FELICITY, Ohio — A local historian will give two talks on the village’s past this Saturday during the Felicity Gourd and Harvest Festival, covering both the community’s place in American history and the story of its earliest churches.
Ralph Adams will present “Felicity 250” at 1:30 p.m. at Towler’s Auction Service, 506 N. Market St., focusing on how U.S. history shaped Felicity and how the village contributed to the nation’s story, according to a post from the Clermont County Historical Society.
“I’ll discuss ‘Felicity 250,’ concentrating on how United States history impacted Felicity and how Felicity contributed to the nation’s history,” Adams said in the post.
At 3 p.m., Adams will lead a second talk at Felicity United Methodist Church, 421 W. Walnut St., on the history of Franklin Township’s churches. The discussion will cover Methodist circuit riders, the township’s original churches and cemeteries, the short-lived Spiritualist settlement at present-day Utopia, and how the slavery question split two of Felicity’s congregations, Adams said in the post.
Utopia, a hamlet along the Ohio River in Franklin Township, was founded in 1844 by followers of French philosopher Charles Fourier. The commune dissolved after about two years, and Spiritualist leader John O. Wattles then bought the land and relocated a group of followers there. A flash flood on Dec. 13, 1847, destroyed the settlement’s hall and killed most of its residents.
Felicity itself was laid out in 1817 by founder William Fee and was originally known as Feestown before it was renamed at his daughter’s request. The village, now home to about 650 residents, sits at the intersection of state routes 133 and 222 a few miles north of the Ohio River.
The Clermont County Historical Society, founded in 1958, is an all-volunteer nonprofit that collects, preserves and interprets the county’s history. It is headquartered at Harmony Hill in Williamsburg.
Both talks are part of the Felicity Gourd and Harvest Festival, an annual community celebration this weekend that also includes a parade, car show, live music and other contests, according to the post.
The information contained in this story was obtained from the Clermont County Historical Society.