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National Road & Zane Grey Museum

Norwich · Muskingum County · East-central Ohio

A 136-foot diorama of the road, an author's study and art pottery

National Road byway stopOhio art pottery

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
National Road-Zane Grey Museum, 8850 E Pike, Norwich
Seasonal access: May 1 to October 31: Wednesday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Sunday, 1 to 4 p.m. The last full tour starts at 3 p.m. Group tours can be arranged.
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.

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.

Diorama: A 3/8-scale diorama of the National Road, 136 feet long, showing travel from the first tree felled to the mid-20th century
Road: Exhibits on its construction and on transportation from wagons to cars
Zane Grey: The Zanesville author of more than 80 Western adventure novels; his study is recreated
Pottery: A central gallery of Ohio art pottery
Nearby: The John & Annie Glenn Historic Site, with a two-for-one pass in some years
Season: May through October, Wednesday to Sunday

The story

The National Road, US 40, was called the Main Street of America and became the first federally funded highway. The museum in Norwich tells its story with a 3/8-scale diorama 136 feet long, from the early 19th century, when the first tree was felled, to the mid-20th, with objects showing what it was like to travel on it by wagon, stagecoach and car. A second gallery honors Zane Grey, the Zanesville author known as the father of the adult Western, who wrote more than 80 books; his study is recreated and manuscripts and memorabilia are displayed. A third gallery displays the art pottery for which this region of Ohio was known.

The museum was long run by the Ohio History Connection and is now operated by a local nonprofit, so hours and prices differ between older and newer listings. It sits beside the road itself, near the John & Annie Glenn Historic Site in New Concord.

The Road That Made the Western

Zane Grey grew up in Zanesville, a town the National Road had put on the map, and went on to write more than eighty adventure novels set in a West he had mostly imagined. He is remembered as the father of the adult Western.

His study, with its typewriter and manuscripts, sits in a museum a short way down the same road that carried the wagons he wrote about.

Behind the legend

The diorama's size, the Zane Grey exhibit, the pottery gallery, the season and the hours are from the Ohio History Connection, the local nonprofit and Ohio Traveler. Grey's '80 books' and 'father of the adult Western' are from a Hocking Hills listing. Admission prices vary by listing.

If you go

Allow an hour, take the guided tour and drive the old road to the Y-Bridge in Zanesville.