Field NotesOhio
Upper Falls in the Old Man's Cave gorge, Hocking Hills, with visitors on the rocks

An independent field guide · 365 places

The field guide to outdoor Ohio

Parks and forests, ancient mounds, caves, waterfalls and back roads, with the story behind each place and where to eat and fuel up nearby.
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  • 117parks & forests
  • 64ancient mounds
  • 34waterfalls
  • 40historic sites
  • 33road trips

Old Man's Cave, Hocking Hills · Photo: Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0

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State parks & forests117 places, with cabins, campsites and trails117 places Waterfalls34 falls, with trail notes34 falls Mounds & earthworks64 ancient sites, from Serpent Mound to Newark64 ancient sites Caves & caverns12 show caverns, recess caves and rock shelters12 caves Lake Erie beaches20 public beaches, Conneaut to Toledo20 beaches Historic sites40 places, from the frontier to the Civil War40 places Road trips33 drives, from the Lincoln Highway to the Morgan Heritage Trail33 drives Oddities19 giants, ghosts and folk-art stops19 roadside stops The Buckeye TrailA 1,444-mile loop, all 26 sections1,444 miles

New to the guide?

Six places to start

One from every corner of the state, each with its full story inside.

01Old Man's CaveHocking Hills · SoutheastA gorge of waterfalls and recess caves where a hermit is said to have lived, with the park's visitor center. 02Great Serpent MoundAdams County · SouthwestA gigantic earthen snake on a hilltop over Ohio Brush Creek, built by a people whose name is still argued over. 03Brandywine FallsCuyahoga Valley · NortheastThe tallest waterfall in Cuyahoga Valley National Park, reached by an easy boardwalk with an accessible upper overlook. 04Marblehead LighthouseMarblehead · Lake ErieThe oldest continuously operating lighthouse on the Great Lakes, lit since 1821, on nine acres of limestone shoreline. 05Zoar VillageTuscarawas County · EasternA well-preserved communal village founded by German separatists in 1817, on the Ohio & Erie Canal. 06Longaberger Basket BuildingNewark · CentralA seven-story office building shaped like a picnic basket, with handles that are heated in winter.

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Lake ErieWest Virginia36 places368 places813 places135 places523 places2321 places2124 places2416 places1613 places134 places418 places182 places217 places1710 places1014 places142 places27 places76 places613 places133 places34 places414 places143 places3Harrison Lake State Park2 places22 places22 places26 places64 places4

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Parks, forests & wildlife areas

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117 parks in 7 regions

James A. Garfield National Historic Site (Lawnfield)

Mentor · Lake County · Northeast Ohio
The home of the first successful front porch campaign
National Historic LandmarkNational Park Service site
James A. Garfield National Historic Site, 8095 Mentor Ave Directions →Official source →

The Mentor home of the 20th president, where a candidate spoke from his front porch and a widow built the first presidential library.

Home
Garfield bought the farm in 1876 for his large family; reporters named it Lawnfield
1880
The first successful front porch campaign, with visitors greeted from the porch
Addition
Eleven rooms were added to the house in 1880
Library
Lucretia Garfield added a Memorial Library wing after his death, the first presidential library
Site
A National Historic Site since December 28, 1980; 4.9 acres
Buckeye Trail
Mentor is a Buckeye Trail Town on the Burton Section

The story

James A. Garfield bought the Mentor farm in 1876 to house his large family, which had grown since his years as a Union officer. In the summer and fall of 1880, as the Republican nominee, he stayed at home and greeted thousands of visitors from the front porch: dignitaries, students, Civil War veterans, women's and immigrant groups and well-wishers who came by foot, carriage and the railroad that ran through his land. Reporters called the place Lawnfield, and a campaign office on the grounds had a telegraph line so the candidate could follow the news. It became known as the first successful front porch campaign, and he won.

On July 2, 1881, Charles Guiteau, a disgruntled office seeker, shot Garfield twice at the Baltimore and Potomac railroad station in Washington. The wound itself was survivable, but doctors led by Dr. D. Willard Bliss repeatedly probed it with unsterilized fingers and instruments, and Garfield lingered for 80 days before dying of sepsis and complications on September 19, 1881, at Elberon, New Jersey. Historians and medical experts broadly agree that his treatment substantially reduced his chances of survival, although the exact mechanism of death is still debated. He is buried at Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland. After his death, a subscription fund raised by his friends paid for his widow, Lucretia, to add a Memorial Library wing to Lawnfield, which set the pattern for presidential libraries. The National Park Service took over the site in 1980 and the house is now open for tours.

Related sites

Visiting information you can trust

Check before driving — this site is seasonal, approximate, privately run, or otherwise uncertain. Confirm hours and access with the official source above.
Content last reviewed
September 2026 — this is when Field Notes Ohio's content was last checked, not a live status.
Primary official source
Official page
Location confidence
Verified entrance or visitor center
James A. Garfield National Historic Site, 8095 Mentor Ave
Seasonal access
Hours vary by season; one listing gives May 1 to October 31, Monday to Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday noon to 5 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays only, noon to 5 p.m., from November to April. Confirm with the park.
Check current conditions
Official conditions or closures
Reservations or tickets
Tickets or admission info

Prices, hours, closures, campsite availability and trail conditions shown elsewhere on this page are not live — always confirm with the official source before you go.

The Porch That Won an Election

Candidates in 1880 were expected to stay home and look modest, and Garfield did exactly that, with a large twist. He stayed on his farm, and the country came to him. Trains ran special excursions to Mentor, and he stood on the porch and gave short speeches to delegations of veterans, students and workers.

It worked, and other candidates copied it, most famously Warren G. Harding in Marion in 1920.

Behind the legend

The 1880 campaign, the name Lawnfield, the eleven-room addition and the first presidential library are documented by the National Park Service and Wikipedia. Warren Harding ran the last front porch campaign in Marion in 1920; see his entry. The account of Garfield's medical care comes from the Library of Congress, the American College of Surgeons and History.com, which agree that the doctors' probing with unsterilized fingers and instruments worsened the infection, and one modern account notes the precise mechanism of death remains a matter of historical debate.

If you go

Stand on the porch, tour the house and visit the memorial library, then stop at the Garfield memorial in Cleveland's Lake View Cemetery.

Visiting

Status
Open; confirm seasonal hours
Managed by
National Park Service
Hours
Hours vary by season; one listing gives May 1 to October 31, Monday to Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday noon to 5 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays only, noon to 5 p.m., from November to April. Confirm with the park.
Admission
See the National Park Service; tours require tickets from the visitor center.
Phone
440-255-8722
Please note
Tickets for house tours are sold at the visitor center.
Address
8095 Mentor Ave, Mentor, OH 44060
Official information →DirectionsFind trails nearby on AllTrails →

Hours and prices change. Confirm with the site before you go.

Parks nearby

Headlands Beach State Park
About 7 miles · The Buckeye Trail's northern end on Lake Erie.
Open
Girdled Road Reservation (Lake Metroparks)
About 8 miles · A free hiker camp on the Buckeye Trail.
Open
North Chagrin Reservation
About 12 miles · Squire's Castle and backcountry camping.
Open

Buckeye Trail

Burton Section
57 miles · on or near the Buckeye Trail
Open

Details last checked 2026-09-22. Confirm hours and prices before you go.

Know a place that belongs here, or spotted something out of date? Email hello@fieldnotesohio.com.