Ohio
The Buckeye state is one of the more populated states in the United States. Its a Mid-Western state that borders Indiana, Michigan, Kentucky, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Lake Erie. Ohio is a mixture of farm land, large cities with a manufacturing background and a wide variety of industries. The state is always an important part of any presidential election due to the number of electoral votes and its dynamic politics. The state has a lot of history and many different things to do. From the birthplace of multiple Presidents, home to the pioneers of flight, the first man to step foot on the moon, a NASA center, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Pro Football Hall of fame and much more. Its a great state to see American culture and a wide variety of museums and sites. We visited Ohio in 2016 and visited several of the major cities and ventured out into the countryside. We found the people in Ohio friendly and helpful. There is a incorrect stereotype that people that live in Northern States are rude and unhelpful compared to Southern hospitality. We have found through trips like this that is not really true. We were able to fill our few days with attractions and could have spent many more days doing all Ohio has to offer.
Getting to Ohio and Transportation
Ohio has multiple well connected airports in many of its cities. Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati have large airports. There are smaller airports at other smaller cities in Ohio. The flights will be cheaper into the larger cities more than likely. We flew into Columbus which is the capital city and the center of the state. Since we were visiting multiple cities and areas starting in the center was a good option for us. Within the cities there are public transportation options but the best option and the option we took was to rent a car to visit all that we wanted to see in Ohio.
Columbus, Ohio
We started our trip in the capital and largest city in the state of Ohio. The city has quite a few museums and also has the State capital museum that you can visit. The city has an NHL team (The Blue Jackets) and NCAA and minor league teams. We spent a say in Columbus before we moved on to Cleveland but could have easily spent more time visiting the other museums in the area. We spent out time at the Ohio State Capitol building and museum and we also visited the Ohio History Center and the Ohio Village. They are all very interesting sites to see if you are in the area.
Ohio Statehouse
Located in the center of downtown Columbus you will find the Ohio Statehouse. The statehouse has an interesting design with a small dome like structure that looks like it was not quite finished. Inside there are beautiful paintings, sculptures and historic artifacts from history like the American Civil War. You can take a guided or self guided tour and visit the House and Senate chambers. There is also a nice museum going over Ohio history located in the statehouse. We spent a couple hours walking through the building and visiting the museum. A visit to the Ohio Statehouse is free so its a great spot to visit if you are on a budget. Outside the building are monuments and cannons honoring various people that are important to Ohio history. One thing to notice is that the Ohio state flag is a unique flag among all the other state flags. Every state except for Ohio has a rectangular shape. The Ohio State flag is a swallowtail flag.
Ohio History Center and Ohio Village
Our next stop on our trip and last stop in the City of Columbus was the Ohio History Center and Ohio Village. The Ohio History Center is the headquarters of the Ohio History Connection that operates historic sites and museums throughout the state. Its a very well done system that protects and interprets Ohio’s history. The museum itself describes Ohio history from prehistoric ages to the modern era. The museum goes over subjects such as Ohio Civil War history, its involvement in aviation and space and its other history. Its one of the better State History museums that we have been to. Another very interesting aspect of the museum is just outside the museum itself. The Ohio Village is a reproduction of a 1890s village in Ohio that includes a church, town hall, general store and many other city buildings. While we were there there were actors portraying people from that time like in the general store trying to sell us goods at prices that would be amazing today. Its a great place to go for anyone and would be fun and a good learning experience for kids as well. The price is also affordable to visit this great museum.
Cleveland, Ohio
Our next stop in our tour was to drive up North to the shores of Lake Erie to the City of Cleveland, Ohio. Cleveland gets a bad rap and has been given the nickname “The Mistake on the Lake” for the pollution of industry in the past. From what we found the downtown area of the city is very clean and full of green spaces. Even the main convention center is built in a way that the roof is grass and people can play on the rooftop park. While no city is perfect and Cleveland still has some work to curb things like air pollution we found it a cleaner city than other large cities in the US. Just in the downtown area alone there are multiple things to do. There is the must see Rock and Roll Hall of fame, The Great Lakes Science center which is also the home to the NASA Glenn Space Center’s visitors center, the USS Cod (a submarine you can tour), East 4th Street dinning and bar area that is pedestrian only and has many different options, a casino and other dinning and entertainment options. Outside of the downtown area there are other museums and attractions such as A Christmas Story House. We had just a single day in Cleveland in our whirlwind Ohio tour but we could have spent much more time. We stayed at a band new Hilton in downtown within walking distance of most of the sites. We will be back again someday in the future.
