We are going to visit our son at Ohio Wesleyan next weekend. We are a road-trip loving family. What are some cool road trips to take in the Delaware, Ohio area? Examples of places that are dear to our hearts:
The Sterling Hill Mining Museum - a zinc mine in Ogdensburg, New Jersey
The Mitchell Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota
The glorious Roadside America in Shartlesville, PA
Have any of you ever been to Zanesville? Is there cool Zane Gray stuff there?
Your recommendations, please.
I lived in Columbus for a minute or two a few years back. I never did this myself, but a common weekend roadtrip for folks from the area involved a drive into Amish country to go furniture shopping and to eat one’s bodyweight worth of really good “family style” Amish food. There are many Amish restaurants that cater to just such folks.
http://www.amish.net has all sorts of info, addresses, and such.
There are several Indian mounds in the region, including a large complex at Newark, Mound City just north of Chillicothe, and really spectaular Serpent Mount in Adams County. Although that’s a fairly long was from Delaware, it’s worth it to see the change of scenery as you reach the edge of southeastern Ohio, which is much hillier than the rest of Ohio.
Of course, in Delaware itself you can have some fun looking for the birthplace of Rutherford Hayes. I think it’s the only presidential birthplace to be completely unmarked. The next closest presidential landmarks are in Marion, where you can visit Warren Harding’s home and see the monument to the last president from Ohio, and possibly the worst ever president of the US.
As far as slightly different things to do in this area, I thought of a trip to President Warren G Harding’s home. Here is some informartion. For something a little more normal, how about the Pro Football Hall of Fame
If you can get down towards the southeast the Flight Museum at Wright Patt is worth the trip. The town of Yellow Springs is an interesting side trip, and Young’s Dairy is right there.
Moved to IMHO.
-xash
General Questions Moderator
Here’s a link for Young’s Dairy.
And one for the Air Force Museum.
The Columbus Zoo is always fun. It’s about an hour from delaware, if remember correctly.
Columbus has lots of fun stuff to offer. My personal favorite is The Book Loft in German Village www.bookloft.com. You just can’t go wrong with a book store that has 32 rooms and gives you a map when you enter.
As far as interesting shopping is concerned, Easton Town Center www.eastontowncenter.com is the place to be.
I think one of the best places to visit would have to be The Center of Science and Industry www.cosi.org. COSI is a great hands on science museum. It is a great place to take kids and adults alike because there are tons of exhibits and you get to touch everything. Buttons to press, levers to pull, bubbles to blow…even as an adult I get excited when I get to go there.
Hope this helps.
If you’re interested in seeing a pretty awesome bit o’ forest, check out the Hocking Hills State Park
I especially recommend Old Man’s Cave. As far as I know, there are no funky museums in the Hocking Hills State Park area, but it’s worth seeing nonetheless.
Oh, and, while you’re in Columbus–The North Market is worth going to, if only to have some of Jeni’s Ice Cream there. Just in case, like me, you’re a fan of the sweet stuff, here’s the Ohio Ice Cream page. I second the recommendation for checking out Yellow Springs and stopping at Young’s Dairy, too.
If those are really the kinds of places that spin your wheels, then you’ll love the Olentangy Indian Caverns. Be sure to ask for your “Indian Cave Explorer Certificate” after the tour! I still have mine from 1988.
The Circleville Pumpkin Show should be coming up pretty soon, too. It’s the third Wednesday through Saturday in October. There’s also the Ted Lewis museum there. I’ve never been to either the pumpkin show or the Ted Lewis museum, but I drive through Circleville pretty often to get to the Hocking Hills region. I’m thinking that I might be able to stop in at the pumpkin show this year and check it out, too.
Here’s a link that’ll tell you a little about Mr. Lewis and the museum dedicated to him: http://www.redhotjazz.com/tedlewis.html
I live 20 minutes from Zanesville. Wave as you go by!
There’s a Zane Grey museum in Zanesville but blush I’ve never been. I think it has National Road memorabilia, too. You can cross the Y-bridge!
You’ll be close to Newark and the mounds, and you could visit the Longaberger headquarters which are shaped like a giant basket. It’s really odd.
The Ohio Historical Center is interesting (big into natural history and archaeology), and the Ohio Village might be open. checking Well, depends on if you mean the 16-17th or the 23-24th.
Here are some other sites of interest in the central Ohio region. The southeast part of the state waves is gorgeous.
Hocking Hills is beautiful.
We like to picnic at the Dawes Arboretum.
There’s a mine in New Straitsville that is still burning after 100 or so years, but you can’t tour it.
Um, the first Wendy’s is in Columbus? Okay, I’m scraping the bottom of the barrel, now!
It’s pretty much your run-of-the mill small-town festival. Carnival rides, pumpkin pie, pumpkin seeds, pumpkin-flavored ice cream, biggest pumpkin contest, stuff like that.
You could visit me!
(Ohio Wesleyan student here)
Unfortunately, I have been spending the past two years or so trying to come up with cool trips for weekends, but have been largely unsuccessful in thinking of anything good. All I’ve got are a couple things my parents have been to:
Warther Carvings in Dover, Ohio, which I guess is probably a couple hours east. I’ve never been there.
Also, somewhere in the same vicinity is one of the claimaints to the title of world’s largets cuckoo clock.
By the way…
The Hayes birthplace is marked with a small tablet. I gather that you already know where the birthplace is, but it’s a great laugh for someone who finds it for the first time!
Yes, the first Wendy’s is in Columbus, on Broad Street a few blocks east of the State House. I don’t think it’s worth detouring for.
Sorry, I didn’t mean to imply that it wasn’t there, just that the OP’s interest in it is probably pretty limited.