Goodbye, Captain Aaron Root Home?

The view this past Sunday

Take a good look at this tranquil country scene – because it's going to disappear soon. The view is looking south at the southwest quadrant of the intersection of Colorado Avenue (State Route 611) and Abbe Road in Sheffield Village.

It was noted in The Press on January 22, 2014 that a new Dollar General store for the southwest corner of the intersection is in the planning stages. It would sit right across from St. Teresa of Avila Parish and its cemetery.

According to this article in The Press by John Edwards, it remains for the Ohio Dept. of Transportation formally approve the creation of a lane that will enable eastbound autos on Colorado Avenue to more easily make a right turn to Dollar General.

Here's an aerial view of the area, with the southerly direction at the top of the picture.

Courtesy Sheffield Village
Historical Society & Cultural Center

What's really sad is that the old Captain Aaron Root house (at left) will most likely be demolished, as it is located near the rear of the land that is being developed. Captain Aaron Root was a Great Lakes shipmaster from Sheffield. He was known for secretly smuggling runaway slaves on their way to freedom in Canada aboard his ships.

You can read an extensive history of Captain Aaron Root and the whole Root Family here in this great article that appeared in the December 2012 issue of The Village Pioneer, Newsletter of the Sheffield Village Historical Society & Cultural Center.

Here's another view of the home that Captain Aaron Root lived in until the mid-1800s (below), courtesy of the Lorain County Auditor Website.

It's strange knowing that the scene below (photographed as I drove by it on the way home from work on Monday) will probably become a thing of the past, and thus one of the oldest homes in the county – ramshackle as it is – will disappear.