FORT JACKSON
A section of earthwork adds interest to this homestead.
Recent improvement of the old fort Jackson homestead located at 3845 Westerville road by the present owners, Mr. and Mrs. Richard A. Forster, has served to recall the past of this historic building. It was built by pioneer settler Zenus Jackson in 1856, and is unique in the fact that it stands in the center of a prehistoric earthwork. It is probably the only edifice so located in the United States.
The visitor approaches the massive two-story. 10-room brick structure through a worn, gravel driveway. The drive is flanked on the right by a segment of the earthwork, which is covered with towering trees. He gets a glimpse of massive chimneys at either end of the main building and of a convenient side porch with substantial supporting columns. He grasps A little better the expansiveness in which the early owners lived when he stands in the main hallway and peers up the wide stairwell to the ceiling of the second story. One looks in wonder as he enters one of the spacious bedrooms, which measures 16X18 feet and has a 12-foot ceiling. The entire woodwork of the house is of either cherry or walnut, sawed from timber cut on the farm. A spacious mansion in early days was evidence of wealth and position to a greater extent than any other material display. This was evident in the mind of Zenus Jackson when he built his imposing farm home.
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