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!
When most normal people visit a place, they look for the amusement park and the kids museum. I look for places like the courthouse, the library and for how people live. Government buildings are rarely open when I’m out adventuring on weekends so it was a treat to be out looking at things in Marietta, Ohio Friday.
The Washington County Courthouse has long fascinated me because I had heard that the decor includes swastikas and I wanted to see for myself.
The modern eye views it as a swastika but that’s not quite true. The symbol is actually part of an Indian motif carried out through tile work in the building. It’s called a sauwistika, and represents balance and good fortune in life. It is different from the swastika because it’s left facing rather than right.
Much like a four leaf clover, this symbol was once associated with good fortune and was commonly used in sports uniforms before the Nazis hijacked it.
Built at the corner of Putnam and Second streets in 1901, this imposing stone building with a clock tower is an important part of Marietta’s historic downtown.
It was designed and constructed by Samuel Hannaford and Sons of Cincinnati. A skylight in the rotunda sends sunlight glimmering throughout the center of the building all the way to the ground floor.
This bell was created by the Verdin Company of Cincinnati during the state’s Bicentennial celebration and is kept in the second floor. Verdin cast a commemorative bell for each of Ohio’s 88 counties using a mobile foundry.
There are other memorials including this one dedicated to the local me list in World War I. Each soldier is memorialized with a framed picture and place of death.
My favorite spot in the building was the courtroom. When I went through security, I made friends with the guard who told me to try to get a glimpse inside the courtroom. So I stopped by the Clerk of Courts office and they let me inside. It felt like stepping back in time a hundred years. It smells old, the light feels like it comes from another time and the room is simply gorgeous.
The entire building feels like a special place to be.
Modern government centers are patched together in old shopping centers and glorified pole barns that have no character or sense of reverence. People used to dress up to conduct their business because it was a special occasion to enter such magnificent spaces as our old courthouses. This building has an air of importance and character that you simply don’t find in many places these days.
I’m so glad I got to see inside. If you go, you do have to go through security so be sure to not carry with you anything inappropriate. Go see it for yourself and be sure to study all the historic pictures throughout the building.
Happiness is seeing a grand old building hold its own among the new. You see it a lot in cities like Columbus, Ohio where progress has mostly paved over history but a few old structures refuse to budge.
For example, downtown Columbus has a number of old churches. Here you see the Broad Street United Methodist Church living in the shadow of Encova, a boring monstrosity like so many others in our modern cities.
The church dates to 1875 and is positively gorgeous. Want to see inside? They offer a virtual tour online. Click here for that.
Maybe it’s silly but I always root for the underdog, value the historic and enjoy their successes almost as much as I would my own.
At first glance. I thought it was a church or perhaps an old school. On closer inspection, it’s actually the town hall.
Whatever it is, it’s a nice focal point in Lewisville, Ohio, a town of just over 200 residents. I caught a glimpse one fine summer day in 2020 when in I took a scenic drive through the Wayne National Forest.
Remember, fellow adventurers, sometimes you just need to hop in the car and go for a drive down a road you do not know. Find some lunch or a great milkshake and just go see what’s out there. Trust me. You’ll love it.
They call it the People’s House but most Ohioans seem not to know they can tour the Ohio Statehouse for free. Some kids get to visit on school field trips but I was never so lucky.
Since I have visited other statehouses, it seemed appropriate to tour my own.
Ohio became a state on March 1, 1803 but Columbus didn’t became the State Capital until 1817. Before that, the Capital was located in Chillicothe and then Zanesville and then Chillicothe again before being permanently established in Columbus where it would be central to all Ohioans.
It was surprising to learn that we came very close to losing this building in the late eighties thanks to overcrowding, decades of neglect and absolutely no ADA access. It’s a shame to think that razing this nice old building was an actual option. Luckily, someone saw value in the history and they finished a museum quality restoration of the statehouse in 1996.
The cornerstone for this building was laid in 1839 but it wasn’t opened to the public until 1857. The building was constructed using a workforce of prison laborers from the Ohio Penitentiary.
These skilled laborers had experience building the nearby Ohio Lunatic Asylum. In the museum, you’ll find a display containing tools used in the construction, a photo of some of the inmates and a ball and chain that was worn by one of those prisoners while he worked.
Can you imagine doing manual labor like that with a ball and chain in tow? One guy on my tour was shocked to see this particular artifact, exclaiming “I didn’t think that was a real thing!”
There’s so many noteworthy to tell you about this place. Look closely and you’ll notice fossils in the stone from a local quarry. In fact, college classes come to study the fossils throughout the building.
It was wired for electricity in 1892 but prior to that, natural light was vital. That’s why the building was designed with four light courts. These areas had slate floors and no roofs, allowing plenty of natural light and fresh air into interior offices through windows that opened into the light courts.
After the advent of electricity, these light courts were all enclosed to pack in a bunch of small offices that our tour guide suggested were cramped and a poorly planned fire hazard. During the renovation, these offices were removed and one of the light courts was transformed to accommodate an elevator.
The Rotunda is the centerpiece of this building and a glass dome allows sunlight to shine down on the place where President Lincoln’s body lay in state during the trip from Washington D.C. to Springfield, Illinois.
Look closely at the skylight and you’ll notice something in the center. You would need binoculars to tell what it is but it’s an 1847 version of Ohio’s seal. This area features some gorgeous, ginormous paintings including William H. Powell’s Perry’s Victory.
Our tour guide told us the Statehouse is a popular wedding venue and that they are currently booked 30 months out for weddings. Event planners, florists and caterers were all abuzz preparing for a wedding that was taking place in the rotunda that evening. In fact, they had booked the entire building with the ceremony, bar and dining all happening in different areas.
The event planner in my little nerd heart was impressed with their decor choices and overwhelmed with the cost of it all. It was magnificent.
Anyway, the building is filled with symbolism and themes like flowers and circles. There are lots of stairs too and they are said to symbolize power, control and authority. Climbing them takes you to higher levels and reminds you there is no elevator to success.
This tour takes you behind the locked doors of the Senate Chambers where you’ll find elaborate decor, stained glass, chandeliers and lamps. The floral carpet is a reproduction of the 1856 original. If the Senate is in session, you’re welcome to sit in on their discussions and votes.
If you go, it takes just an hour for the guided tour and then you’re welcome to explore independently.
There is a nice museum that you’ll want to explore. It covers Ohio history and voting rights in Ohio through the centuries. You do have to go through security to get in the building. There’s an underground parking garage with reasonable rates but the tour is free.
There’s a fantastic auditorium sign just blocks from the State Capitol building in Denver. It’s for the Fillmore Auditorium but this old building hasn’t always been an auditorium.
It actually began life as a roller rink in 1907. Since then it has been everything from an indoor ice rink to a flea market and even a car factory.
It was repurposed over twenty years ago, redesigned inside to replicate the famous Fillmore in San Francisco. It’s now a popular live music venue. While I haven’t been inside, I was infatuated with the exterior as we sat in traffic inching down the street. Consequently, they aren’t the best pictures but you get the gist.
Who knows? Maybe I’ll catch a show there sometime and report back on the adventure.
