Mariemont Elementary School 3rd Graders visited the MPF Building where they learned about the first Pioneers of the Lower Little Miami Valley. MPF docents Cindy Dougherty and Marilyn Illig recounted tales of how pioneer families from the northeast traveled down the Ohio River on flatboats to create the first settlements in this area.
In 1788 Major Benjamin Stites landed with 26 other pioneers on the banks of the Little Miami River and built the first settlement, which they called Columbia. Eleven years later, the Ferris brothers, Eliphalet, Joseph and Andrew, along with their cousin John Ferris bought land from Benjamin Stites. Part of the land that Eliphalet and Joseph purchased would later become present-day Mariemont and Fairfax. They cleared the area, farmed the land, had children, and created a community. When they died, they were buried in the Ferris Family Cemetery. The Mariemont Community Church was later built next to the cemetery. The children enjoyed learning about life in the pioneer days, and had many questions for the docents! The students then walked over to the Ferris Family Cemetery where they explored the gravestones and monuments to discover the names of the children of these first Ferris families.