Ashley the Traveling Teddy went back–way back!–to pioneer Ohio for her first Christmas party of the festive season. She had lunch and toured the John Johnston house at Piqua Historical Area.
Ashley travels for Meredith Schroeder’s third-grade class at St. Joseph
Ashley with Marla Fair, who portrays Johnston's mother Elizabeth Johnston. Betsa Marsh photo
Consolidated School in Hamilton, Ohio. Traveling Teddy is a geography outreach program of the Society of American Travel Writers and Build-a-Bear Workshop.
As she met John Johnston, a federal Indian agent important in the War of 1812, 
Ashley traveled as an honorary member of the Ladies Discoursive and Digestive Society of Greater Cincinnati.
The Johnston house was finished in 1815, and Johnson and his wife Rachel filled the brick two-story with 14 children. Modern curators interpret the house in 1829.
Ashley learns to play Jacob's ladder in the Johnston boys' room. Betsa Marsh photo
Ashley with Jean Wilhelm, who helped serve the meal. Betsa Marsh photo
Ashley picks up shamanic pointers from Jim Johnson. Betsa Marsh photo
And a very well-behaved traveling bear she is, too. I only began to worry when, on the house tour, she demanded to know exactly who had been sleeping in her bed!