The Energy Cooperative

Imagine being 13 years old and going home every day for the next six years — to jail.

Nelson Smith, chairman of the board of The Energy Cooperative in Newark, called the Licking County Jail home for nearly the entire span of his teenage years, but not because he had committed any crimes. Smith moved into the Licking County Jail when his mother was hired in the early 1960s to be the head cook and jail matron, the person in charge of the female prisoners.

Greeted by four rescue dogs as I walk toward the 19th-century farmhouse in rural Licking County, I know their barks are more of an announcement than a warning. Once in the yard, the welcoming committee swells to include several turkeys, ducks, chickens, geese, and guineas before farm owners Jeff Wince and Chad Snelling open the door of their 1823 home and invite me in.