When built the largest reinforced concrete bridge
anywhere. Old timers date everything as being
before or after the viaduct was built.
Colonel Foster was given a land grant instead of
payment of salary at the end of the civil war. It was
located just where the road from Cincinnati crossed the
Little Miami river. This became known as Foster’s
Crossing. The road later became Hiway 22 and
eventually a viaduct was built to cross over the river
without going down the hill and them up the other side.
At the time of construction the viaduct was the biggest
re-enforced concrete bridge anywhere. Old timers date
everything as being before or after the construction of
the viaduct. Tucked down between the hills by the river
is the unincorporated community of Fosters. Not much
there. A few old deserted buildings and now only one bar
left of the three that there once were. Up the river on
each side are dead end roads and there is one road
going south along the right bank. A few homes are
scattered along these roads.
My family bought a 70 acre farm up the river in 1966.
There are about 20 acres down by the river. 10 acres of
wooded hillside. And up above there are 40 acres of
rolling fields with hedgerows between them. The main
house was build by German immigrants in 1871. In the
basement the beams are visible holding up the living
room floor. They are half round logs with the bark still
on the underside. The foundation is stone. Studs in the
walls are so hard that to drive a nail requires drilling a
pilot hole first. The barn is of hand hewn timbers and
pegged together. There are various other buildings and
a rental cottage. In the early 70s I build a cabin on the
upper part of the property. At that time the phone
company was replacing all poles for miles around. Old
poles were being left in the ditches for farmers to take
for fence posts or fire wood. I started collecting poles
and laid a stone foundation in the fall of ‘71. I was in and
out of town and worked a bit when I could. The roof was
planked and the flagstone floor laid in the fall of ‘72. In
the spring of ‘73 I moved in. The cracks between the
logs were still open and the there were no door or
windows. Buy the late summer of ‘73 it was all finished.
Living in it was great, . . building it was fantastic. Being
there is like living in a picture post card. I loved it and
still do when I get back to visit once in a while.
Under construcion in
the early '70s
of wood cut and stacked for the winter.
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