My boyfriend and I love taking haunted history tours in October, and I briefly worked at a theater…read morewith Will, so I knew his tour would be fun! I was right! The tour went for a little over two hours, strolling leisurely through historically significant areas of Columbus and stopping to grab a drink and listen to stories. Will clearly loves this city and its history, he tells great stories, and he frames the tour with fun locations and good drinks! I can't wait for the new tour he was teasing for spring...

Even after living in Columbus for a couple years, Will showed me so many great spots around town…read morethat I wasn't aware of. He was able to customize his tour according to what I was interested in and kept the tour very entertaining! Not only does Will have a great knowledge of Columbus, he keeps up to date with all the cool things happening in town. Like when he created a tour for aspiring photographers to take part in a city-wide photo challenge. That was a fun scavenger hunt and I walked away with some amazing cityscape photos! My 3rd tour with showmecolumbus was their Haunted Columbus tour. I had low expectations because I don't like cheesy gimmicks designed to startle you. Will's approach was nothing like that. He filled the tour with extremely interesting stories from our city's past and joined them with their eerie locations. This is a must-do-tour for the fall season!!!

This is about the actual jail but of course they have shut off posting so I'm posting here and to…read morebe honest they can remove it all they want because this review is getting posted everywhere! The county jails and prisons in this state are horrible! Yes I know people are in jail for reasons BUT to be ignored by staff, skipped medication (if given at all), Unusable toilets, no heat and no thermals.... is asking for family members to get sick and possibly die. The C.O.s talk to the inmate as if they are dirt (can't say dogs because dogs in pounds are treated better) Phone and visit screens are the worst but yet they have no problem taking families money. Jails and prisons get checks for housing people but yet do not take care of the people or the buildings. God forbid someone has an accident or mentally unstable and smear it on the walls.. C.O.s go in with Hazmat suits but force the inmates to clean it and maybe get a pair of gloves (so let's share the Hep. ) EVERY jail and prison in Ohio needs to be looked over by the Feds! Anyone that has been locked up or family members of someone who has been locked up in Ohio should be contacting the news, health dept, entire staff of the jails/prisons along with other outside agencies! Regardless of why they are incarcerated they are still HUMAN BEINGS and should be treated with some kind of dignity. Absolutely disgusting!

They allow tours right now for 5 bucks each person. The place was very cool and they provide great…read moreinformation. Parking was easy because there are garages and street parking with no meters. The staff was nice and the place had a cool creepy vibe. Not sure if it's truly haunted but sure looked scary inside and out. Right now they have the haunted house and I recommend doing the jump the line. But their scarers did great and it was for sure worth the money just to go inside the cells and layout of this historic and troubled jail! Thanks

This is an Ohio History Connection property which has some interesting history. It was part of the…read moreunderground railroad and housed the Hanby Family, one of which who wrote the song "Up on the Housetop." We loved the holiday event with the festive decorations and live music as your tour the house. There were volunteers in each room talking through the history which was really interesting!

From the owner: Historic home of the Hanby family from 1853-1870. Bishop Hanby was founder of Otterbein University…read moreand conductor on Underground Railroad. His son Benjamin was a composer in the Civil War era. Tours of the home and special events are offered to the public.

Since 1977, Columbus Landmarks Foundation has been rallying to preserve and protect Columbus's…read morearchitectural history, of which I am a huge advocate. It is a non-profit organization, so their funding comes by way of membership, tours and special events. The CLF offers some wonderful guided tours of various aspects of the city. The walking tours are fair-priced, ranging from $7 to $15 and focus on unique little corners of the city, such as "Iuka Ravine Historic District - Urban Nature at its Grandest," "Clintonville - A Tapestry of Amazing Streets" and "The Original Haunted Columbus Walking Tour." If you are new to Columbus, this is a nice way to learn about your new neighborhood. Check their website for a list of upcoming tours. They tend to offer one or two per week, particularly in the warmer months.

