[upbeat music] Historic homes of rich and prominent people hold a certain fascination.

They propel us back to a bygone era when wealthy families had maids and butlers.

When ladies gathered in the front parlor and men retired after dinner to the billiard room for a smoke.

In northwest Ohio, the early settlers lived in simple dwellings like log cabins.

But as the area began to prosper because of trade on the rivers and canals and through the gas and oil boom of the late 19th century, industries began to grow and people of means moved into the area.

Those who made their fortunes here or who moved here to make money wanted to show off their wealth And neighborhoods featuring grand homes sprang up from Toledo to Lima.

These old houses have stories to tell that go beyond the beauty and artistry infused in them by local craftsmen.

In this episode, we feature three homes, the stately Walcott House in Maumee, built in 1837 by James Wolcott and his wife, Mary Walcott, the granddaughter of Miami chief Little Turtle, the beautiful Rakestraw bishop house in Findlay in a magnificent pastoral setting that dates back to 1847 and the Averil House, one of the most grand homes in historic Perrysburg.

Built in 1873.

[upbeat music] [Tense music] In the early 1800s, many people who were part of the Native American nation, known as the Miami called Northwest Ohio home.

But it was a time of transition, change and tension as white settlers moved in.

There was a lot of pressure being put on the Native Americans in that there were Confederacy's being formed or wars going on or changing alliances.

However, the Miami had a broad range hunting down to the Ohio Valley up towards Chicago in over towards the Great Lakes.

Here on the banks of the Miami in northwest Ohio, where the river bends overlooking McKee's Island, just across from what later became the city of Perrysburg.

A white businessman, James Wolcott, purchased some land in 1826 to build his home and farm with the help of his wife, Mary Wells Wolcott, whose grandfather was the famous Miami chief little turtle.

[indigenous music] Quite a bit of Mrs. Walcott's Mary Wells Walcott's money provided for the acquisition of this property was she got in a settlement from the Federal Government.

Mary Wells Walcott was the daughter of William Wells and his Native American bride, Sweet Breeze.

Wells was captured by the Miami when he was just a teenager while out hunting.

He resisted his captors and they were so impressed that they spared his life and brought him to live among the Miami.

It was there near the headwaters of the Maumee River that he met and fell in love with Chief Little Turtle's daughter, Sweet Breeze.

William Wells had fought under Little Turtle and gained quite a bit of respect.

But Wells eventually left Miami and reunited with his natural family after meeting his brother Samuel, a prosperous plantation owner in Kentucky.

William became a successful farmer himself and later served as a scout for General Anthony Wayne in his campaigns against Native Americans.

And fate pitted him against his own father in law.

Little Turtle, he had more or less reached a pact with his own father in law that should they meet in battle, they met his enemies or.

[gunshot] [tense battle music] Wells and his wife, Sweet Breeze, managed to stay together through it all.

And they had several children, including Mary, affectionately known as Polly.

[nostalgic music] Mary Wells.

Walcott grew up in white society at her uncle's farm in Kentucky, and many believe his plantation, in Glen view was the inspiration behind the southern flavored design for the Walcott House.

But the first house that Mary and James Walcott built around 1827 was a far cry from the one standing today.

We believe that he took a basic log, what they call braced frame construction and actually change the axis 90 degrees to take full advantage of the river scape.

And as James not only shot into prominence economically but socially and politically, that he began expanding his the architecture of the home, so to speak.

After many renovations.

The grand house that we see today came together around 1837 Throughout the 19th century, there are frequent references to this, this being the oldest frame home and the biggest home between basically the Mommy River and Detroit.

That certainly was well known and so were the occupants.

James Wolcott came from a prominent Connecticut family and was the descendant of a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

He became a judge and the mayor of Maumee.

He owned a war mill and was a successful farmer and steamboat builder.

The growth of the home and the expansion of the home coincides with the boom in river transportation in the steamboat.

