Field Notes Ohio

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Lake ErieWest Virginia27 places277 places77 places73 places35 places519 places1913 places1319 places1916 places168 places810 places1010 places109 places98 places820 places204 places43 places3Barkcamp State Park4 places47 places77 places76 places69 places917 places173 places3Harrison Lake State Park2 places2Forked Run State Park3 places32 places26 places610 places103 places32 places2

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117 parks in 7 regions

Malabar Farm State Park

Lucas · Richland County
Ohio Department of Natural Resources
914acres
12trail miles
1939established

Visiting information you can trust

Content last reviewed
September 2026 — this is when Field Notes Ohio's content was last checked, not a live status.
Primary official source
ODNR park finder (search this park)
Location confidence
Verified property location
Malabar Farm State Park, 4050 Bromfield Rd, Lucas
Check current conditions
Official conditions or closures
Reservations or tickets
ReserveOhio — camping and cabin bookings
Hunting or permits
This is a working farm and historic site rather than a hunting property. Check directly with the park office before planning any hunting here.

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 story of this land

Louis Bromfield was born in Mansfield in 1896, the son and grandson of farmers. He studied agriculture at Cornell, switched to journalism at Columbia, dropped out to drive an ambulance for the French Army, and then became a novelist. His first book was a hit. His third, Early Autumn, won the Pulitzer. He spent the 1920s and 30s in New York, France, and Hollywood, writing screenplays and collecting famous friends.

Then in 1939, with war closing in on Europe, he brought his family back to Ohio, bought several adjacent farms in Pleasant Valley, and named the place Malabar. He had a thousand acres and no intention of farming them conventionally. Bromfield had become convinced that soil erosion was, in his words, the country's gravest and most fundamental problem, and he set out to prove that worn-out land could be brought back. He championed cover crops, contour plowing, and what was then called trash farming — a forerunner of no-till agriculture. He used his celebrity to promote reformers like Edward Faulkner and to popularize a journal called The Land, which ran contributions from E.B. White, John Dos Passos, Aldo Leopold, and Rachel Carson.

The house was the other half of the legend. The 32-room Big House was designed to look as though it had been added onto for generations. Farmers came to trade ideas; Hollywood came to hide. On May 21, 1945, Humphrey Bogart married Lauren Bacall in front of the twin staircase, with Bromfield as best man. They had wanted a quiet outdoor ceremony, but a nosy telephone operator listening in on the arrangements tipped off the press, and by the day of the wedding a crowd had gathered on the lawn — so they moved it indoors. Bromfield died in 1956. He had once written that he hoped the house would one day belong to the state, along with the hills and valleys and woods of Malabar. It does. It's preserved exactly as he left it, and the farm still runs.

Things to do in the park

  • Tour the 32-room Big House, preserved as Bromfield left it in 1956 — including the twin staircase where Bogart and Bacall married
  • Tractor-drawn wagon tours through the hayfields
  • Walk through the barn and visit the farm animals
  • The Pugh Cabin, a 1940s log home in the woods, rentable for gatherings
  • Maple Syrup Festival in March, Spring Plowing Days in April, Ohio Heritage Days each September, Candlelight Tours in December
  • Winter: sledding, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing

Trails

Maps, reviews and recent trail reports for Malabar Farm State Park.

Find trails on AllTrails →

Things to do nearby

  • The spring where Johnny Appleseed reportedly stopped to drink
  • Mohican State Park, about 20 minutes east
  • Ohio Amish country via Route 39, roughly 30 miles
  • Mansfield — the Ohio State Reformatory, where The Shawshank Redemption was filmed

Hiking trails

About 12 miles of trail. Butternut Trail (0.8 mi, easy), Doris Duke Woods Trail (1 mi, easy), Jungle Brook Trail (0.7 mi, easy), plus the 7-mile Pleasant Valley Bridle Trail, which is open to hikers as well.

Wildlife you might see

  • Working-farm livestock alongside wild species
  • White-tailed deer through the woodlots
  • Wildflowers and interesting rock formations along the trails
  • Songbirds across the mixed farm-and-forest habitat

Fishing

  • Several farm ponds stocked with bluegill and catfish. Small-scale, family-friendly fishing rather than a destination fishery.

Hunting

This is a working farm and historic site rather than a hunting property. Check directly with the park office before planning any hunting here.

The Wedding That Fooled the Press

The plan was simple: get married somewhere no one would look. It was the spring of 1945. Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall had been trying to marry quietly, and it was hard to escape the cameras in New York or Los Angeles. Louis Bromfield, the Pulitzer-winning novelist who had turned three worn-out Ohio farms into Malabar, offered his Big House in Pleasant Valley. A chauffeur drove back and forth to the Mansfield train station meeting travelers from both coasts. On May 21, Bogart and Bacall were married at the foot of the grand staircase, with Bromfield as best man.

