AN OHIO ADVENTURE

Touring C-Towns and Isles of Lake ErieStory and Photos by Richard Varr

At first glance, thehouse looks like anytypical Ohio neigh-borhood home with

a mustard-yellow façade,trimmed hedges and a shadedporch, where I could easily passthe time enjoying a gentle sum-mer breeze. But, with a closerlook, I realize I’ve seen thishouse before – not in person, buton TV – over and over again.All of a sudden, scenes of a fa-mous Christmas movie comevividly to mind. “You’ll shootyour eye out kid,” says Santa toyoung Ralphie Parker whosqueamishly asks him for a RedRyder BB gun. Inside, I see the shapely leglamp draped by a fishnet stock-ing that Ralphie’s father gloatsover in an awkward family mo-ment. And, around back is thedoor where a pack of hungrydogs escapes the father’s ireafter devouring the Christmasturkey. This house in Cleveland’sblue-collar Tremont neighbor-hood is where A ChristmasStory was filmed in part – the1983 movie we see everyChristmas on the TBS network,a 24-hour marathon that startedin 1997. The home is one unique high-

light of my travels to Ohio overthe last year or so, where I visitedsome of the state’s most popularcities, coincidentally, all begin-ning with the letter, C —Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbusand Canton. Each has its owncharacter and world-class institu-tions, museums and attractions –some of which you won’t find thelikes of anywhere else.

Cleveland: Comeback CityWith a strong manufacturingbase, Cleveland became the na-

tion’s seventh largest city dur-ing the turn of the 19th to 20thcentury, due in part to John D.Rockefeller founding StandardOil. Lagging railroad and steelindustries led to economic col-lapse in the 1970s and 80s but,in recent years, Cleveland hasearned the reputation as a“Comeback City” with renewedenergy, revitalization andgrowth. Today, it’s home to na-tionally-known ProgressiveInsurance, Sherwin-Williamsand the Cleveland Clinic. Yet, key to what makesCleveland a worldwide destina-tion is its number one attraction,the Rock and Roll Hall ofFame. A scintillating city iconon the shores of Lake Erie,“Rock Hall,” as the locals callit, sits within a shiny glass andsteel pyramid – the centerpieceof downtown’s boat-filled har-bor area. On seven floors withfour theaters, collections in-clude everything a rock androller might dream about – fromElvis Presley’s 1968 glitteringgold suit and John Lennon’s1964 Rickenbacker guitar, tothe band Kiss’ drum set and thedress Tina Turner wore in her

“Private Dancer” video. A short walk leads to pedes-trian-packed East 4th Street,where on many nights you’llfind crowds swelled within itstrendy bistros and cafes. Down-town’s streets stretch intoCleveland’s diverse neighbor-hoods, with some communitiesdefined along historic ethniclines – Slavic Village and LittleItaly, for example. The craftbeer-popular Ohio City neigh-borhood – once a separate mu-nicipality – is awash in colorfulstreet art murals and is anchoredby the city’s popular West SideMarket with its 137-foot clock

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The “Christmas Story House” sits proudly in Cleveland’s Tremont neigh-borhood. It was featured promptly in the movie, “A Christmas Story.”

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum in Cleveland opened its doorsfor the first time on September 2, 1995. The museum was designed byfamed architect I.M. Pei. The museum honors all aspects of Rock and Roll.

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tower, a Cleveland landmark. The city’s thriving arts andculture scene is located withinUniversity Circle, with world-class museums, educationalinstitutions and performing artsvenues are packed within asquare mile. They include theCleveland Orchestra’s domedneoclassical Severance Hall, theCleveland Institute of Art,Cleveland History Center andCase Western Reserve Univer-sity. Centered by green and treedWade Oval, it’s where thestately façade of the ClevelandMuseum of Art reflects off thewaters of scenic Wade Lagoon. Yet, another grand highlight isthe impressive gothic-styledPresident James GarfieldMemorial within Lake ViewCemetery, the final restingplace for other such notables asJohn D. Rockefeller and FBIorganized crime fighter EliotNess. Relief carvings decorateits outside façade, while a 12-foot statue of the bearded 20thpresident stands within thetower’s ornate domed interior. “This is a grand monument toone of the poorest presidents inU.S. history,” noted guide BobHook. “Garfield was shot inWashington in 1888, servingonly 200 days as president.”