It is said that this beautiful sach master piano that still sits in the parlor at the Walcott house was a gift from James Wolcott to his daughter and was brought from New York by Steamboat across Lake Erie.

[string music] The House itself, we know, is a social center and there's a lot of traffic.

They're doing a lot of entertaining here.

We also know because James Walcott is a judge.

There's probably official business going on and home legal activity going right on, the civic business going on in the home.

So there's quite a bit we feel this there's a hum of activity.

The Walcott House is now a museum passed on to the community from the last descendant of the Walcott line to reside there, Willa Hull, who died in 1957.

And as the years have passed, local folklore about the mansion on the Maumee has grown.

One story from a 1934 newspaper article said Judge Walcott was so proud of his mansion that as a gesture of grandness, he rode his horse into the center hallway, and the kitchen under the house is the source of much speculation.

It's said that Mary Walcott, being half Native American and half white, often left the basement door open so that other Native Americans in transit could find a place to unroll their blankets and a hearth to cook.

[mysterious music] And over the years, many people claim to have felt the presence of spirits in the house.

It seems that every house has traditions, has this sort of presence, if you will.

The presence of the past, I guess you can say, is our home filled with ghosts.

If they are, they're rather benign.

They're part of the home.

They're there sort of like I see it as an act of the home.

They're just part of the history of the home.

[mysterious msuic] [sombre music] When you first encountered this home in Hancock County outside of Findlay, immediately you're struck by the rolling hills, glistening creek and pristine setting.

But then the white brick Victorian with green trim pulls you in and makes you wonder what's inside.

[sombre music] This beautiful home has been in the Rakestraw strong family for 65 years.

It was purchased in a fire sale in 1939 and then totally renovated.

But the original structure dates back to 1847.

To begin with, it was a land grant from the state for purposes of the canals, and a man by the name of Walter Burton purchased the property for $100.

The 80 acres, which is what is here.

And he only owned it for a short time and he sold it to Edson Goyette for $900.

And he was originally the first seated attorney in Findlay.

And then he ran into financial difficulties and he was selling off his different properties.

And then Henry Bishop purchased it from Edson Goyette [running water] Eagle Creek flows past the Bishop Straw House and creates a sense of harmony as it abuts the landscape.

And in the early days, when the property was still used as a farm, it provided a source of water not only for the people who lived here, but also for the livestock.

But in the spring, heavy rains caused the creek to overflow, and debris from wooded areas clutter the floor.

[tense music] It happens nearly every season.

But back in June of 1855, it led to the untimely death of young Henry Bishop, a prominent farmer who was living here with his family.

And he went out with his hired hand and his oldest son, William, and to clear the debris away while they worked all day cleaning the debris away.

And he'd already been swimming back and forth across the creek to do this.

And at the end of the day, they decided, let's call it quits.

They were tired.

He didn't want to go down to cross on the bridge to come back up to the property So he started to swim back again.

However, he put on his boots and his coat and the water, I'm sure at that time was blowing pretty strongly because of the floods.

And he got sucked under and he said he came up a couple of times and asked for help and the hired hand gave him a ride and the family heard his screams from the home and run and ran outside.

And I get sucked under.

[tense music] The Bishop family believes that this historic glass plate photograph is Henry Bishop probably taken around the time of his death.

Henry's wife, Eve Smith.

Bishop and her six sons lived on the property in the original red brick structure for many years.

Eve died in 1896, and by 1939, the house had fallen into disrepair and back taxes were owed to the state.

That's when Dr. Edwin Rakestraw and his wife Dorothy bought the property.

My grandfather and grandmother bought it in 1939 and they happened to be just looking at the currier that they had taken to the lake on Saturday had been by this place as they drove around the countryside looking for a place that they'd like to buy and settle in and saw that it was up for auction that very morning.

And they jumped in the car and drove back to Findlay real quickly and made it back here in time to put their bid in.

