Forts, battlefields and war sites
Frontier forts, Civil War prisons and the battles that decided who would hold the Ohio country.
Historic Fort Steuben
Steubenville · Jefferson County · Eastern Ohio
The frontier fort that gave Steubenville its name, rebuilt on its original bluff above the Ohio River.
Reconstructed on the original site
1786–1787; rebuilt in the 1980s
Fort Laurens
Bolivar · Tuscarawas County · Eastern Ohio
The only fort in Ohio built during the American Revolution, beside the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail.
Only Revolutionary War fort in Ohio
1778–1779
Fort Meigs
Perrysburg · Wood County · Northwest Ohio
A reconstructed War of 1812 log fort overlooking the Maumee River, with blockhouses, batteries and a museum.
National Historic Landmark
1813
Fallen Timbers Battlefield and Fort Miamis
Maumee & Toledo · Lucas County · Northwest Ohio
The decisive 1794 battle that ended the Northwest Indian War, and the British fort next door.
National Historic Site (affiliated with the National Park Service)
1794
Fort Recovery Museum and Monument
Fort Recovery · Mercer County · Western Ohio
The site of the worst defeat the U.S. Army ever suffered at Native hands, and of the fort built on its bones.
Site of two 1790s battles
1791–1795
Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery
Columbus · Franklin County · Central Ohio
The last remnant of a large Civil War prison camp in Columbus, and one of the largest Confederate cemeteries in the North.
Civil War prison camp site
1861–1865
Johnson's Island Confederate Cemetery
Marblehead · Ottawa County · Lake Erie
A Civil War prison island in Lake Erie whose Confederate cemetery is the only part open to the public.
National Historic Landmark
1862–1865
Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial
Put-in-Bay · South Bass Island · Lake Erie
A tall stone column on a Lake Erie island that marks the naval battle that won Lake Erie and the peace that followed.
National Park Service site
1813; memorial built 1912–1915
Mission, pioneer and utopian villages
Towns founded for faith, refuge and community.
Schoenbrunn Village
New Philadelphia · Tuscarawas County · Eastern Ohio
A reconstructed Moravian and Delaware mission village, the first Christian town in Ohio.
Ohio's first Christian settlement
1772–1777
Gnadenhutten Historic Site
Gnadenhutten · Tuscarawas County · Eastern Ohio
The Moravian mission town where militia killed 96 peaceful Christian Delaware in 1782.
Massacre site and memorial
1772–1782
Zoar Village
Zoar · Tuscarawas County · Eastern Ohio
A well-preserved communal village founded by German separatists in 1817, on the Ohio & Erie Canal.
National Historic Landmark
1817–1898
Sugarcreek, the Little Switzerland of Ohio
Sugarcreek · Tuscarawas County · Eastern Ohio
An Amish and Swiss cheese town whose Alpine storefronts and giant cuckoo clock earn it a Swiss village nickname.
Little Switzerland of Ohio
1814 to today
Logan Elm State Memorial
Circleville · Pickaway County · Central Ohio
A small memorial park where, by tradition, the Mingo leader Logan's 1774 lament for his murdered family was read under a giant elm.
State memorial
1774
Historic Kirtland and the Kirtland Temple
Kirtland · Lake County · Northeast Ohio
The village where the Latter Day Saint movement built its first temple, with a story of revelation, dissent and violence.
Headquarters of the early Latter Day Saint movement
1831–1838
Hale Farm & Village
Bath · Summit County · Northeast Ohio
A living-history museum in the Cuyahoga Valley that shows farm and village life in the Western Reserve from 1810 to the 1860s.
Living history museum
1810 to today
Century Village Museum, Burton
Burton · Geauga County · Northeast Ohio
A museum village of moved 19th-century buildings on a working farm just off Burton's town square, on the Buckeye Trail.
Western Reserve village
1798 to about 1900
Great Council State Park (Old Chillicothe)
Oldtown · Greene County · Southwest Ohio
A new state park on the site of the Shawnee town of Old Chillicothe, with an interpretive center shaped like a council house.
Ohio's 76th state park
1770s; park opened 2024
Wyandot Mission Church
Upper Sandusky · Wyandot County · North-central Ohio
A limestone mission church on the Grand Reserve, the starting point of the 1843 Wyandot removal and now owned again by the Wyandotte Nation.
National Register of Historic Places
1816–1843; returned 2019
Canals, locks and covered bridges
The waterways and crossings that carried early Ohio.
Johnston Farm and Indian Agency
Piqua · Miami County · Western Ohio
A restored farm, a museum of Ohio's Native peoples and a mule-drawn canal boat ride, all on the site of the old Piqua Indian agency.
Canal boat rides
2,000 years; the 1811 agency to the canal era
Historic Roscoe Village
Coshocton · Coshocton County · East-central Ohio
A canal port of brick buildings and costumed interpreters, with a horse-drawn canal boat ride on a restored stretch of the Ohio & Erie Canal.
Ohio & Erie Canal port
1816–1913; restored from 1968
Lockington Locks
Lockington · Shelby County · Western Ohio
A group of stone canal locks in a small canal village, restored and open free from dawn to dusk.
National Register of Historic Places
1833–1913
Lighthouses, furnaces and industry
Harbor lights, iron furnaces and the works that built the state.
Buckeye Furnace
Wellston · Jackson County · Southern Ohio
A reconstructed charcoal blast furnace with its original stack, showing how pig iron was made in the 1800s.
