Welcome home! While I have lived a number of places, and visited many more, Ohio is home.
Capitol
1983 1992 2007
Ohio Symbols
State Fruit & State Beverage – Tomato & Tomato Juice
State Rock Song – Hang on Sloopy (if you go to an Ohio State game you will hear this 20 times).
State Prehistoric Earthworks – Newark Earthworks
Columbus – State Capital
Ohio is the 7th most populated state, with nearly 12 million people living here. It is wet on both ends (Lake Erie and the Ohio River).
Columbus is one of the larger state capitals with over 2 million people in the metro area. It was founded in 1816 to be the state capital.
Columbus is home to The Ohio State University, one of the largest campuses in the country with over 60,000 undergraduate students. Ohio State also has the largest athletic budget in the country, so there are over 30 varsity sports.
Highways & Byways of Ohio
1946 1947 1948 1949 1959 1961 1962 1964 1969 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1977
The National Road
The National Road was the first federally funded, improved road in the contry, being completed in 1837. It ran from Cumberland Maryland to Wheeling, West Virginia, then on to Vandalia, Illiinois.
In the early 1900s they further refined it for the automobile, thus becoming U.S. Highway 40. It was later re-routed, and eventually replaced by Interstate 70, but many of the early 1900s features still exist.
Bridges
With the Ohio River at one end, and the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, there are lots of cool bridges in the state.
In addition Ohio has the 2nd most covered bridges of any state, with over 140 still in existence.
History in Ohio
1953 – Sesquicentennial 1978 – Transportation History 1981/1982 – Inventors 1985 1995 – Canals 1997 – Perry’s Monument 2003 – Bicentennial
Automobile Industry in Ohio
Cleveland has always been a major transportation production center. This is celebrated with a number of major car and motorcycle shows, as well as the Crawford Auto Aviation Museum.
Put In Bay
There are numerous islands in Western Lake Erie. By far the most popular is Put In Bay, where each summer thousands take the ferries to party for the weekend.
Also on the island is the 352′ (107m) high Perry Monument. It is thought to be the tallest Doric Column in the world.
USAF Museum
Dayton is the home of the National Museum of the United States Air Force. It is the largest and oldest military aviation museum in the world. (lots of world’s largest in Ohio). The four hangars have more than a million square feet of space for the 360+ aircraft. And it has free admission!
Nature
1979 1990 1996 1999 2015
Hocking Hills
The most popular park in the state is Hocking Hills in Southeastern Ohio.
Cleveland
While technically Columbus is the largest city in the state in population, it is because the city limits extend for miles. Cleveland however is completely hemmed in by suburbs, but the metro area is much larger than Columbus (especially if you consider Akron part of the metro area).
It’s many attractions include the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Lake Erie Shoreline, and the major league sports teams.
Cincinnati
At the other end of the state is Cincinnati. It’s location on the Ohio River resulted in Cincinnati very early being one of America’s major cities. In the mid 1800s it was the 6th largest city in the country.
It still remains a major city, with numerous attractions like the Cincinnati Union Terminal Museum Center, the Cincinnati Bengal and Reds, and the riverfront.
The People of Ohio
With all the interesting attractions in Ohio, easily the best are the people. We have attended a plethora of interesting events, resulting in this fantastic collections of Characters of Ohio.