And they purchased the home.

They found out later the same time the sheriff that was holding the sale also wanted the house.

So he had a bidder, there for himself to see if he could get the house.

And since then, I've also found out that one of the Bishop's great grandchildren came to the sale because he sai he had to get back his grandmother's house.

The house at the time was no prize.

The porches were falling down and there were little pigs running underneath, and it had a dirt floor basement.

But after three years of remodeling and reconstruction, the rug straws moved into their lovely new home.

Dr. Strauss wife, Dorothy.

My husband's grandmother, said she wanted to have the opportunity to see all the different beautiful views with a creek out front in the rolling hills.

And so they designed it with the bay windows.

[piano music] They added on the what we call our family room now.

[piano music] And behind the kitchen, they added on a two story addition.

[piano music] My grandfather was a doctor and They had two children.

They spent approximately 2 to 3 years redoing the house and adding a tenant house and adding on to the barn.

But during that period of time.

My grandfather started his brown swiss dairy cattle.

Also.

Being a physician was not hands on involved.

He was a gentleman farmer.

When grandmother moved to a nursing home and realized she could no longer care for the house she had come to love.

She asked her grandson, Greg, to take over the family home.

[reflective music] This was her place.

She loved it.

Didn't want to leave it.

And was here.

Well into her nineties before it.

She just physically couldn't.

Couldn't stay here anymore.

Greg and Sandy are responsible for the tasteful, elegant decor and for bringing the house back to life once again.

When they moved in back in 1993.

The upstairs hadn't been lived in in 25 years, and all the heat was shut off and the woodwork was all cracking and the wallpaper was hanging down.

And when I started to decorate this house, I tried to keep in mind that it was an old house and I, I didn't want to go super Victorian because the outside of the house didn't dictate a bunch of gingerbread stuff.

So I tried to do it dignified and in tailored, but yet somewhat older.

And I love our bedroom, our master bedroom I like it all.

It's just homey.

It's the greatest.

[piano music] And Sandy and Gregg say they also hope that one of their children who are all grown now will one day take over the family home.

Greg is sure that his grandmother would want it that way.

When my grandmother died, I had been in the nursing home the night that they told me she thought she was going to pass on.

And so I stayed with her and we talked and and I came home and went to bed and she died, I think, about 2:15 a.m. or 3:15 a.m. in the morning.

Got the call.

Ironically, when I picked up my watch, my watch had stopped at the time that she had died.

And of course, we have little stories now.

We share cupboards open and close, maybe our imagination, but we say grandma is in the house.

Grandma is taking care of the house.

[final piano chord] Perrysburg, Ohio, is a charming Wood County city on the banks of the Miami River But from 1820 to 1840, it was a major shipping port on Lake Erie, along with Cleveland and Buffalo.

At the time, transportation was largely restricted to river because the Great Black Swamp made many roads a muddy mess most of the time.

So Perrysburg, being located on the northern rim of the area, was in a prime location.

The hope and promise of the future of the town encouraged many wealthy East Coast families to relocate with their money and Eastern sensibility.

They built showplace homes, many along the river on Front Street, and the Averil family was among them.

[string music] In 1873, Attorney Henry Oeneral wanted a new house as a special gift for his new bride, Arabella Dodge Hufford.

And so his father, Henry P Averil, a prominent Perrysbur citizen associated with the Pech and Averil flour mill, gave his son land right next to his own home.

Some accounts say Henry built the house.

Others say it was built by his father.

[string music] This grand Victorian home in the heart of historic Perrysburg was designed by Isaac Hobbs and Sons of New York.

It's described as a Hudson River mode gothic revival.

It has two shingled gable roofs and decorative ornamentation.

Although it's surrounded by other noteworthy homes, it commands attention because of its beauty and stature.

And when it was complete in 1873, it was the toast of the town.

And I know that when they built this house, it was supposedly one of the more modern because it had indoor plumbing.

