News

Start your engines for the Rubber City Road Rally set for Saturday June 9th.  This annual fundraiser hosted by the Society will start at the Perkins Stone Mansion and end at the Piggery in Barberton managed by the Barberton Historical Society.  Guy and Renée Pipitone are Honorary Chairs of the event that raises funds to support education programming hosted by the Society throughout the year including Stories with the Sheep, Singing with the Sheep, and also new this year - Evening with Ewe.

Tickets are still available for the 14th annual Rubber City Road Rally by visiting the Society’s newly designed website at https://www.SummitHistory.org.  Our Premier sponsors for the 2018 event are Bob Hutchison and Tom Hutchison.  The Lisle M. Buckingham Endowment Fund of Akron Community Foundation is the Checkered Flag Sponsor.  Tickets are $100 per person or a table of 8 is $700 when purchased together.  The theme is diamonds, matches (matchbox cars) and sWine.  Join us for the rally (a course set with questions to answer and win the trophy) at 3:30 p.m. or jump in as the party starts at 5:15 p.m. in Barberton. The event includes your rally details, all your food, beverages (adult and soft drinks) with dessert and coffee served by Garbucks.  The deadline for reservations is June 2 so contact us soon to reserve you spot on the starting line!

The Society’s new website was designed by Triad Communications thanks to a grant from the Kenneth L. Calhoun Charitable Trust.  Society staff members Charlotte Gintert and Claire Lucas were responsible for coordinating all the content placed on the new design. Check out new images by Captured Glimpses and a clean new look to navigate you to Society events and local history information.

Join AngelReader and Psychic Laura Lyn for a Realm to Realm event at the John Brown House on Friday, June 1st from 7:30 – 10 p.m.  The cost is $35 per person. Guests will have a chance to hear about those in their presence as well as to learn more about themselves during the course of the event.  Please call the Society office at 330.535.1120 to make a reservation.  Tickets are limited.

The Society’s June 12th Akron History Hike has already filled all its spots for a walk through the Wingfoot Lake Airdock. The series continues to highlight the history of World War I and Akron’s influence in the ally victory. Our next hike will focus on Summit County geography with a visit to Deep Lock Quarry on July 10 in collaboration with Summit Metro Parks.

The sheep returned to Mutton Hill on May 12th!  12 lambs and two ewes are grazing on the front lawn of the Perkins Stone Mansion.  Herding demonstrations with border collies will continue on select Mondays and Wednesdays through the summer. The dogs are owned and trained by Edie Steiner, who has competed in stock dog trials for more than 10 years. Three dogs, “Mobido,” “Rudy” and “Lincoln” have received awards for demonstrating handler excellence.

Through August, the grounds of the Perkins Mansion will be open free to the public Monday-Friday, 9:00am – 4:00pm; and 12:00pm – 4:00pm on Saturdays.

Five sheep programs will be held in June so mark your calendar to catch us at one or all of them. 

            June 20 – Working Dog Wednesday at 4 p.m. (Free and open to the public)

            June 22 – Singing with the Sheep at 10:30 a.m. (Free and open to the public) This program is a collaborative with Baldwin Wallace music therapy students and this event is funded in part by WalMart and our local Sam’s Club.  Free kazoos while they last.

            June 22 - Evening with Ewe – Wine & Painting from 6-9 p.m. (Registration is required - $50 for members, $70 nonmembers)

            June 25 – Mutton Hill Monday from noon – 1 p.m. (Free and open to the public)

            June 29 – Stories with the Sheep at 10:30 a.m. (Free and open to the public) This program is a collaborative with Akron-Summit County Public Library.

We look forward to celebrating the completion of the John Brown House soon.  Depending on the construction timeline, details will be released about an open house.  Interested in learning more about this State of Ohio funded project?  Please contact Leianne Neff Heppner at Leianne@summithistory.org.

Upcoming Programs for July:

July 7 – Annual Family Fun Day from noon – 4 p.m. (free and open to the public)

July 10 – Akron History Hike at Deep Lock Quarry starting at 7 p.m.

The Society is collaborating with The Spicy Lamb Farm of Peninsula to bring the flock to the mansion grounds. Owner Laura DeYoung, Executive Director of Urban Shepherds, Inc., is excited to see sheep brought back into the city. “We hope to promote urban sheep grazing as a cost-saving and environmental alternative to mowing.”

The property is owned and maintained as a historic house museum by the Summit County Historical Society. John Brown was employed by Perkins to tend the flock of 1,300 Merino sheep that was known as one of the finest flocks in Ohio. Brown lived with his family in the 2-room house at Diagonal and Copley Roads, and traveled to Europe to promote the wool business.

“Mutton Hill” is the name that residents of 19th century Akron gave to this 150-acre farm. Four generations of the Perkins family lived at the Stone Mansion estate. Simon Perkins built a reputation for fine wool, later becoming an Ohio senator who founded Summit County. Perkins’ son George Tod Perkins, who also lived at the mansion, became the second president of BF Goodrich Company.

A grant from the R. C. and Katharine M. Musson Charitable Foundation supports the return of the sheep.