biking through Camp Dennison

When riding north from Milford on the Loveland Bike Trail the first structure encountered in Camp Dennison is the Waldschmidt House. I always look at it because it has an old vintage bike in front that has been rusting away for years. When I saw a small hand painted open house sign we slammed on the brakes and swerved over to check it out.
The Waldschmidt House served as an officer barracks and also as a medical center for freshly recruted soliders for the Civil War. This was in 1861 when Camp Dennison was established as military recruiting, training, and medical post for the United States Army. From the very early 1900s until the early 1950s The Waldschmidt House was a dry goods grocery.
Fast forward to today and the owner wants to open a coffee shop, but he complains the zoning board won't give him a variance. The resistance comes from the fact a farm across the street has been trying to convert to residential and the board is worried once they make one change the flood gates will open. When he told me that I said, "HA! my urban planner buddies call that form-based code, let the building be what it wants to be." He made a little face because I don't think he wanted to side with someone from the city but what choice did he have. He just wanted the building to go back to what it was sixty years ago. The place is definitely an interesting time capsule, hopefully he gets to open his coffee shop, its halfway between Milford and Loveland, we'd stop every single time.

He found a bayonet and a musket ball while digging in the yard.
The owner moved a counter and found 13 cents. They were dated from 1891 through 1940s, except for one from 1981 that I joked a time traveler must have dropped. He thought it was interesting the store was open for almost 50 years and they only misplaced 13 cents.


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