In 1837
Aaron Wright Meeker received 160 acres of Lots 26 and
32 from his parents Stephen and Polly
Meeker,
who originally
came to the Firelands from Vermont.
Heavily forested,
A. W. cut
the trees by hand to build a farm on what would become Huron
Township's most valuable tract of land. In 1959 he built
The
Old Homestead for his family, which still stands today.
Upon his death in 1896
his daughters Metta Breckenridge and Hannah Stein
inherited the farm and embarked
upon separate land development
ventures that would turn the old
Meeker farm
into an area of summer cottages and
resort beaches, Chaska Beach in
1925 and Old Homestead in 1927. In Old Homestead, the streets are named in honor of the Native Americans who once claimed the area before the 1805 Treaty of Fort Industry.
Old Homestead-on-the-Lake was established on August 7, 1927
when the Old Homestead Beach Association was granted ownership
of Harbor View Beach, Mansell Beach, tennis courts, and two
parks from R. A. Breckenridge, trustee for owner Metta Breckenridge.
The former lake front farm area,
noted for having one of the
finest beaches
on Lake Erie and once
owned by Aaron Wright
Meeker,
became a site primarily for summer cottages in the spring
of 1922
when Greenleaf Realty began selling lots.
The original
entrance served as
Stop 22½ for the Lake Shore Electric
and
serves
today as a
reminder when
Huron
became a
vacation
destination, which forever changed the village.
Comments 0 comments