Enoch Carson and his wife, Achsah, were the first permanent settlers in Cheviot, locating in 1805 on the northwest corner of Section 15, about ¾ of a mile west of Beech Flats Spring. They brought seven children with them: William J., Isaac D., Samuel, Hannah, Mary, Achsah and Sarah. The Carsons had arrived at Cincinnati from New Jersey on Christmas Eve, 1804. Broke, the Carsons did odd jobs and peddled firewood at 25 cents a load to make a living. In March of the following year, he bought his Green Township land — 100 acres at $3 an acre, on time. The first year he had cleared, fenced and cultivated 20 acres of it. Enoch W. Carson, first born male in the Township, was born in 1806.
It was Carson’s celebration, with invited neighbors, of a rich harvest in 1806 that began the still existant annual Green Township Harvest Home Festivals at Cheviot. Harvest Home Park, where the festivals are held, was the original Carson’s big yard where the neighborhood gathered yearly to celebrate since 1806. There have been only two skips — both in wartime.
Enoch Carson built the first little log schoolhouse in 1810 on the corner of his lot and the next year his son, William, taught school in it. It was during that term that Carson’s daughter, Sarah, caught fire from the school’s wide fireplace and ran home in flames. She died of burns a few days later. The schoolhouse site later became the Bethel Church lot — four acres donated by Enoch Carson.
In 1815, another one of Carson’s daughters, Achsah was going to milk the cows and was followed by a large she-bear. The girl shrieked and the Carson dog was first to come to her rescue, seizing the bear by its hind leg. The bear shook off the dog and climbed a big walnut tree nearby, where it was shot by her brother Isaac. The bear’s den was in a tall popular 60 rods from the Carson log cabin.
Enoch Carson died in 1818 and was buried with the rest of his family in the Bethel Cemetery, a landmark in Cheviot.