In a Halloween-y mood last fall, I signed up for Columbus Landmarks Foundation's Gables, Gargoyles…read moreand Ghosts bus tour. After two hours of cruising Columbus hearing about history, hauntings, and landmarks, I was hooked! I signed up for another tour the very next weekend. The Landmarks Foundation has a noble goal (historic preservation and rehabilitation), which it accomplishes through advocacy, events, and education. I am from Columbus, and had no idea of the rich history of our city until I started attending CLF's events. I highly recommend checking out one of their tours to find out more about Columbus neighborhoods and history.

What a great house and interesting tour. The tour guide had been there for almost 25 years and knew…read moreeverything there was to know about anything we asked. She even was giving us recent insights about some of the people who had been at the property they'd gotten from descendants. A great hour spent in Columbus. I hope to visit again. It sounds like they have special events throughout the year that honor birthdays and anniversaries and give you a little different flavor than the primary tour.

We stopped in during an open house and really enjoyed our visit! The staff was very friendly and…read moreknowledgeable and knew how to customize their information to their visitors. The house itself is in good condition and it was really neat to learn more about the family, who lived in the house for over 120 years, particularly the final Kelton to reside here, who had connections to the White House. The Kelton belongings make up the majority of what's on display, and the staff knows exactly which items were not part of the collection. It was neat to see the demonstrations on some of the antique items like music devices and clocks. This was a stop on the underground railroad, and there is a display and information available in the lower level. The back garden is lovely, and they had the carriage house all decked out for the holidays. Very neat!

I've been visiting the Thurber House regularly since my very first trip to Columbus back in the…read moresepia-tinted year of...1989? No sorry, 1990, my mistake. It's never failed to inspire--and a national literary landmark like this is deserving of 5+ stars once you see what the site offers. Been a dyed-in-the-wool "Thurberian" since my 8th grade literature teacher assigned us to read "My Life and Hard Times".... When the class got to the chapter on "the night the bed fell", it took 20 minutes to restore order in the classroom because we were laughing so hard! Any author who writes a book that causes cynical 8th graders to almost die laughing 44 years after publication, says much more than any eloquent words can. Humor is the hardest thing to write for posterity since linguistically much syntax shifts/morphs with every generation. It's was my fascination with Thurber that propelled me to study the whole "Algonquin Roundtable" era of US 20th century literature that included such American icons as E.B. White, Robert Benchley, Dorothy Parker, etc., and if you are able to read some of Thurber's key works (and the more scholarly bios by Rosen, Kinney, etc) prior to visiting this site, it will make your visit to the Thurber House more enjoyable. Sorta like if you read about the Battle of Gettysburg before visiting Little Round Top, you'll gain more insights and meaning from the experience. Some must sees: 1) the stairs leading up to "grandfather's" bed in the attic (now fully renovated and serves as the quarters for selected "writers in residence"); 2) his mother's bedroom window where she threw her shoe; 3) the kitchen where the deranged cook chased his father because she thought he looked evil.... Check the web link for the latest in events, closures and COVID policies. Parking is metered along the street. OSU is fairly close by ... within view (they also have an extensive Thurber exhibit), but you have to "buck" traffic (pun intended) since access is bisected by the now prevalent interstate highway. "Buck! Your time has come!"......... to get up out of your chair and go visit the Thurber House. Thank you so much for reading my review.

