Tag Archives: Cincinnati

The Ohio Book Store

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It’s no secret that books are an important part of my life and that I often seek out bookstores when traveling. That’s why it was important to me to prioritize finally visiting the Ohio Book Store in downtown Cincinnati last month.

The Ohio Book Store was founded in 1940 and is five floors of used and out-of-print books. The proprietor will meet you at the door and ask if you’re looking for anything in particular to aid in your search. If you’re just browsing or are interested in multiple topics, he will give you a map to aid in your expedition.

When I inquired about nature books, he asked a few questions before taking me to my desired section in the basement. When my fella asked about history, the guy asked questions to drill down to a specific area of history before sending him off to the third floor with a map and some instructions.

Each floor features rows of tall metal shelves and some makeshift ones as well. Tall windows facing Main Street provide lovely atmospheric light and a chair here and there welcomes the shopper to stop for a rest or a read.

This place is packed to the ceiling with unusual books, old books, things you’ve never heard of, and things you never knew you needed to read. It is not the place to come for new releases or bestsellers but I think that’ makes it all the more charming.

Although, I will admit that it’s a little overwhelming at first! Note the massive collection of National Geographic’s pictured here. I went hoping to find the August 1949 edition that I’ve been searching for these last several years. They had a dozen copies for $5 each. They have a selection of other old magazines like Life and local papers too.

They even do book repair and binding. That’s a sentence I never thought I would get to type. People just don’t take care of things the way they used to so it was great fun to see that department in the basement.

I found a nice little stack of things that I knew I would never see again and left behind some stuff that I now regret.

Perhaps a return trip should be on the books!

Want to visit the Ohio Book Store? Find everything you need to know on their website!

Rookwood Ice Cream Parlor

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Tucked in the corner of the Cincinnati Union Terminal Museum Center is a nondescript door that leads into something unexpectedly special.

Rookwood Ice Cream Parlor feels like an art deco time capsule. That’s because it’s decorated with Rookwood Pottery tile. This iconic handmade tile comes from the Cincinnati based pottery that was founded in 1880. It’s world renowned pottery that can often be found in fine public buildings, in many historic homes, and even the New York City Subway.

This space was originally a tea room and later a home for the USO when World War II troop trains rolled through the city. Now they serve ice cream treats to museum goers and Amtrak travelers.

My only regret is that we didn’t stay and order some ice cream. Another day.

Here’s a closer look at the tile.

Isn’t it fantastic?

Cincinnati Union Terminal

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It’s an art deco masterpiece. It’s a center for museums and enlightenment. It’s an amazing place to pass a day.

It’s Cincinnati Union Terminal and home to the Cincinnati Museum Center. This building houses museums dedicated to natural history, Cincinnati history, the Holocaust and even a children’s museum. Honestly though, my favorite thing to do here is to just walk around and look at the building.

Construction was completed in 1933 and there are some incredible art deco touches like this ceiling.

The font!

And murals. Holy Batman and Robin! Look at this incredible artwork!

Isn’t it amazing? Tomorrow I’ll tell you about the ice cream parlor we nearly missed.

It’s an incredible building and it’s still home to an Amtrak station but this gorgeous place has been through a lot over the decades. Train services were suspended in 1972, it was a shopping mall for a while and a portion of the building was demolished.

I feel fortunate that we have this amazing place to visit and enjoy. Perhaps someday I’ll buy a train ticket and catch an Amtrak to adventure!

Walking Around

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The very best thing about going to a city is just walking around to see what’s what. I didn’t do much of that this time but I did capture a few shots that caught my eye. Saint Xavier Church is a beautiful part of Cincinnati’s skyline. This ground level view was quite fetching in the sunshine and it made me wonder what lies behind all those doors.

Here’s one more view of the next door parish building with a glimpse of the Great American Insurance Group building in the back. Notice the top – it resembles a crown which is quite fitting for the town known as the Queen City.

Look up, down and all around. There’s always something interesting to see in an unfamiliar place and sometimes in the familiar places too!

The Dexter At Spring Grove

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Perhaps the most iconic place at Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum is the Dexter Mausoleum and Chapel.

