Stanford House

The view of Stanford House from the nearby Stanford Trail.

NPS/Josh Angelini

Quick Facts

Location:

6093 Stanford Road, Peninsula, Ohio 44264 (limited parking)

Significance:

The Stanford House is on the National Register of Historic Places. The house was built during the heyday of the Canal Era, reflecting the wealth and resources the Ohio & Erie Canal both brought in and transported out of the valley.

Designation:

Ohio and Erie Canalway National Heritage Area; Ohio to Erie Trail; Industrial Heartland Trail Network

Amenities

4 listed

Audio Description, Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Picnic Table, Wheelchair Accessible

James Stanford – one of the original settlers of the Western Reserve and surveyor for the Connecticut Land Company – claimed this land in 1806. Legend tells us that he suggested the name of Boston when the village decided to incorporate. Sadly, he didn’t live to see Boston become a bustling canal town.

His oldest son, George C. Stanford, no doubt profited from the Ohio & Erie Canal Canal. He built this Greek Revival house in 1843 and expanded the family farm to 283 acres by 1853. Over time, the family had sheep, dairy cattle, orchards, and grain. Besides farming, George and his son ran a lumber business on the property. They were both also active in local politics, serving many positions in public office, including Justice of the Peace. After his father's death in 1883, George C. Stanford inherited the farm and continued to raise wheat, cattle, and sheep.

George C. Stanford's daughter Ellen eventually passed the farm along to her nephew, Ernest Dickenson. Rena Fiedler, lifelong valley resident, remembers growing up on her grandfather Ernest's farm. Play the audio clip below to hear Rena talk about life on the Stanford Farm in the 1930s.

Today, the Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park offers overnight accommodations for individuals and groups in a restored Stanford House. The building’s interior reflects its historic character while also featuring furnishings crafted locally from sustainable and reclaimed materials. The house is normally closed to the public, except for lodging and for special programs.

The grounds of Stanford House have picnic tables for outdoor gatherings. Across Stanford Road from the house, the Stanford Connector leads to the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail. A 0.4-mile trail heads around the pond and to Hines Hill Conference Center. To hike the Stanford Trail, start at the Stanford Trailhead at the end of Stanford Road. From here, the 1.5-mile trail continues behind the barn and leads to Brandywine Falls.

• Life on the Stanford Farm

  
  

  Rena Fiedler, whose grandparents owned the Stanford Farm, recalls the products her grandfather raised and what the property looked like in the 1930s.
  Audio Transcript

  Well, Grandpa ran it, and Grandma did just about everything in the whole world. I think back and wonder how she ever did it. They had hired men, not always the same number, depending on what season they were in and what they were doing. And Grandpa was a farmer farmer, I mean, they lived because they farmed. But he farmed everything – he had cattle, and the horses, and chickens and pigs. I don’t know what they’d done with the other land; he had fields across the canal, which would be west of the main house, and all the fields west of the road. A lot of fields and also a “sugar bush” – that’s where they made maple syrup. And he had a sugar bush on the east side. He originally was on a little farm farther down the road, which was his parents’ farm. So when he started with the Stanford farm, he literally at one time had all the fields in the valley there.