Rendville: Place Memories
About
Introduction
The 2024 Ohio field school took part from March 10th- 16th located primarily in Perry County, Ohio. One of the four main projects focused on a small-town known as Rendville, located in the southern portion of Perry County. With a rich history spanning over a century, there have been many projects centered around the town. One of which was completed by fellow Ohio State students, Lydia Smith and Jake Kopcienski, where they documented the Rendville/ Scotch Hill cemetery that resides in the town. Lydia and Jake then handed off the torch to current Ohio State students, Lee-Lee Knupp and Britton Kritzwiser, to further complete research in the area alongside the Rendville Historic Preservation Society, RHPS President Harry Ivory, and the Ohio State University Center for Folklore Studies. Our main goals while in Rendville were to collect information and stories regarding a top-down map from the 1950s of Rendville taken by a “local photographer” (Information gathered from an informal interview with Jean Harris by Britton and Lee-Lee), deciphering grants given to Lee-Lee by Jim Hart, updating the cemetery log created by Lydia and Jake, and looking deeper into the issues that the rerouting of OH-13 caused.
Summary of the Week
The first day, we arrived in Rendville was March 11th, at around 10 a.m. They pulled up on the side of Main Street right next to the Historic Town Hall and right behind the truck of Harry and Janis Ivory. Once out, we exchanged greetings with Janis and Harry before entering into the Town Hall. This led us to move our discussion inside of Jean Harris’ church because of the heat present inside. This is where project ideas were outlined, and we were introduced to Jim Hart, and we told him about the Ohio Field School and our project. With new connections made, and the process of labeling the 1950s map coming to the forefront of this project, we were very optimistic for the week to come.
The second day, we decided to shy away from further ethnographic work and focus mainly on information gathering with the Perry County Library located in New Lexington, Ohio. Many useful pieces of information were located, including Maps of Rendville and the surrounding area from the early 20th century, newspaper clippings regarding Rendville, and population/demographic graphs demonstrating changes over a 20 year period. Photographs and scans of these can be found in the Ohio State University Archives.
The third day. Harry and Janis Ivory provided much insight into locations on the 1950s map which have not been labeled. Along with this, a service project conducted by Ohio University was going on. They were helping the town and the RHPS by painting the little white house that is located on Main Street. Towards the afternoon, Harry Ivory invited us to take a driving audit of the entirety of Rendville and the surrounding areas. While driving, Harry would tell stories about certain locations and further help us fill in areas yet unmarked on the map. Towards the end of the day, we went up to the cemetery with Harry, Janis, and the Ohio University students and staff to log a few more graves to the cemetery.
At the beginning for the fourth day, Harry showed us several maps regarding the early constructions and projects in Rendville, the rerouting of OH-13, and maps depicting property information from the early to mid- 20th century. The latter half of the day, we conducted our first formal interview. While making connections earlier in the week, Jim Hart stuck out to both of us; his enthusiasm and energy towards the area and preservation work in general were admirable. He had not been a part of any projects done by the Ohio Field School or any other academic bodies. Lee-Lee Knupp led the interview with Jim Hart about his life and experiences in Perry County, Ohio (read more in the ‘Jim Hart’ tab).The final day in the field was a somber one. The weather outside was dreary, and the enjoyment we experienced throughout the week was starting to feel more like a memory than the present moment. However, the day in the field was still a great experience. Upon arriving in Rendville, we decided to interview another individual we met earlier in the week, David James. Similarly to Jim Hart, David James had yet been included in any OFS work, so this opportunity posed a chance to gather new information and hear another perspective. Britton was leading, and the interview went well. Afterwards, we conducted an informal interview with Jean Harris to further outline the map with information she provided.
Overall, our time in the field was very productive and informative. It have us a chance to dive into subjects fairly untouched by previous research and explore differing perspectives of individuals living in the area. More information on the map is present in the next tab.
Major Findings
As we focused on labeling and situating the 1950s aerial map, the straightening of Route 13 kept coming up. The much-traveled road used to lead straight into downtown Rendville. The rerouting took place over a long stretch of the road for the intention of making the drive safer–also supposedly the reason the turns into Rendville were altered. These changes, however, majorly affected Rendville. It cut off the town, inhibiting its plans to expand. We looked at a very long map of the old and new version of Route 13 with Harry Ivory and were startled at how subtle the changes were. They were just enough to make it much less likely for someone to drive into Rendville or visit the downtown.
