LITTLE HOCKING - A family member of abolitionist Horace Curtis has decided to sell a home she purchased carrying the attachment of her beloved great-great-grandfather.
Judith W. Trustee-Gregg, of Little Hocking, is selling the home she purchased in 2003 after she fell in love with the scenic river views.
Gregg said a friend talked her into driving down Old River Road, when she stopped at the home nestled on top of a hill. She grew interested in her family history and made a stop at the cemetery to search for some family members.
Article Photos
Photo Provided
The home at 611 Old River Road in Little Hocking is the former home of Horace Curtis, abolitionist, and one of the sites of the Underground Railroad.
"I knew I was from around there," she said. "But there they were, all these Curtis' lined right up (in the cemetery plots)."
Gregg said the Curtis part of her family came to Ohio from Connecticut, and she grew excited about moving back to some of her roots. She has always had ties to the Parkersburg/Marietta/Belpre area in some way.
Gregg said she initially tried to purchase the home Curtis built and lived in a majority of his life, but was not able to. The house she discovered next, titled the Sawyer-Curtis House, is also a historic residence in Little Hocking. The home is located in Belpre Township and is a New England-style home built in 1798. It is believed to have been the first permanent structure to be erected anywhere in Belpre Township.
Along with serving as a house to Sawyer, Curtis and Gregg, the house has served several purposes in the past two centuries. According to records kept of the home, in 1824, located directly behind the house, the first post office of Little Hocking was built.
The building can now be used on the property as a guest house or barn. Gregg said she discovered the home while doing some digging at the Belpre Historical Society. Her family also has connections to the Old Cook Farm, that used to be in Belpre and is now where the historical society is located.
Gregg said she found the other home while searching.
"I went to the back room, the Underground Railroad room," she said. "There was a picture of a big white house on the wall," she said, explaining the description on the painting went on to say that Horace Curtis lived there, and was an abolitionist.
The home was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, along with the other home Curtis lived in, because of the historical significance.
Gregg said when she initially purchased the residence it was not in the best shape it could have been in. She has spent time and money fixing it up, in order to honor the establishment's historical significance.
Julie Clark, a realtor and seller of the home, said it has 100 feet of "river frontage" meaning there's plenty of room to build a dock.
"It's full of history," said Clark. "The views of the river are beautiful."
