Crawford Woods

Crawford Woods was the country estate of the Crawford family for nearly 125 years and a popular location for family picnics and Sunday School outings for East Hamilton residents for decades before it became a multiple-use Hamilton park. The 10-room Crawford house with four fireplaces was known as Forest Cottage. The house, built about 1835, was constructed with stones from nearby fields and streams and bricks molded and kilned from clay found on the land. It was occupied by three generations, starting with David Crawford and his wife, Jeannette Giffen Crawford. Later, it was the home of their son, David M. Crawford, and their grandson, William C. Crawford, who died in 1948 at the age of 79. In 1948, about 58 acres were conveyed for park and recreation use to the city by Robert Crawford Falconer and Mary E. Cavanaugh, heirs of William C. Crawford. Part of the land was available immediately to the city; the remainder, including the house, in 1958 upon the death of Miss Cavanaugh. The house was restored in 1967 and was the headquarters for MetroParks of Butler County for more than 30 years.