“They could have reconfigured the old set up into an exit off of 13, and Harry bets that they thought of that. He says the perpendicular turn is considered safer. He is hesitant to say it out loud, but he suggested that the way they rerouted 13 was intentional to stop Rendville from growing. I asked if he suspected it. He said no—he knows it.” -Excerpt from Lee-Lee’s field notes
A lack of care for Rendville became increasingly apparent as we investigated how outside groups interacted with the town. One of the streets leading into Rendville from Route 13 is listed on online maps and some older hand-drawn maps as Valley Street. However, everyone we talked to in Rendville called it Sycamore Street, as did a few of the older maps. Hen we asked Jean Harris why this was the case, she said it was incompetence. That people who were doing these projects didn’t care. She seems a bit pessimistic about good recordkeeping when it comes to Rendville. Preservation has also been a struggle. Nearly all of the buildings from the aerial photo we’ve been working with are not there. Jim Hart reflects disappointedly on the lack of foresight into the value of places in Rendville, Corning, and across Appalachia, including Britton’s hometown of Waverly, Ohio. But there is hope. His work locating property deeds in Rendville ensures that someone can be responsible for buildings like the townhall and enables them to apply for grants. He has also been involved in restoration projects like the Tecumseh Theater in Shawnee, which has once again become a site of community gathering.
We also get a continued sense of a complex insider-outsider dynamic. Many people who grew up in Rendville and feel connected to it no longer live there. Many of the people that do live there now have not gotten involved in the work of the RHPS. So, the dominant portrayal of Rendville is perhaps more a memory of a place than an account of the current place. As the lively homecoming days no longer happen regularly at the scale they once did, young descendants of former Rendville residents do not feel a connection to the town. So, when youth do get involved, they are often volunteers or researchers, like OSU and Ohio University students. Most students are in temporary situations, so many projects feel fleeting, surface-level, and/or extractive. When we met David James, he was immediately suspicious of us. Thankfully, the previous work done by Lydia Smith and Jake Kopcienski and their ongoing relationship with community members also cast us into a positive light. Jean Harris told David that we were “the good guys.” Throughout this project, we’ve worked to explicitly define and interrogate our intentions, positions, and approaches as outsiders in order to best serve our community partners and everyone else we have been lucky enough to meet and speak with.
Future Recommendations
The Rendville Historic Preservation Society has huge ambitions; the work we did in one week barely scratches the surface. While we have gotten a start on naming the places shown on the aerial map from the 1950s, there is much more to be done on this project. There are many places mentioned by Jean Harris that we weren’t able to place exactly on the map. We would also like more peoples memories of the places we do have labeled to understand what else they were at different points in time. Ideally there would be an online, interactive story map that includes various photos and stories about these places.
The Rendville Cemetery is another important part of the historical society’s work that future projects can assist, like installing a fence, erecting a monument to the unmarked graves, and generally maintaining the space. New graves have been added to the cemetery in recent years, despite the state of Ohio deeming it an inactive cemetery. This is a point of confusion that could be clarified.
There is also much to be done on Rendville’s Firsts– groundbreaking Black citizens of Rendville. Sophie Mitchell’s and Roberta Preston’s lives are not as well documented as Richard Davis’s or Isaiah Tuppins’s. Family history projects would help this effort as well as aid in finding and reaching out to others who have memories of Rendville and its residents.
Who We Are
Britton Kritzwiser is a second-year Medical Anthropology major with a minor in folklore and german. Britton is a lover of all animals and flags. His research interests revolve around medicine, Appalachia, and culture. Some of his favorite parts of the field school were making dinner with fellow cabin one members, Blaise and David, taking a driving tour of Rendville with Harry Ivory, and getting to speak with Jim Hart about his experiences in the area.
Lee-Lee Knupp is a fourth-year Comparative Studies and Mathematics double major from eastern Kentucky. Their research interests include science and technology studies, laboratory studies, and history of science. They love crafts, chocolate, and connecting with people. Some of their favorite parts of the field school were walking around with Jim Hart and watching cable TV movies at night with their cabinmates Andrew and Casey.