Al G. Field, the “Millionaire Minstrel”
Over a hundred years ago Al G. Field, known as the “Millionaire Minstrel,” owned a 300-acre farm and country home called Maple Villa, situated along Olentangy River Road north of Mt. Aire. Born in Virginia in 1850, Field performed with the Sells Brothers Circus based in Columbus before forming his own namesake minstrel show in 1886. His wife Mathilda designed and made costumes for the performers. Each season the show would open at the Delaware Opera House and then at the Ohio State Fair. Field built a dam on a brook back in his woods to make a lake, and the minstrels would practice there in the summer.
Field and his wife eventually retired and used Maple Villa to breed animals, mainly horses and dogs. Field died in 1921 and his wife in 1927. The beautiful farmhouse burned down sometime after 1938. William Dennison bought the property in the 1940’s and operated it as a dairy farm until the 1970’s. After Mr. Dennison’s death in 1973 the farm was sold to developers and part of it is now the residential community of Loch Lomond.
