The Harding Presidential Sites includes the Harding Home and the Harding Presidential Library and…read moreMuseum. The Ohio Historical Society recently completed a complete renovation of the house - spending over $1,000,000 on the renovation. The Library and Museum opened in 2020. This site is about 1.5 miles from the Harding Memorial (aka the Harding Tomb). There are guided tours of the house (hourly at the top of hour). The website indicates you can make reservations for a tour but on the day we were here - reservations were not needed. In fact, my wife and I were the only two on the 11am tour. John, our tour guide, was fantastic. He gave an excellent narration and intrepratation of how life was in the 1920's - including the political environment of the day and Harding's "porch campaign". The house is well preserved and well maintained (it is managed by the Ohio Historical Connection). Also on the grounds are the "press house" - a "kit hhouse" that was build in two days to house the media covering the campaign and the Harding Presidential Library and Museum. The Library and Museum offers self-guided tours and has a wealth of exhibits chronicling the Harding campaign and his brief time in office.

We came to Ohio to visit 4 presidential libraries, including this one. The building and grounds…read moreare very nice. You can tour the museum and the house or just the museum. We decided to just tour the museum. The staff working there were very nice and helpful. The museum starts with a short movie about Harding's life and presidency. It was very informative. We then went through the exhibits and displays on the first floor. There is also a nice gift shop.

The other reviewer covered the basics, so I'll tell you what makes this museum unique in my…read moreopinion. While at first glance it may be mistaken for just your average railroad station museum, the reality is it has a very unique reputation for having one of the finest collections of items specifically related to the once ubiquitous Railroad interlocking tower. Specifically, it has one of the largest collections of preserved interlocking tower manipulation boards in the county on display, all from Ohio and many of which come from towers that were torn down decades ago. They also have a better than average gift shop for the railroad enthusiast, With the ability to purchase actual historic railroad passenger time tables, paperwork and other items that are surplus to the collection, as well as back issues of many of the most popular Railway magazines, including Trains, Railfan and Railroad and others. In short, if your into rail history and want to see some truly unique items, you won't be disappointed.

There is no entrance fee but donations are requested. A nice little collection of Erie related…read moreartifacts plus a number of switch boards from some interlocking towers. These folks have done a great job getting the station so that it is presentable. Outside, the station is surrounded on two sides by 8 crossing diamonds and one can sit on the benches and watch the freight just pass. This is a VERY unique railfan site.

This is one of the last county fairs my family attends for the fair season. It is fun to walk…read morearound and see the animals, get some fair food, and maybe if your lucky bet on some ponies. Thursday is Jug Day! It is a well known sulky race held right here in Ohio! I love the fair!

I've loved going to small town fairs since I was a kid. And I enjoy the delaware county fair for…read moreits simplicity, free music concerts and free grandstand events. It's only 30 minutes from Columbus so a doable drive. Admission is only $6 which includes parking. I go on the first night. Everything seems much cleaner the first day. The smells of all the fair vendors, sounds and sights are just fun to take in.

This is a really neat historical farm. It is set in the Depression era, with some of the items on…read moredisplay having signage that indicated pre-WWII dates in the late 1930s/early 1940s. It is a very nice property located directly across the street from Gallant Woods Park, which it shares a connector trail with. It does have its own very large gravel parking lot, as well. There is a cute farmhouse, a white barn, and a machine shed. Inside of the exterior buildings are era-appropriate equipment, such as tractors and a really neat car! There is also signage and space for the sheep and cows, which were all outside enjoying the lovely weather during our recent visit. There is currently a very cute calf too. A variety of outdoor games were available to play, such as badminton, and the farmhouse can be toured, as well. There's a large vegetable garden next to the house that was absolutely blooming. A large pond is set towards the middle of the property, and it has a nice overview deck with benches to sit and enjoy the view. There were a lot of frogs and birds, plus a small turtle, to see on our recent visit. It has a very picturesque view with a little windmill. This is a wonderful place to explore and learn more about another time period!

A nice small-town festival. Park across from the park, and walk under the road, to a laid-back,…read moreshady park with plenty of fair food, and evening entertainment. We had the best corndogs ever from Bite Me Corndogs, but there were lots of other interesting options, not limited to the usual fair stuff. There were games and small rides, firetrucks, etc. Not a huge event, which is fine for us, especially with the baby. Come for an hour or so, or come see a show- they had several interesting bands scheduled, plus a car show.

