbar’s Home and Museum – This tour provides visitors with a riveting look into Dunbar’s life, his poetry and his relationship with his family. Born to former slaves in 1872, Dunbar was the first African American poet to earn international acclaim. He lived in the home with his mother and wrote several of his works there until his ultimate death in front of its fireplace when he was only 33 years old. His poetry continues to be a major influence on African American writers of our generation like Maya Angelou and Toni Morrison, both of whom credit Dunbar as an inspiration.