The secret leaked anyway. A Los Angeles reporter raced across the country by train, certain he had an exclusive, and found the train loaded with cameramen and newsmen. When he reached the farm, nearly 300 cars were being held out on the road by a full company of Richland County deputies.

Behind the legend

The wedding is well documented, and the local history is careful about it. Bacall wrote in her autobiography about a farm with fresh eggs and slabs of butter in wartime and boxer dogs under the table, and she described watching a calf being born. The honeymoon suite's blue and white bedspreads were embroidered by Mary Bromfield.

Some numbers drift by source. The farm is described as about 600 acres in one account and about 1,000 in others, and the park today is a state park listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1973. Bromfield returned to Ohio from France in the late 1930s and built a 32-room Big House in 1939 that copies details from early Ohio buildings. He died in 1956. It is also said that even famous guests were expected to do chores.

If you go

Take the Big House tour and stand at the base of the staircase. Then walk out to the barns and fields, because Bromfield's real project was showing that worn-out land could be brought back.

Road trips through Malabar Farm State Park

Scenic byways and heritage drives that pass this park or run close to it.

Lincoln Highway Historic Byway

Northern and western Ohio
A working farm and Pulitzer-winning author's home near Mansfield.
Heritage drive241 miles
1 to 2 days · East Liverpool to Indiana line near Van Wert

Amish Country Byway

East-central Ohio (Holmes County and neighbors)
A farm park about 35 miles to the north.
Scenic byway164 miles
1 to 2 days · Holmes County to Holmes County

Johnny Appleseed Historic Byway

North-central Ohio
A farm park near the byway.
Scenic byway30 miles
Half a day · Mansfield to Loudonville and Mifflin

Wally Road Scenic Byway

East-central Ohio (Mohican and Walhonding valleys)
A farm park to the north.
Scenic byway10.4 miles
1 hour · Loudonville area to Walhonding Valley

Oddities near Malabar Farm State Park

Roadside curiosities, legends and giant things within reach of this park.

World's Largest Bobblehead

West Bellville · Richland County
A 35-foot Chef Jacques statue behind the Buckeye Express Diner whose head bobbles when the wind blows.
Giant statue
About 15 miles from this park

Ohio State Reformatory (Shawshank Prison)

Mansfield · Richland County
The castle-like prison where The Shawshank Redemption was filmed, now a museum and paranormal tour site.
Movie set and prison
About 15 miles from this park

Waterfalls near Malabar Farm State Park

Falls inside or within reach of this park. Stay behind railings and on marked trails; wet rock is slick in every season.

Big Lyons Falls

Perrysville · Ashland County
An 80 foot waterfall you can walk behind in the sandstone Clear Fork Gorge, reached on a 2 mile loop hike from Mohican State Park's covered bridge.
80 ftModerate hikeLegend
About 4 miles from this park

Little Lyons Falls

Perrysville · Ashland County
A narrow 25 foot cascade a short walk past Big Lyons Falls, tumbling into a partly collapsed slot of the Clear Fork Gorge.
25 ftModerate hike
About 5 miles from this park

Campsites

Primitive campsites
Limited camping; this is primarily a day-use historic farm
$19–23/night

Cabins

Pugh Cabin
A 1940s log home in the woods, rented for meetings and gatherings rather than nightly stays
Inquire

On site

  • Visitor Center with interactive displays and gift shop
  • Working barn and livestock
  • Restrooms, WiFi, wheelchair accessible
  • Free admission to the grounds; small fees for house and wagon tours
  • Open 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily
Continue to ReserveOhio →
Field Notes Ohio isn't connected to ReserveOhio, so it can't hold a site or take payment. Tapping through opens it in a new tab — search "Malabar Farm State Park" there to finish reserving.
Prefer the phone?419-892-2784

The Big House and wagon tours have their own schedules and fees, and they vary by season. Call ahead if the house tour is the reason you're going.

Restaurants nearby

Der Dutchman
Amish-style buffet and bakery, opens 7 a.m. Closed Sundays
Directions
Buckeye Express Diner
You eat inside a real train. Fresh-cut fries and a playground — the pick with kids
Directions
River Rock
Sports bar in downtown Bellville, open late, good wings
Directions

Gas stations nearby

Love's Travel Stop
24 hours off I-71 with showers and RV parking
Directions
Duchess
24 hours in Bellville
Directions

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