Dogs are certainly allowed at the James Thurber House in Columbus, OH. Well, at least dogs carved…read morein stone, dogs sketched on paper and dogs commemorated in the written word. I think I learned about my literary soul mate when I visited the Thurber house and discovered that Jamie, as he was affectionately called, was tall, lean, lanky, a dog lover, humorist and illustrator/writer for "The New Yorker." It's definitely worth a visit to the Thurber House if you're in Columbus. James lived here for four years while he attended Ohio State University. The house is just covered in Thurber's dog sketches and the little book store is really cool, carrying many more dog products that you could have imagined. If you're unfamiliar with his work, you might recognize the short story "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" or the short story "The Catbird Seat." He also wrote a story called "The Dog Who Bit People," about a dog who lived in the house and big so many visitors that the family began to keep a list of names each year (it once reached 40). At Christmas Thurber's mother would then make fudge for each victim, to make up for the mishap. The tour guides here are absolutely great. Though the man I had will not be back because he's moving to Pittsburgh. When we rolled up to the house, there was only one other car parked in the lot and the car was COVERED in cartoons from the funny pages. Literally, they were just glued onto every inch of the car. The inside of it was also draped with fuzzy comic strip blankets. The tour guide's wife owned this vehicle, so clearly she has a passion for Thurber's craft. Funny anecdotes about the Thurber family peppered our fact based tour. Upstairs there is a small museum room with the goggles that Thurber wore to draw later in life. He was blind in one eye from a childhood accident and as he got older, began to lose vision in the other eye. Another awesome part of the Thurber house is the sculpture garden outside where Thurber's dogs are sculpted out of stone and playing in the grass. One especially loved dog, "The Patient Bloodhound" was my favorite and I even bought a small print of it, along with a used copy of his book "Thurber's Dogs." I loved this whimsical, kooky place so much and was really happy to have learned about it in my book "Traveling Literary America." The house also has a center next door where they run workshops for children and show art. Upstairs in the Thurber House, artists in residence can live in the attic while they toil over their work. Learn more about Thurber, his dogs, his fables and his contribution to American humor and art at The Thurber House!

I've been here before- I think the herb society used to be here? Now there are three historic…read morebuildings. One the museum, one a log cabin, and the newest (but still 120 year old) houses a B+B and auxiliary museum. We came for the Victorian Christmas event. An old-style Santa, jolly and friendly, was in the log cabin. A roaring fire, period furniture (frontier era,) and docents were also there. A fun experience for Baby K. The museum house is beautifully finished, to a later timescale, perhaps 1860s. In the basement were crafts- ornament and card making, etc. The newer house held more crafts for kids, plus homemade cookies and spiced cider. The volunteers were super friendly and informative. I'll be back another time to spend more time checking out the artifacts when it's less busy.

The fact that this place openly welcomes visitors to its meetings makes me really happy. I find…read morethere are few better ways to get a sense of a community, and the individuals seem to really appreciate guests. The meeting, if you want to drop in, is the second Wed of the month at seven in the John Clark House. The house itself is that of the guy who actually founded Gahanna. It's full of old things from the family and is a great example of the preservation of gahannas past. You can drop by during their short but sweet hours, but personally I suggest bringing some friends and making an appointment. You get more personal attention and you'll be sure to have a lot of fun. Don't forget to leave time for the gift shop... there are some yummies there.

I would highly recommend Black Cat Ghost Tours for anybody looking for a spooktacular history…read morelesson on beautiful Roscoe Village. Jess and Shawna took great care of us! You won't regret booking a tour with them!

I attended the opening night tour. It took a little over an hour and I learned new things about the…read morebuilding as early residents of Roscoe Village. It was fun walking through the village with lanterns to light our path.

the house has many original Sherman family items and the house itself has not changed much and is…read morein good shape. the upstairs has a museum about W. T. Sherman with many displays about Sherman's life and military career. our guide was excellent and you could tell he was very enthusiastic about Lancaster and Sherman. my husband and I would highly recommend this Museum.

Lancaster is such a lovely and quaint town full of history. The Sherman House Museumnis a gem on…read morethe Museum and History Tour circuit. General William Tecumseh Sherman grew up here and then lived in the home with his family. It has been lovingly restored with many of the families own belongings. Each tour is guided and narrated by a local knowledgeable docent. You get plenty of details about how they lived, who they socialized with, (Henry Clay and Daniel Webster) as well as historical information about Lancaster. Furnishings are beautiful with pieces dating back to the 1800's. This is a must do when you visit.