The weekly Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1861, 1858-09-30
[From the Hartford (Coan.) COurantl
The Deserted Villages.

In the State of Ohio, perhaps fifty miles
from Lake Erie, rises a little river dignifed
by the name OF Grand, which passes through
three counties with many turn and twist
and coil, and empties into the Lake about
thirty miles east of Cleveland. Two villa
ges, once thriving and busy, were built at
it's mouth; the one on the east shore called
Fairport, the one on the west, Richmond
The harbor was considered the finest on the
Lake, and vessels of oil kinds stopped for
freight and produce, or moored in storms
Richmond at one time numbered seven hun.
dred inhabitants. A row Of brick stores
were built on one side of a street which fol.
lowed the sweep of the river, and long
| line of warehouses on the other. 1t was the
outlet of the northern counties for grain and
produce. Large boat-like looking wagons
full of wheat, were driven in from distances
of thirty and forty miles. Fortunes were
made, streets surveyed, city lots laid out,
and churches and residences, hotels and
mills, erected and occupied. ..
But prosperity was short. A canal from
Beaver, in Pennsylvania, through the second
range of counties from the Lake, connecting
with the Ohio canal at Akron, drew the
produce and trade from the Lake towns, and
farmers, escaping miles of slow travel, sent
their loads directly to the canal boats in the
interior. From Akron the boats ran north
to Cleveland, and south to the Ohio river;
and until communication with Cleveland
was made still easier, Akron was one of the
largest wheat markets in the State.
visited Richmond few weeks ago, and
saw q man blowing over what was once
pleasant street lined with houses; saw the
cellars of the brick stores, and the mill, and
the site of the churches. Here and there a
deserted tumble down house, untenanted, is
still standing, between the farm houses; but
the row of warehouses has entirely disap-
peared. The Hotel is now a farm. m.house,
with "Mansion House" still legible on its
front. Beautiful and pleasant is the view
of the Lake and river, the opposite village
and the scattered white farm houses; but
sadness, at such desertion, removal and de-
cay, takes possession of ones mind, and
darkens it all. Most OF these buildings
have been removed to Painesvlle, the cOun-
ty seat of Lake county, q pleasant country
village, two miles farther inland, on the
river.
Fairport has not fallen qltc so low, for
it did not rise quite so high. There the
warehouses though empty, and surrounded
by water, are still standing, and occasional.
ly one receives bout load of freight. The
piers are still good, and sometimes prop i.
Ter, whose captain lives near the shore
comes in. A lighthouse is now being built
there, in place of one tom down US being
unsafe. Fairport is not quite dead, though
the pond lilies grow close by the raised
road, and the principal hotel has become d
barn. A few residences still adorn the
shore of the Lake and the hills near by, and
parties brave the miserable plank road from
Painesyile, for view of the Lake or to fish
A gentleman still resides there who at one
time carried the deed of fifty acres Of wha1
is now the southwestern part Of the village
of Painesville, in his hat for days, trying tc
sell it, and finally disposed of it for fifty dol
lars Land seemed then much more valu
able nearer Fairport. So differently the
tide of emigration and cultivation turns from
what the pioneers and early settlers expect
Cleveland rose and F4irport fell. Cleve'
land prospered and grew, and increased, un.
til it now numbers 45 ,000* inha bitanls, and
attracts to itself all the shipping and agri
cultural interests Of the region about
Fairport stopped and waned, unit! few
struggling fishermen, and unfortunate own
ers OF land, are its only inhabitants, and the
ceaseless dashng Of the waters of the Lake
bringing drift.wood to its shores, its only
sound.
So we must be content TO see these once
pleasant places, grow old and die, and cher
ish our beautiful "Forest City," wishing hel
all prosperity ard long life. MV5lE.
*Pnt 5000 on top Of your figures, Mr.. Mysic.-
Cleveland Herald.