I go to this festive every year. It's always a classic and the apple cider is the best!read more

A Wonderful Night at the Marion Palace Theatre…read more As a veteran, I'm a member of Vet Tix, an organization that gives veterans the opportunity to receive free or discounted tickets to events through tickets donated by venues and organizations. I was fortunate enough to receive tickets to see Avenue Q at the Marion Palace Theatre, and it turned out to be a really enjoyable evening. When we arrived, parking was easy, with free parking available behind the theater. We picked up our tickets at Will Call and headed inside. First, the seats were great. We were on the main floor, left side, Row F, Seats 7 and 8, with a very good view of the stage. The Marion Palace Theatre itself is beautiful. This is an old-school theater with tons of character. The ornate carvings, detailed architecture, and crushed velvet curtains really give the place a classic theater feel. It's the kind of venue where the building itself becomes part of the experience. The lobby also has a snack counter where you can get popcorn, candy, and drinks. There's even a bar set up in the lobby if you'd like to enjoy a drink before the show or during intermission. Because this is an older theater, the seats are on the smaller side, and the backs don't have a lot of padding. They're certainly not modern stadium-style seats, but they were perfectly acceptable for the performance. My only real complaint was the men's restroom. It is extremely small, with only three urinals that are positioned very close together. There isn't much privacy, and honestly, they felt almost too close together. Other than that, we had a great experience. I'm grateful to Vet Tix and the Marion Palace Theatre for giving veterans opportunities like this. I would definitely recommend checking out the Marion Palace Theatre if there's a show you'd like to see. Between the beautiful historic atmosphere, convenient parking, concessions, bar, and quality entertainment, it's a great place to spend an evening.

They need to fire their Executive Director. Event space was dirty. That may sound "cold," but…read morethat's "just the way it is."

Went on a Thursday night to Bingo. This was our first time, but the Post has been doing bingo on…read moreThursday nights for a bit over a year now. It was a lot busier than I expected as there were about 54 players. The volunteers were very friendly. A few regulars noticed we were new and immediately helped us understand the game since we'd never played most of the types. They also had a bunch of various other games like "horse race", Snappys, and other ones that I have no idea how to play. I was surprised by how many types of bingo there were so I didn't want to overcomplicate things by trying the other ones. They also have events like community meals, parades, and more.

After 30 years of being on display at the Marion Courthouse, a make-shift wooden Honor Roll of…read moreMarion County WW II service men and women had deteriorated, and was ultimately removed in 1970. Residents looked for alternate ways to honor the brave veterans and after many years of planning were able to build this memorial. This memorial is located right inside the Marion Cemetery and is known as one of the largest WWII memorials in the country, outside of the Nation's Capital. It is right at the main entrance of the cemetery and is hard to miss. The land that the memorial sits was donated by the Marion Cemetery Association. The half million dollars need to build the memorial was raised through private donations. The memorial was dedicated on May 28, 2001, Memorial Day. The memorial itself is in a semi-circle shape and consists of 3 granite walls that is inscribed with the names of Marion County residents who died in World War II. A three walls are a semi-circle with the larger wall facing the street and having the inscription "Marion County World War II Veterans Memorial" in large letters that are easily viewed as you are driving by.. The two inner walls are facing each other and form and open circle. They are much smaller than the main outer one. The walls collectively contain about 6,00 names in all. In the center of the 2 smaller walls is a 13-foot black granite tower that has the names and emblems of the five branches of the United States armed services and a colorful and vivid image of an American flag. There is a small parking area in front of the memorial has a black granite sign with two color American flags in each lower corner as a border. The sign reads Marion County World War II Veterans Memorial. It is a nice welcoming to the memorial's visitors. Behind the sign, you will find a long walkway that is lined with rows of shrubbery, flagpoles waving American flags and benches that lead to the granite walls and the heart of the memorial. and a granite block at the entrance declaring it the Marion County World War II Veterans Memorial. I like this memorial and was glad that they were able to find a home at the cemetery. It is a nice tribute to the WWII vets, not only locally, but nation-wide, even though it only has the names of the local vets. The grounds are well maintained and this is an nice looking and fitting memorial. You probably will not spend a lot of time here, so I recommend checking out the Harding Memorial, Veterans Memorial Park, the Merchant Memorial, and the Firefighters memorial, all with in a half a mile.