National Register of Historic Places
1852–1894
Fairport Harbor Lighthouse and Marine Museum
Fairport Harbor · Lake County · Northeast Ohio
A 60-foot sandstone lighthouse and keeper's house museum a mile from the Buckeye Trail's northern terminus.
National Register of Historic Places
1825 and 1871
New Straitsville Mine Fire
New Straitsville · Perry County · Southeast Ohio
A coal-country fire set during a miners' strike in 1884 that burned under southeast Ohio for generations and is said to be burning still.
Ohio Historical Society marker
1884 to today
Museums and historic homes
Houses and collections that keep individual stories.
John Rankin House
Ripley · Brown County · Southern Ohio
The hilltop home of an abolitionist family who helped enslaved people crossing from Kentucky, and a story that inspired Uncle Tom's Cabin.
National Historic Landmark
1828 to the Civil War
James A. Garfield National Historic Site (Lawnfield)
Mentor · Lake County · Northeast Ohio
The Mentor home of the 20th president, where a candidate spoke from his front porch and a widow built the first presidential library.
National Historic Landmark
1876–1881
U.S. Grant Boyhood Home and Schoolhouse
Georgetown · Brown County · Southern Ohio
The tannery-town house where the future general and president grew up, restored to the year he left for West Point.
National Historic Landmark
1823–1839
U.S. Grant Birthplace
Point Pleasant · Clermont County · Southwest Ohio
The cottage where Grant was born, moved around the country after his death and reassembled beside the Ohio River.
Ohio River byway stop
1817; Grant born 1822
Huffman Prairie Flying Field
Dayton and Fairborn · Greene County · Southwest Ohio
The 84-acre pasture where Wilbur and Orville Wright made the world's first practical airplane and taught themselves to fly.
National Historic Landmark
1904–1916
Armstrong Air & Space Museum
Wapakoneta · Auglaize County · West-central Ohio
A domed museum in Neil Armstrong's hometown, home to the Gemini 8 spacecraft, his space suits and a moon rock.
Ohio History Connection
Opened 1972
Warther Museum and Gardens
Dover · Tuscarawas County · East-central Ohio
A museum of a self-taught carver's masterworks, with a button collection and gardens in a Tuscarawas County town.
Self-taught master carver
1885–1972; museum since 1936
Thomas Edison Birthplace Museum
Milan · Erie County · North-central Ohio
A small brick cottage in Milan, once a canal grain port, where Thomas Edison was born and spent his first seven years.
National Historic Landmark
1841; born 1847
Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library & Museums
Fremont · Sandusky County · Northwest Ohio
The home, museum and library of the 19th president in Fremont, on the grounds where he and Lucy Hayes are buried.
First presidential library
1859–1863; library opened 1916
Loveland Castle (Château Laroche)
Loveland · Hamilton County · Southwest Ohio
A stone castle on the Little Miami River that Harry Andrews built by hand over five decades, with a dungeon, a moat and a chapel.
Handmade castle
1929–1981
Carillon Historical Park, Dayton
Dayton · Montgomery County · Southwest Ohio
A 65-acre history museum about Dayton's inventions, with the 1905 Wright Flyer III, canal and railroad exhibits and a 151-foot bell tower.
National Register of Historic Places
1796 to today; park opened 1950
Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens
Akron · Summit County · Northeast Ohio
The Seiberling family's Tudor Revival estate in Akron, the sixth-largest historic home open to the public in the United States.
National Historic Landmark
1912–1915; museum since 1957
National Road & Zane Grey Museum
Norwich · Muskingum County · East-central Ohio
A museum on the old National Road with a 136-foot diorama, the recreated study of Western author Zane Grey and a gallery of Ohio art pottery.
National Road byway stop
1800s to today
Amish & Mennonite Heritage Center and Behalt
Berlin · Holmes County · East-central Ohio
A cultural center in Holmes County that tells the story of the Amish and Mennonites through a giant painted cyclorama.
Behalt cyclorama
1525 to today; center opened 1990
McKinley Presidential Library & Museum and National Memorial
Canton · Stark County · Northeast Ohio
A hilltop memorial and museum in Canton that covers McKinley's life and presidency, Stark County history and outer space.
Presidential library
1897–1901; memorial finished 1907
Warren G. Harding Presidential Sites
Marion · Marion County · Central Ohio
The home, library and memorial in Marion where Warren Harding ran the last front porch campaign in 1920.
National Historic Landmark
1891–1923; library opened 2021
State parks & forests117 places, with cabins, campsites and trails117 places
Waterfalls34 falls, with trail notes34 falls34 falls from the Cuyahoga Valley to the Hocking Hills, with trail notes and a map.
Mounds & earthworks64 ancient sites, from Serpent Mound to Newark64 ancient sites64 ancient sites, including the Great Serpent Mound and the Newark Earthworks.
Caves & caverns12 show caverns, recess caves and rock shelters12 caves12 show caverns, recess caves and rock shelters, with a map.
Lake Erie beaches20 public beaches, Conneaut to Toledo20 beaches20 public beaches from Conneaut to Toledo and the islands, with a map.
Historic sites40 places, from the frontier to the Civil War40 places40 places, from Fort Steuben and Zoar to Camp Chase and the Rankin House, from the frontier to the Civil War.
Road trips33 drives, from the Lincoln Highway to the Morgan Heritage Trail33 drives33 drives, from the Lincoln Highway to the Morgan Heritage Trail.
Oddities19 giants, ghosts and folk-art stops19 roadside stops19 giants, ghosts and folk-art stops, plus a Mothman just over the line.
The Buckeye TrailA 1,444-mile loop, all 26 sections1,444 miles
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