DVHSS 2024 Reunion – Dayton, OH
This year’s reunion ran from Thursday, June 20th to June 22nd in the Dayton, OH area, with our group headquartered at our hotel in Miamisburg.
The reunion began Thursday with the 2024 DVHSS Annual Meeting at the hotel. Reports were provided by each of our Committee Chairs. Members of the Society will be able to find the minutes of the meeting and details of the reports on the members only section of our web site in the near future. Following lunch at the hotel, we carpooled to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. Thursday afternoon our group visited the National Museum of the United States Air Force, the largest museum of its kind in the world. Although we allowed 2-1/2 hours, it only allowed for a cursory
view of the museum’s multitude of exhibits.
Dinner that night was at the hotel, with guest speaker Marsha Moses, who provided a remarkable presentation on the Quaker migration from Bush River in South Carolina to southwest Ohio. Marsha’s research linked in actual Hollingsworth descendants in her presentation of the migration.
Friday’s main venue was Dayton’s Carillon Historical Park. After perusing Dayton’s entrepreneur’s advancements, we ambled over for a guided tour at the Wright Brothers Pavilion, which housed the 1905 Wright Flyer III, the only airplane designated as a National
Historic Landmark. Our members visited other pavilions as time allowed. After lunch, the Springboro Area Historical Society was our group’s next adventure. A guided tour of the museum, the oldest building in Springboro, included a presentation of the Springboro Underground Railroad. This was followed by a guided walking tour of historic Springboro. Dinner that night was again at our hotel.
Margaret Farmer Planton’s Friday dinner presentation followed her father, Walter I. Farmer (a Thomas of Valentine descendant), through his time as one of the notable Monuments Men during the late stages of World War II, a group that saved millions of dollars’ worth of art, gold and other valuables stolen by the Nazi’s. Margaret, who aided Walter in drafting his genealogy book and memoir, gave a riveting account of the Monuments
Men exploits and Walter’s significant contributions.
The program for Saturday was ambitious. We started in Waynesville at the Miami Monthly Meeting, where Milton Cook discussed the Quaker religion in America and the history of the Quakers in Southwest Ohio. We then visited the Mary L. Cook Library and stopped at the historic Hammel House and Inn for lunch. The afternoon featured two hours at Fort Ancient Earthworks and Nature Preserve, one of eight Ohio Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks recently approved as a UNESCO World Heritage site. The visit commenced with a presentation on the grounds, which
included a spirited discussion by our members (what’s new). Our group then toured the museum, which included a documentary film on the Ohio ancient earthworks. Most members finished with a drive-by of the extensive preserve. Upon many requests to your leader, we opted to return to the hotel to freshen up, before returning to the historic Golden Lamb restaurant for our reunion wrap up and Annual Dinner.
The reunion was thoroughly enjoyed by our intrepid members, who maintained a happy disposition during the entire program
despite the 90-degree heat during the reunion. Now we look forward to our 2025 reunion.