Rick Houser
In July 1975 my wife Sharon and I bought a two bedroom ranch home that was located on the corner of Felicity Higginsport and Smyrna Road. My folks had sold the farm and of course the home that we were living in so moving was more than just a want to it was also a must. One of the nice things I thought was that we were only a half mile from Felicity (the closest I had ever lived to a town and its conveniences). Since moving into a home built in the late fifties was so modern to the old farmhouse approximately built in 1860 and very drafty to say the least we felt a little like the theme song from the Jefferson’s (Moving on Up)!

Three years after our arrival to Smyrna Road we became parents to a daughter who we named Meghan, and not just our home changed but our entire lives changed for the better. But as time passed our daughter grew and with that came the arrival of her brother Brendan. Meghan tried to get the operator to give her the phone number for the orphanage, as she thought she wanted a brother but had changed her mind. Fortunately the operator couldn’t find that number and would have to call her back. Also fortunately for the both of them she never called back and we all are still a family (true story). As the time passed and the children grew it was important to keep the children entertained and I must say my wife did an awesome job at it and at times I did OK also.

When Meghan was in first grade and Brendan was still a baby I began to take Meghan on walks. This would have been much easier if we lived in town but we lived in the country and places of entertainment were very scarce. We spent many hours at the swingset and as she swung we sang “I Been Working on The Rail Road” over and over and over. She never seemed to tire of it. One summer evening I got this great idea or at least I hoped it was. Just about a quarter of a mile down the road from our home was a very old and abandoned township cemetery properly named Smyrna. So we decided to go on a walk which I entitled the adventure walk. That sounded like it had more reason to it. So off we went and we walked around the cemetery looking at the old gravestones, markers and even a vault that seemed to cause her to be leary but also curious. We spent a good hour there exploring and then walked on down the road as it is a dead end road and in those days only about three homes were on this road. This allowed for us to have a much safer walk. Shortly after walking a little further the sun began to set so we headed back home at which time upon our arrival she gave her mom a complete run down of our adventure walk. A few days later Meghan came to me and ask if we could take another exploration walk and it is very hard to say no to a seven year old, we did several that late summer and fall. That winter in one of the county newspapers there was an article about the legend of Princess Smyrna and how she came to be burned at the stake for being in love with a settler and the article claimed her death was in that cemetery. The article also said to this day her ghost could be seen on some nights. I read this to my daughter and as soon as the spring weather arrived she begged to go look for Princess Smyrna. Now for a parent needing to occupy their child’s time and keep her away so her mom could work on the house or work on paying a little attention to her little brother this couldn’t have been a better way to keep my daughter busy. So we went and we walked the cemetery from left to right and from front to back but we weren’t having any luck in finding the burial spot or seeing the ghost of Princess Smyrna. Somewhere along the summer Meghan told her neighbor and playmate Josh Hannah about our walks and what we were looking for and he too wanted to go also and see if maybe he could do any better. So I thought way not and when I ask his parents if he could go with us for an hour or two.

For a few years our walks to Smyrna Cemetery continued and along with the legend of the princess we learned there were a lot of interesting people resting there. As I recall the most current date of passing away was 1928. There is a fenced in stone that is a tall obelisk where a Dr. and his two wives and a daughter are all buried. Each one on each side of the stone. In the back of the cemetery and to the right are markers of men with a last name of Alexander. Most of them have military markers and dates showing they fought in the Civil War. I am not certain of this part but was always told they were black men, which to me makes them stand out even more as strong and brave men to say the least. Meghan, Josh and I learned a lot of history in that cemetery of approximately 100 graves.

Although we found many interesting names and writings on some of the stones and we picked several handfuls of wild flowers for the two of them to take to their moms there was and still is the original reason for going there. If you are thinking did they find or see princess Smyrna the answer is still no. But we had a lot of fun looking. That is the thing we should all try to do. Take the time to look and study and see just what is there. They did!

Rick Houser grew up on a farm near Moscow in Clermont County and loves to share stories about his youth and other topics. He may be reached at houser734@yahoo.com.