View from the top of Ft. Boreman, Parkersburg, West Virginia

Parkersburg, West Virginia was not on my “Go To” list until recently when my husband and I headed there for a quick weekend away. Located at the confluence of the Ohio and Little Kanawha Rivers, Parkersburg is a pint-sized package of important aspects of American history. From pre-Civil War to the oil and gas boom to the height of manufacturing, Parkersburg’s history is a nutshell version of our shared tale of industriousness and the quest for new horizons.Many attractions are within easy walking distance of each other making a Parkersburg trip easy and relaxing.

Fort Boreman Historical Park – Located off US 50, Marrtown Rd exit  just 2 miles from downtown, this park is a fitting starting place for a Parkersburg tour. From the vantage point of the park’s hill you can see both rivers, the train tressels that give testament to Parkersburg industrial past, and a large part of the city. Fort Boreman was also an important spot during the Civil War. There are remnants of the Union fortification that once exited here.

Toilet exhibit at Blennerhasset Museum of Regional History

Blennerhassett Museum of Regional History – 137 Juliana St.  Along with showcasing items that depict the history of Blennerhasset Island and the family that lived there, this museum features unusual objects of Ohio Valley history dating back to 9000 B.C. When I visited, there was an unusual displays of early toilets as a special exhibit.

The museum is housed in a building that has served as a grocery store and a warehouse. This is an example of a re-purposed building done right. It’s gorgeous.

Oil and Gas Museum, 119 3rd St. This museum is a facinating mix of items important to Parkersburg and West Virginia history. There’s more than oil and gas industry paraphenelia. Wandering from room to room and floor to floor of what was once a massive hardware store, I was able to gather how life in the United States has changed from pre-Civil War days to the boom and demise of major manufacturing. You could go back here dozens of times and find some other treasure you didn’t see before.

The Oil and Gas Museum in Parkersburg, West Virginia

Julia-Ann Square Historic District – Juliana and Ann Sts between 9th and 13th Sts. Pick up a walking tour brochure at the Blennerhasset Museum or the Blennerhasset Hotel.  The tour leads you past the finest homes in Parkersburg. Here is where prominent people lived back when Parkersburg was a booming center of trade and industry. The houses, dating between 1850 and 1910 are a gorgeous mix of Second Empire, 19th century eclectic and Queen Anne style architecture. In 1977, Julia-Ann Square acquired prominence by landing a spot on the National Register of Historic Places.

Several residents were outside gardening or sitting on their porches while we walked by and were happy to talk.

Julia-Ann Square Historic District, Parkersburg, W Virginia

Blennerhassett Island Historical State Park, accessible via sternwheeler. (Purchase tickets at the Blennerhassett Museum, 137 Juliana St.) This island is where Irish aristocrat Herman Blennerhasset called home.  His Palladian style mansion burned to the ground in 1811 but has been  reconstructed to reflect the times when Blennerhassett was a prominent figure. Blennerhassett was accused, along with Aaron Burr, of treason for allegedly trying to establish a southwest empire.

From May to October, costumed docents lead tours of the mansion. Alas, we were in Parkersburg a week before the season opened. That’s okay. This just means I’m heading back to Parkersburg. I’m thinking about the fall when the colors will be at their peak.

The historic Blennerhassett Hotel in Parkersburg

Blennerhassett Hotel - If you are spending time exploring a town’s history, stay in its historic hotel. The Blennerhasset Hotel, built in the late nineteenth century, is a Parkerburg  gem and downtown centerpiece. We stayed in a King room. On the weekends there are specials to entice guests. Our package was the Spring Fling which included a $20 gift card to use in the hotel and two Starbucks drinks. Our room rate for one night was $119. We used the gift card for the hotel’s sumptuous Sunday brunch.  After the gift card, brunch cost us  $15 and some change plus the tip.

320 Market St
304/422-3131;800/262-2536

http://www.theblennerhassett.com

Post and photos courtesy of Jamie Rhein, member of Midwest Travel Writers Association

The back view of the Rutherford B. Hayes’ mansion at Speigel Grove

Seven U.S. presidents were born in Ohio, and thanks to the efforts of volunteers, private foundations and the Ohio Historical Society, many of their homes are still intact and operate as museums.

Rutherford B. Hayes chose Fremont, Ohio as the spot for Spiegel Grove, his rural retreat.  Spiegel Grove’s 31-room mansion has been on my “Places to see in Ohio” bucket list for years. Mostly, I was interested in the traditional Easter Egg roll.

President Rutherford B. Hayes moved the Easter Egg roll to the South Lawn of the White House in 1878 when he was in office.  When Andrew Johnson was president, he started the egg roll tradition on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol building.

The Egg Roll at Speigel Grove is an annual event in honor of Rutherford B. Hayes and this beloved American tradition. It’s a terrific way to celebrate spring besides.

Balancing an egg on a wooden spoon for the egg race

Last year, I was able to cross Spiegel Grove off my bucket list when my family and I headed there so my son could participate in the Egg Roll. At age 10, it was his last chance.

Along with the Egg Roll that included other contests and a parade around the grounds, we took a tour of Spiegel Grove and visited the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center, a museum that traces the life and accomplishments of the 19th president of the United States. His wife Lucy Webb Hayes and his children are also prominently featured in the exhibits.

Because Hayes’s presidency was during a pivotal time  in both the United States and elsewhere, a visit to the museum is a wonderful history lesson that takes in Reconstruction after the Civil War, the Panama Canal, Nez Perce, Ponca and Sioux Indians, and the Great Railroad Strike of 1877.