It had speaking tubes, which we haven't seen evidence of.

But so that was considered to be this was a very modern house back then.

Henry Averill practiced law in Toledo, and for many years he was associated with his father in law, Frederick Dodge, and construction of railways in Ohio and Illinois.

He also served as a commissioned officer in the Civil War.

He and Arabella lived in the house until 1880 when their children took over.

They were two generations of angels that lived here.

So that's another really unique thing about this house, was we are really only the third family to own the house in that many years.

Kay and David made the house their own since buying it in 1982.

Once you step inside, historic elegance gives way to ultra modern chic with clean lines and muted colors.

[jazzy music] I'm real more eclectic.

I just.

I like lots of different things and I personally prefer.

Houses that aren't decorated in the same era as the house itself.

The living room has changed dramatically over the years.

A wall was removed to create one big room, and the original hardwood floors upon closer inspection reveal a hint of spring with flowers that were painted randomly across the room, directly on the floor.

Hanging overhead in the graceful center hallway is one of three original gas lighting fixtures in the house.

Owners before us converted to electric.

But I think that's unique in that they are still in good shape and here.

The din, which was once the front parlor, has 12 foot ceilings and elegant, tall windows and the original shutters.

A lot of the glass in the windows is still original glass So it's things are.

It depends on what window you look out, if it's distorted or not.

But the old glass is very wavy and distorts things.

But there's a lot of the old glass still.

The den also has an original fireplace that's been converted to gas.

[piano music] The formal dining room has a decorative focal point.

This white cupboard is actually painted into the wall.

[piano music] The kitchen continues the modern theme.

McKay has been careful to preserve one historic feature in the room.

I think the fireplace in the kitchen is probably the most unique part of the house.

It's the original fireplace and cooking oven, which is above it, and that has a date inside of 1874 so that there are the ovens where they bake.

But then above are the warming ovens.

And it doesn't work like it used to now, but it does stay warm.

We can keep food warm in it.

[piano music] Just off the kitchen in the back of the house is one room that Kaye and her husband added since living here.

A spacious, screened in porch that overlooks the backyard and in-ground swimming pool.

Back in the front of the house, the center stairway leads from the foryer up to the upper two floors and six bedrooms upstairs.

The previous owners did do quite a bit of renovating and they did such a great job.

It's hard to tell really what's original and what's not.

But they made it a very much easier for today's living.

[jazzy music] Kay says one of the interesting things about living in an older home is that she and the previous owners found little things left behind by the avril's.

Like these photos and this picture of Fred Averil who was the last member of the royal family to live in the home.

He died in 1957, and since he had no children, it's believed he was the last member of the family in the area.

Kay also came across a letter written in 1892 by Arabella to a friend in Toledo.

Dear Agnes.

Alfie expects to go down to Toledo tomorrow morning to do some errands.

And if he does, he will go down to your house for that package.

We got a letter from Papa today saying he had spent a few hours at Cousin Mary Nickerson and is now at Anfield It is cloudy and rained here this morning as I suppose it did down there, as there isn't a bit of news.

I shall have to stop right soon.

Goodbye.

Love and kisses.

This beautiful home built for Arabella is amazingly unchanged on the outside from the days when she lived here.

The circular driveway still maintains its original shape, and the gingerbread trimmed front porch is still intact.

And many passers by are captivated by it.

They stop by.

They leave notes at the door.

They sometimes they ring the doorbell and talk to us.

Just notes, sometimes saying how much they love the house.

My husband's big on history, and both of us like the character that you find in old houses versus new and a lot of that.

I think that did draw us to it.

It took a while, I think, really?

Before I really realized.

How much history there was here.

But we were told by the previous owners that they had taken a lot of things to the library that they found in the house when they bought it.

I don't know how long it took me to go to the library, but I finally did and looked at everything and then realized this was really was a special house.

[upbeat music]