It was built on a slope overlooking Geyser Lake in the mid-1860s for Kentucky bourbon baron Edmund Dexter. Dexter was an English immigrant and well known businessman who received important guests like Charles Dickens and the Prince of Whales.

Architect Joseph Foster designed this gothic structure as well as a couple of other buildings at the cemetery. For this project, he took his cues from Sainte Chappelle in Paris and Chichester Cathedral in England, creating a building with the only flying buttresses in all of Cincinnati (these are a structural element on the outside that give the building strength).

The price tag was a cool $100,000 which would be well over $1.3 million today.

There are twelve catacombs on the lower level and a chapel above. They ran out of money before completing the project with a stained glass window and an elevator for moving the caskets.

I read a couple of articles that indicate this sandstone structure could be endangered. It evidently has some structural issues that developed over time and some decorative elements have fallen off the building. Look closely at the center near the top and you’ll still see an E for Edmund.

If you go to Spring Grove, do not miss this spectacular place. It’s well worth a stop to admire and look around.

One more thing. Lest you think your family is screwed up, I give you Exhibit A that it could always be worse. Click here to read about the descendant of the Dexters who built this mausoleum and how she reached from beyond the grave to get her nephew to change his name, hurt her own sister, and cause a firestorm of legal wrangling. It’s shocking what people will do sometimes!

The Very Best Thing

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In telling the story of this last long weekend in Cincinnati, it seems prudent to start with the very best and favorite thing that we did. I hope you like it too because you most likely will hear about it more because there are so many pictures and stories to tell from just this place.

Our very favorite place was …… drumroll, please……. a cemetery.

Crickets.

I know. Hear me out.

It isn’t just a cemetery. It’s an arboretum too and the Grande Dame of all the amazing cemeteries at least in this part of the country.

Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum was established in 1845. This nonprofit has 750 acres of trees, 44 miles of paved roads and fifteen lakes. We never left the historic section so I have no idea what the new sections look like but the old areas are amazing.

We parked at the visitors’ center (yes, they have a visitors’ center) and went inside for maps and an overview from a nice man who helped to orient us. There’s a printed walking tour as well as lists of notable people buried here.

From the visitors’ center, you walk under an old stone railroad bridge into what feels like Heaven on Earth. I will be honest with you, we did most of the walking tour but not all. That’s because every stop on the map was surrounded on all directions by other things we wanted to see.

Spring Grove had been on my radar for some time but I had never made it there for one reason or another. I had seen pictures and heard stories but none of it, and I do mean none of it, prepared me for this place.

It is stunning.

When I told Adam about it, I just described it as a cool old cemetery, purposefully trying to surprise him. Little did I know how shockingly beautiful, amazing, and jaw droppingly awesome it would be for a couple of cemetery nerds.

I suppose I should explain that trees are unwelcome in our local cemeteries. Even gorgeous old trees that people love aren’t safe from being cut down if they are too near the boundaries of a cemetery. To find a place that not only has trees but celebrates them is wonderful.

The trees alone are incredible, providing comforting shade on the hot sunny days we visited. They also provide wonderful habitat for an abundance of birds that flitted about chirping and singing their little hearts out.

We were delighted by the turtles, swans and ducks that call the lakes home.

There are monuments of all sizes and mausoleums of varying architectural styles. One monument put up by the International Order of Oddfellows celebrates friendship, love and truth.

There’s a sense of one-upmanship in the historic areas as one wealthy family after another built grandiose mausoleums and erected artwork at their family plots. Columns, obelisks, statuary, granite reliefs, busts and orbs are common.

The true showstopper though is the Dexter, a mausoleum and chapel that robbed me of words for a full minute.

We saw people out walking and running. The cemetery actually puts out mile marker signs along a suggested route to help folks reach their fitness goals. We saw a woman painting and a man reading book. On Sunday, a group of volunteers had convened to plant flowers and I was jealous of them all. We agreed that we would be there all the time of we lived close enough and I’m sure I would volunteer to help out.

Come back tomorrow to read about the Dexter. It has a great backstory and one worthy of its own telling.

Want to visit Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum? Click here for their website. Here you’ll even find a list of upcoming events including tours and volunteer days.