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
One of the must see stops in Cleveland is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In this large museum on the shore of Lake Erie you can see artifacts and memorabilia from pretty much every famous rock group in history. There are exhibits on Elvis, ZZ Top, Kiss, Lady Gaga, The Beatles, Nirvana and so much more. They cover a wide variety of Rock styles from classic, alternative, heavy metal, grunge and any other type of Rock you can imagine. There are a lot of interactive exhibits such as making your own music and videos and testimonials from rock stars. If you love Rock and music in general this is the place to go. Being such a popular museum it is a bit pricey to go to but its a great place to visit. We spent several hours going through the multi-story museum before we headed to our next stop. This museum it is best to get to it when it opens to avoid larger crowds later in the day. Also buying admission online might get you a slight discount.
A Christmas Story House and Museum
For those who are a fan of the A Christmas Story movie the city of Cleveland was actually where much of the filming for the movie was done. The downtown Cleveland area was filmed in the beginning for the Thanksgiving Parade (you can see the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ monument in the film) and the home in the movie was in a neighborhood not too far from downtown Cleveland. You can visit the home and take a guided tour to see where Ralphie and his family had their adventures. You can see the leg lamp, kitchen and all the other rooms from the movie. Its a very small home so if its crowded there isn’t a lot of room. Across the street there is a museum included with admission where you can see many of the props from the movie and pictures from the filming. The tour and museum is really interesting but we found parking to be difficult when we visited. There was not much free parking at the museum available and the street parking was not easy to get to. We ended up parking in someone’s yard for a price that also was not overly easy to get in and out of. The price is also somewhat expensive to get in.
Canton, Ohio
Located about an hour South of Cleveland on the Eastern side of Ohio is the relatively small city of Canton, Ohio. For a city of around 80,000 people there are a few really neat things to do in the city. Canton is the home of the Pro Football Hall of fame and was the birthplace of the NFL. Canton was also home of President William McKinley and is home to the McKinley National Memorial (his burial place) and the William McKinley Presidential Library and Museum. So we spent a little time in the area and saw both of the major attractions in the area.
Pro Football Hall of Fame
Our first stop in Canton was the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The museum goes over the history of Pro football, the creation of the AFL and NFL to the present day. They have exhibits on the different commissioners and what changes happened to the NFL during those years. There are exhibits and the rules and different positions that include interactive exhibits. You can also see Superbowl rings, the Vince Lombardi Trophy and a Superbowl video experience. You will also be able to see the bronze busts of all the hall of fame members. It is an interesting museum but it was very expensive to visit and parking was also not free. For us it was a great place to visit once and see it but not a place we would probably visit a second time due to the expense. If you are a fan of football its a place to at least come and see once.
President William McKinley National Memorial and Presidential Library
After spending the night in Canton we started our day visiting President McKinley’s memorial and Presidential Library. President McKinley was one of the US Presidents who was assassinated. The memorial and burial place of President McKinley and the First Lady is a large domed building on a tall hill with marble steps leading up to the building. Right next to the burial place is the very well done Presidential Library. The library tells the history of the Canton area, President McKinley, and has a great replica city and shops that would have existed during McKinley’s time. Like the Ohio Village its a neat place to go back in time. The price is very affordable for the museum and it will take a couple hours to go through. The Memorial itself is free to visit. For us this museum was the highlight to our visit to the Canton area and was a pleasant surprise as you do not hear much about this museum.
Traveling West
After finishing up in Canton in the Eastern side of the state we began a few hour drive West to visit a few sites related to Aviation and Space. On the way West we passed through prime farmland, small communities and Amish area’s of Ohio. It was a pretty and rural drive to the West. We made a quick stop at the Smucker’s Headquarters and Museum as we continued to our next stop in the small town of Wapakoneta, Ohio.
