From the desk of Bernie Prochnick, Bath Library Director
The Bath Public Library is pleased to present author, Rachael Booth, “The Little Port in the Corn Fields” on Saturday, February 23rd at 2:00 pm.
In the fall of 1831, a band of 21 family members and friends ranging in age from a few months to the 44-year old family matriarch left the comfortable, agrarian community near current-day Dayton, OH to travel by river to a new place they would come to call home – a dismal place known as the Great Black Swamp. These hardy people all lived together in a single tent while they carved their town out of this desolate wilderness. This is the history of the northwest Ohio town of Evansport, tiny in size, but rich with history. Founded in 1831, the town founders, Jacob Coy and Albert G. and Amos Evans, built mills along the little Tiffin River, becoming a giant in the local and state lumber and grain milling industries. One merchant in the town, Francis Llewelyn Key, first cousin of the famous Francis Scott Key, owned and operated a tobacconist shop during the town’s heyday in the mid to late 1800s. Evansport prospered through the early 1900s until the coming of paved roads and automobiles made the usual arduous river travel obsolete. Today, Evansport is a sleepy little village with a population of around 200 with a hitherto unknown history that is fascinating to read and relive. The endurance of the hardy souls who carved this area and this town out of such an inhospitable place is something that has to be read to be believed.
Rachael Booth is a retired Naval Veteran that currently plays guitar and sings as part of Littleton Hospital’s Music Therapy program. She is a resident of Landaff, NH. This is her second book.
This program is free and open to the public. There will be light refreshments served.
For more information, contact the Bath Public Library at 747-3372 or e-mail bathlibrarykjb@gmail.com
The Landaff Ledger 