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George Washington Roades (1838-1890) settled in Salem Township in 1864 and built a 20 by 24 foot log house on what is now Baker Road, off State Route 131, near Pricetown in Highland County, southwest of Hillsboro, Ohio.
The logs, hewn floor joists and flooring are white oak, taken from the surrounding groves.

George W. Roades' father, Henry Valentine Roades (1815-1891) in the early part of his married life was a teacher of mathematics in the county schools. In later years he turned his attention to farming and acquired a large acreage of improved land.

It is interesting to note that the parents of George W. Roades had nine children, and all but one remained in the vicinity and reared families. Therefore, there are many Roades descendants living in and near Clay and Salem Townships today.

George W. Roades opened a country store in 1877, doing "a good business, though still surrounded on nearly every side with native forest. He carried about one thousand dollars' worth of stock. In later years George's children told of their father's running the store and a post office and how he could make such good shoes and that he was considered a shoe cobbler."

The George W. Roades log house was acquired from Richard and Grace Baker in 1974 by Joseph and Thelma Hatfield, who donated it to the Village. Jane Ellen Fite, of nearby Harveysburg, bequeathed a sum in her will which provided a frame addition, which is named for her. Village members built the addition to contain modern plumbing for kitchen and bathroom use. Plans for the layout were presented to the Village by two fourth-year architecture students at the University of Cincinnati, Mindy Wargowski and Connie Garrison, through member Mrs. Paul Crane.

The house is now used as a home for the Village caretaker, and is not open to visitors. Information furnished in 1982 by descendant Betty Roades Shewmaker, Mt. Orab, Ohio. Mrs. Shewmaker refers to Book of Memoirs of my Ancestry, by Velma Roades Trant, Ref.: Alva W. Martin's History of Clay Township, Highland Co., and Buford, Ohio. History of Ross and Highland Counties, Ohio, William Bros., Cleveland, Ohio 1880.

Warren county was good for the Furnas family, and they prospered as did many other early Quaker families. By 1826 Seth Furnas had grown to manhood, and the time came for him to take a wife. On November 1, 1826 he married Dinah Kinley, daughter of Edward and Margaret Kinley.

Like most Quaker families in the area, Seth and Dinah were farmers and thus on the 15th of March, 1828 they purchased 150 acres from John Rhodes and thereon erected a two story log cabin. Seth and Dinah remained on this property until 1838, at which time it passed to another Furnas family and stayed until 1868.

Several families occupied the log house through the years and each family left its mark with various alterations and additions. In 1970 this property was purchased by the United States of America as part of the land acquisition for the Caesar Creek Lake Project. A historical survey by the U.S. Army Corps Of Engineers rediscovered the log structure, long since covered with Clap board siding.

In January of 1975 this building passed to Caesar's Creek Pioneer Village for their dismantling and moving. The Seth and Dinah Kinley Furnas house has been re-erected in the Village in nearly its original condition, and serves as the pioneer homestead.