The tour of Hayes’s and Lucy’s mansion is also a wonderful trip back in time where workmanship and innovation made this house a masterpiece that was added onto as the Hayes’ family’s needs changed. Hayes and his family returned to Spiegel Grove after his presidency.

Whether you visit Spiegel Grove for the Easter Egg roll or at another time, the trip to this  is worth it. Check Spiegel Grove’s website for special events and activities that happen throughout the year.

This year’s egg roll is happening on Saturday, March 30. The event is free.

If you go:

Rutherford B. Hayes’s grave at Speigel Grove

Tours of both the mansion and the Presidential Center are available year-round. Visitors can tour one or both.

Hours:   Tuesday – Saturday
9 a.m.-5 p.m. (HOME tours are on the half hour; the last at 4 p.m)
Sundays & holidays  noon-5 p.m. (HOME tours are on the half hour; Library closed )

Closed on Monday, Easter Sunday, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas and New Year’s Day.

Admission – Adult admission to both museums, $13. For just one: $7.50; children, 6-12 are $5 for both and $3 for just one. There is discount admission for AAA members, senior citizens, and active military and their families.

Admission to the Hayes Research Library is free.

The Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center
Spiegel Grove, Fremont, OH 43420-2796
phone 419.332.2081

Post and photos courtesy of Jamie Rhein, member of the Midwest Travel Writers’ Association

Tubing hill at Snow Trails, Ski and Snowboarding Resort

Every time I head to Mansfield, Ohio–or talk about its virtues as a getaway possibility, I think about things to do there. One day really isn’t enough.

This past weekend, along with passing out Mansfield travel advice to a woman I met at a car repair shop, I went to Mansfield myself. This time the draw was the tubing hill at Snow Trails, Mansfield’s ski and snowboarding resort. With only a few weeks left in the season, I didn’t want my son to miss out on this winter thrill.

Along with the tubing hill, Snow Trails, Ohio’s first commercial ski resort, has slopes that range from beginner to difficult.  There’s a lodge with a restaurant and bar, as well as, a separate snack bar for warming up and gnoshing on simple fare near the tubing hill.

Snow Trails is not the only trail type activity Mansfield offers. The Shawshank  Trail is a major draw to the area.  Several scenes of the 1994 movie “The Shawshank Redemption” were filmed here. The most impressive site, of course, is the prison.

Ohio State Reformatory, a major feature of the movie The Shawshank Redemption

The Ohio State Reformatory, a massive, stone building designed as a blend of Victorian Gothic, Richardsonian Romanesque and Queen Anne architecture, first opened in 1896. Before it closed in 1990, it had housed 155,000 men, the youngest of them boys. These days, the reformatory is a tourist draw. In the fall, the building’s windy staircases and twisting halls that lead through cell blocks of peeling paint and metal are a perfect backdrop to The Haunted Prison Experience. . This top notch haunted house attraction can give a person the creeps even without the actors dressed in ghoulish finery, some of them with chain saws. At other times of the year, people seeking the paranormal can take tours and also stay overnight.

In addition to the prison, The Shawshank Trail goes past several other sites that were significant to particular scenes in the movie.  A couple of them are at Malabar Farm State Park, the former home of Pulitzer-prize winning novelist and conservationist Louis Bromfield.

Bromfield was friends with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall and hosted their wedding in his gorgeous home that is a testament to his travels, family and ideals. The house is now a museum and looks exactly like it did in the Bogart and Bacall days. Malabar Farm is an Ohio State Park that operates as a working farm similar to the days when Bromfield ran it.  Throughout the year, special events keep visitors busy. The next major event on the calendar is the annual Maple Syrup Festival.

Novelist Louis Bromfield’s house and wedding site of Bogie and Bacall

If you do head to Malabar Farm, eat either lunch or dinner at the Malabar Farm Restaurant. The restaurant that is close to the park, offers farm-to-table dining at reasonable prices. I’ve eaten here three times and have never been disappointed. The crab cakes and mushroom soup are particularly splendid.

Along with the rolling rural landscape that surrounds Mansfield, the town itself has its charm. Central to downtown is the Richland Carrousel Park where a magnificent carrousel of 52 hand- carved animals that range from horses to rabbits to ostriches give riders of all ages a spin. Built in 1991, this is the first hand-carved carrousel to be built in the U.S. since the 1930s.

Also impressive is the Renaissance Theatre. This historical landmark building opened in 1928 as a movie house dazzling movie-goers with its leaded glass chandeliers and marble floors. Restored to its glory through the 1980s and 1990s, the building is host to the Mansfield Symphony, as well as various concerts and theatrical performances year-round.

The historical Renaissance Theatre

Mansfield is roughly halfway between Cleveland and Columbus off of I-71

Other area intractions include the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Kingwood Center and Gardens, The Mansfield Fire Museum and the Mansfield Memorial Museum.

The area has several hotels and Bed and Breakfasts.

I’ve stayed at the Holiday Inn Hotel and Suites and definitely recommend it. Its downtown location, just off of the town square, is perfect for wandering on foot.

I wandered to  Cypress Cellars Winery for wine tasting and to pick up a bottle of the Reformatory Red  which gives another nod to the prison and The Shawshank Redemption.

Photos courtesy of the Mansfield and Richland County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Post courtesy of Jamie Rhein, member of the Midwest Travel Writers Association

*I’ve been to Mansfield, both on my own and as a guest of Mansfield and Richland County Convention and Visitors Bureau.