DAYTON, Ohio — From ancients to astronauts, Ohio has a long and fascinating history.
As travel restrictions and health worries ease, more people are hitting the road this year. But area history lovers can get their fix without buying a plane ticket or driving all day.
With input from Megan Wood, director of cultural resources for the Ohio History Connection, we came up with five must-see historic sites in Ohio, arranged by era and theme (plus a few bonus recommendations):
Fort Ancient
Rising above the banks of the Little Miami River in Oregonia, in Warren County, are earthen walls up to 23 feet high, forming a 126-acre enclosure. The people of the Hopewell culture built those walls, one basket of dirt at a time, about 2,000 years ago.
It is one of many such sites in southern Ohio, and is included in a group that is currently nominated to become Ohio’s first World Heritage site.
Previous coverage:Winter solstice observed at Fort Ancient
“It helps to lay the groundwork of this long human occupation of this place we call Ohio,” Wood said. “People all across eastern North America were coming to these places for reasons we don’t 100% understand.”
The site includes a museum and hiking trails.
Bonus site: Serpent Mound, in Peebles in Adams County. An effigy mound of a snake, also built by prehistoric peoples.
Adena Mansion
Representing early European history in Ohio and located in Chillicothe in Ross County, this was the hilltop home in the early 1800s of Thomas Worthington, considered one of Ohio’s “founders.” He was a U.S. senator and the state’s sixth governor.
Visitors can tour the mansion and 300 acres of grounds, which includes gardens and outbuildings. There also is a viewpoint that inspired the design for the Great Seal of Ohio, looking across a valley at a range of hills.
“In the era of Monticello and Mount Vernon (Virginia homes of Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, respectively), this is our version of that,” Wood said.
Bonus site: Zoar Village in Tuscarawas County. Seventy-five families live among historic buildings that show daily life from the 19th century.
Perry’s Victory and International Peace Memorial
Keeping with the theme of hilltops and heights, the 352-foot Doric column on South Bass Island in Ottawa County is a reminder that a Midwestern state claims the honor of being the site of one of the nation’s first great naval victories.
In September 1813, with the outcome of the War of 1812 very much in doubt, Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry directed the destruction of a British fleet, but not before his original flagship (the Lawrence) was heavily damaged and he and several crewmen daringly rode through shot and shell to another ship (the Niagara).
The National Park Service runs this site, which includes a visitor center and breathtaking views from atop the column.
Bonus site: Fort Meigs, in Perrysburg in Wood County. Recreated fort where Americans withstood two sieges during the War of 1812.
John Rankin House
On a hill overlooking the Ohio River in Ripley, in Brown County, stands the house where Presbyterian minister and abolitionist John Rankin and his family helped an estimated 2,000 enslaved people escape to Canada or elsewhere, beyond the reaches of slave-catchers.
The site itself is not extensive, though it boasts a small visitors center, as well, but it’s a powerful symbol of where slavery (just across the river in Kentucky) met the quest for freedom. Wood said the town of Ripley also is a good place to visit.
Bonus site: National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, Cincinnati. Included among the exhibits is a slave pen, found intact inside an old barn in Kentucky. To stand within its walls is a chilling experience.
Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historic Park
Don’t let North Carolina’s “First in Flight” license plates fool you: The birthplace of aviation is right here in Ohio. The area includes an interpretive center on the site of brother Orville and Wilbur Wright’s print and cycle shops where they tinkered and experimented on their way to their first successful flight.
When they returned from that initial success (in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina), they perfected their craft at nearby Huffman Prairie, where another interpretive center is located, now on the grounds of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
Bonus site: Speaking of Wright-Patterson, a can’t-miss for aviation enthusiasts is the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force there, which contains planes such as the craft in which Lyndon Johnson was sworn in as president after John F. Kennedy’s 1963 assassination.
“To stand in that spot to me was a very moving experience,” Wood said.
And the site is free.
Bonus-bonus site: Armstrong Air & Space Museum, in Wapakoneta in Auglaize County. Not only does Ohio boast the Wright brothers, but also Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon.
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