May 18, 2010
April 17 – Sixth Annual Chinese Auction – This year’s event has been expanded to include over 100 donated items from area businesses and society members. The event continues to grow each year. This year’s event will be held at the Catholic Community Center in Millersburg starting at 1:00 – 3:00pm for bidding with winners announced from 3:00 – 4:00pm. High quality area items worth at least $25.00 each are included. Come join the fun and excitement. Many high end items worth even more, plus many door prizes drawn throughout the day.
April 24 – Historical Society Annual Banquet – Chalet in the Valley - Join us for an evening of updates on society affairs, socialize and a great Historical Fashion Show based on historical characters that lived in the Victorian House and the surrounding area. Registration starts at 5:30 meal begins at 6:00, meeting and fashion show begins at 7:00pm.
May 24 – Murray Tunnel Mystery - A program on the research and exploration of the recently rediscovered man made underground structure found in southern Holmes Co. Come and hear what the experts and some test results have hypothesized as to who, what and why the structure may have been built and how old it may be. Holmes County Library May 24 starting at 6:30pm. Due to the popular nature of this program seating is limited.
July 3 – Holmes County Court House 125th Birthday Bash – Come and join us on a walking history tour of our restored county court house. Original blueprints of the court house were found and will be on display for one day only. Come and experience our Historic Downtown July 4th events and celebrate the history of our beautiful courthouse. 1:00-3:00pm
October 30 – Halloween Event and Paranormal Research Results Program – What’s all the ghostly activity at the Victorian House all about? Results of the Central Ohio Paranormal Research Group and other reported sightings will be presented twice during the course of the evening at 6:30pm and 8:00pm. The Victorian House will be open that night for ghostly tours on your own from 6:30 – 9:00pm. There will be a $5.00 charge to tour the house and attend the program. Light refreshments and ghoulish delights will be provided along with other scary surprises. Seating will be limited to 35 people per session. First come, first serve.
Nov. 20 – Dec. 31 – Holiday’s at the Mansion - Victorian House Museum – 28 room mansion decorated by area businesses, and organizations opens for holiday tours. The event has been written up in Victorian Homes Magazine as one of the finest holiday home tours in the country.
November 1, 2008
Probably the best known old building in Nashville is the old hotel. What is not known, however, is the exact date of its construction. The hotel is a wooden structure; a log building built in three sections. Originally the hotel was called The American House and records indicate it was remodeled in 1865 by Mr. and Mrs. E. J. Harris who renamed it The Sherman House.
Through the years the old hotel building has had many different uses other than hotel accommodations. It was, in part, a general store around the time of the Civil War and the Harrises advertised that The Sherman House had “A No. 1 barn for horses and carriages and good livery with same”. In the early 1890s, a portion of the hotel’s basement was also a storeroom for caskets and furniture. At various times parts of the building housed a hardware store, a harness-making shop, saloon, dry-goods store, grocery store, and millinery. These diverse businesses were often operated by various merchants.
Another part of the building was known as the Stone Jug section because it was made of large sandstone blocks. This section was used as a horse sale barn and a garage. Later, the local Knights of Pythias built their lodge hall over a basement section of the building. After World War I, they discontinued their meetings and the hall found many new uses: town hall, recreation center, apartment house, and barber shop. Today the old hotel is in use as living quarters.
An interesting side note — When the Harris family moved to Holmes County in 1817 and settled near Nashville, John Harris brought his emancipated negro slave with him as he migrated to Ohio. This man was called “Black Jake Harris”. After John’s death in 1863, Jake continued to live with the Harris children, spending his final days with Mr. and Mrs. E. J. Harris. The Harrises ran the well-known Sherman House Hotel and Black Jake helped out around this business and also worked as a janitor for the Nashville Methodist Church until his death. He is buried in the Nashville Cemetery beside the church.
 Line drawing of The Sherman House Hotel in Nashville (From The 1875 Holmes County Atlas) |
 The American House, mid 1800s, later renamed The Sherman House |
 Main Street In Nashville, Ca 1905, looking West toward the old hotel but blocked by trees and showing only its two chimneys |
 The old hotel as it looks today |
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September 22, 2008
| The Millersburg Opera House was a city building, a combination of city hall and Opera House. It was a large, elegant two-story structure with arched windows and an impressive, ornate tower. The building was built in 1890 and was constructed of brick and sandstone. It was located in downtown Millersburg on the corner of Jackson and Monroe Streets. The structure housed several village offices and the Millersburg Fire Department in addition to the Opera House. In early years the building was also used as a voting precinct during election years.
The fire station part of the building was located on the east end of the structure. It had sandstone pillars, wooden floors, and two large wooden doors at the front of the building that provided fire engines with easy access to Jackson Street.
The Opera House portion of the building was entered from Jackson Street through a very large arched vestibule entry and front door . Upon entering, there was a lobby and a ticket booth before progressing to the main theatre. Upstairs was the balcony. The Opera House could seat 250 to 300 people in its main seating section plus the balcony area! |
 Millersburg Opera House and City Hall ca. 1910
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In the early years the Opera House was used as a public entertainment center. It housed various performances, pageants, stage plays, etc., and local residents often took part in these presentations. After moving pictures became widely available, first-run movies were shown in the Opera House. It was the only movie theater in town and films ran seven days a week. Admission tickets were only six cents for a long time but eventually increased to a dime. On Wednesdays various merchants would sponsor movies at the Opera House and patrons could attend free of charge. Over the years the Opera House was used by many people and organizations: the Boy Scouts, a rifle range, and some can even remember playing basketball on the Opera House stage. Indeed, for years the Opera House provided the community with much good entertainment as well as a meeting place for various groups.
As time passed, however, a new movie theater was built on Clay Street, and the Opera House lost much of its business to this newer movie theater. Gradually the Opera House seemed to lose much of its usefulness, and the interior of the building fell into shambles over the years. Ultimately the fire department and village offices relocated to more modern accommodations, and finally the old Opera House was demolished in 1954 to make way for a parking lot.