Century Houses

After visiting Beyer's Pond on Friday, my drive home took me through the southern end of the city of Berea, along South Rocky River Drive... which used to be known as Main Street.  This area was once where the richest families of Berea lived, and it was also the location of Baldwin University, the precursor of present-day Baldwin Wallace University.  Berea's source of wealth was its stone quarries which produced high quality sandstone that was exported around the world.  The south side was known as the "Lord's side" of town... as opposed to the north side where the quarry workers lived.  But then in the late 1800s, it was discovered that much of the "Lord's side" sat upon another bed of sandstone.  Many of the homes, businesses and institutions (including Baldwin University) were razed to dig more quarries.

Only a few old homes along South Rocky River Drive survived the quarry mania.  I parked my car and walked around to take some photos of those fine old houses.

This house was once the home of John Wheeler, the first president of Baldwin University.  It is still a private residence and is on National Register of Historic Places

The most impressive of the remaining century houses is this mansion which was built by George Whitney, the owner of one of the quarries.  It dates back to the 1870s and is also on the National Register of Historic Places.

The cupola and decorative cornice of the house

The story goes that Whitney had several trees cut down so that he could watch his quarry workers from the cupola.

While doing some research on the Whitney House, I learned that there had been a fire in 1991.  Afterwards the house was carefully restored.  I was also surprised to discover that the house is now an Airbnb rental.  Here are a few pictures of the interior from the listing.

 

The entire four bedroom house rents for $300 per night.  If you had a group of friends or family members splitting the cost, that really is quite a bargain.