Armstrong Air and Space Museum
Located in Neil Armstrong’s home town is a very nice Air and Space Museum. The city of Wapakoneta is very small but the museum is large and nice and well worth the drive to see it. The museum goes over Armstrong’s career before NASA, his NASA flights before landing on the Moon, and of course the Moon Landing with Apollo 11. The museum also goes over Space Flight and Aviation after the Apollo Program. The museum contains many rare artifacts such as a real Gemini Spacecraft, Neil Armstrong’s Space Suits and many others. Outside of the museum you will find some planes and replica spacecraft. The museum will take an hour or two to tour and is affordable to tour.
Dayton, Ohio
We continued South from the Armstrong Air and Space Museum to the City of Dayton, Ohio. The Western side of Ohio is filled with Aviation and space history. Dayton is the epicenter of it in Ohio. In Dayton you will find the home of the Wright Brothers (pioneers of flight), The Huffman Prairie and Interpretive Center (the Wright Brothers worked to perfect flight at this field), and the National Air Force Museum and National Aviation Hall of Fame. There is a lot to do in this medium sized city. There is also an aviation themed brewery in downtown that in nice. Before we visited any of the Aviation sites we visited a much more ancient site. Part of the Ohio History Connection sites we visited the Miamisburg Mound. Its one of the largest Conical Native American Mounds in North America. The mound is 65 feet tall! There is historic interpretation and a set of stairs up to a small observation deck to see the area.
National Museum of the United States Air Force and Aviation Hall of Fame
This museum is the World’s Largest Military Aviation museum. It is absolutely massive and includes multiple large hangers and outside exhibits. This museum is home to a collection of rare and important aircraft to history. The museum starts at the dawn of aviation and goes to the modern area and Space. This museum holds aircraft like the WWII B-29 Bomber “Bockscar” that dropped the Atomic Bomb on Nagasaki, Apollo 15, the Space Shuttle Trainer, Multiple Air Force One Presidential aircraft you can tour, rare aircraft from each war, and a display of rockets and missiles. The exhibits are well interpreted and allow you to learn a lot about aviation over the years. This is absolutely one of the best aviation museums I have been to world wide. Another great thing about this museum is it is absolutely free and had free parking. Be ready to walk quite a bit at the museum as the hangers holding several hundred aircraft is huge. I would love to go back to this museum someday and it is a must see for anyone but for especially the aviation enthusiasts like myself.
Huffman Prairie Flying Field
A very short drive from the National Museum of the United States Air Force is the Huffman Prairie Flying Field. You go to an overlook where you can see the field near Wright-Pratt Air Force Base. The field is where the Wright Brothers worked to perfect flight after their 1903 flight in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Here they developed new controls and longer flights. There is a monument for the Wright Brothers and a nice Interpretative Center that gives information about the Wright Brother’s time at the field. Its a short stop that will take at most an hour to visit.
President William Henry Harrison Burial Site
The final stop we made in Ohio before we went into Indiana and Kentucky was to drive through Cincinnati and stop along the Ohio River near the three state borders. President William Henry Harrison and the First Lady is buried in a large monument near the river is a rural area outside of Cincinnati. You can read about the shortest term President (he died 31 days into his term of Pneumonia due to a rainy and cold inauguration). You can visit the tomb and read about the President. Its a quiet forest area so its a nice place away from the city. The site is free to visit.
Tips for Ohio
Ohio is a great state to visit that is full of attractions and history. From music, sports, farms, food, aviation and space you can see it all when visiting Ohio. I recommend giving yourself a few days if you want to do a multi city trip like we did and be ready to move fast if you allocate 5 days like we did. The drive times are not bad to the different cities with around 3 hours being about the longest drive we did on the trip. We spaced out our hotels so we can see thing in different areas of the state. Unless you only want to visit one city renting a car is a must to visit more than once site. There is so much more to do than we were able to do. There are more museums and sites throughout the state to see and we did not visit other than driving through Cincinnati which has good attractions. We also did not visit the Northwest corner of the state. I heavily recommend giving Ohio and chance and visiting. You will be impressed as we were after visiting the Buckeye State!