Cincinnati: The Queen CityCincinnati dates back to 1788,right after the American Revo-lution, and is thus consideredthe first major city founded in ayoung United States. Its nick-name stems from its growth inthe early 19th century, as onenewspaper flagged it, “Queenof the West.” From the top floorobservation deck of the 49-story Carew Tower, I imaginewhat the fledgling city lookedlike before skyscrapers domi-nated the downtown view. “Think about this without allthe buildings,” said tour guideJanice Forte. “Everything

below you was trees and fertilesoils. Within 25 years of gettingoff the flatboats, this city grewto almost 35,000. And, at anygiven time from 1830 to 1900,there were maybe 100 river-boats coming and going withgoods taken off the boats dayand night.” Today, Cincinnati ishome to the corporate head-quarters of Macy’s, Kroger andProctor & Gamble. To me, Cincinnati seems likea small big city. As a nativeNew Yorker, I love gazing at theJohn A. Roebling SuspensionBridge named after its civil en-gineer – especially at night. It is,in fact, the same design as theBrooklyn Bridge, Roebling’smost famous project, opened 16years after Cincinnati’s bridgelinked the Queen City withNorthern Kentucky in 1867. The William Howard TaftNational Historic Site is thebirthplace and childhood homeof the only U.S. president toalso serve as Chief Justice ofthe Supreme Court. The two-story, Greek Revival-stylehouse has period furniture, afew original paintings andexhibits detailing his years inpublic service. The historicOver-the-Rhine neighborhood,once home to German immi-grants, is noted for its 19th

century architecture and manytheater venues. Sitting along the banks ofthe Ohio River, the NationalUnderground Railroad FreedomCenter highlights the continu-ing struggle for civil rights andthe plight of enslaved people –even today – through exhibits,paintings and more. “Our mission is to tell thestory of freedom’s heroes dur-ing the era of the UndergroundRailroad to modern times,” saidWill Jones, marketing and com-munications manager for theFreedom Center. A must-see isan authentic, restored woodenslave pen moved to the museumfrom Mayville, KY. “It was so well preservedbecause it was actually keptwithin a tobacco barn,” saidJones. “Tobacco soaks up a lotof moisture, and that’s why itwas so well intact when theyfound it.”The city’s two world-class artmuseums include the TaftMuseum of Art, housed in agrand home once owned by thefamily of President Taft’sbrother, and the CincinnatiMuseum of Art, located in hillyand scenic Eden Park. The Cincinnati MuseumCenter at Union Terminal, agrandiose art deco former trainstation, houses several muse-ums and exhibits, includingDinosaur Hall and The Cave,where spelunking enthusiastscan traverse twisting pathwaysin this replica limestone cave.Union Terminal’s rotunda is thelargest half-dome in the West-ern Hemisphere. And. neonsigns, from Howard Johnson’sto the yellow trim of a mid-20thcentury McDonald’s marquis,glow and buzz in the fun andquirky American Sign Museumfeaturing more than 100 yearsof American sign history. Always having a strong inter-est in astronomy, I was particu-larly thrilled when I toured theCincinnati Observatory, hometo two telescopes from the mid

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East 4th Street in Cleveland

The President James GarfieldMemorial can be found withinLake View Cemetery in Cleveland.

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19th and early 20th centuries,and thus called the Birthplaceof American Astronomy. “It was the first American tel-escope to see Neptune,” saidCincinnati Observatory as-tronomer Dean Regas of the11-inch lens and 16-foot-longMerz and Mahler refractor from1842, the oldest public tele-scope in the country. “It’s theoldest in the world that you’reallowed to touch.”The observatory’s other tele-scope is the 16-inch AlvanClark and Sons refractor from1904, each housed in separatebuildings atop Cincinnati’sMount Lookout. Of course, thetelescopes cannot compete withmodern-day instruments, so theobservatory is now open to thepublic for tours and for eveningstargazing.

Columbus: Calling all Cars!You’ll surely remember thatline if you’re a comic strips buffor watched the old Dick Tracycartoons on TV years ago.What about Snoopy and theround-faced caricature of Char-lie Brown in the comic strip“Peanuts?” Remember “BeetleBailey,” “Gasoline Alley,”“Pogo” and “Superman” andthe many superheroes? Theseare just a few of the charactersthat jump back to life in theBilly Ireland Cartoon Library &Museum at Ohio State Univer-sity in Columbus, home to thelargest collection of comics andoriginal cartoon art in theworld. “Getting to see original‘Peanuts’ artwork, original‘Calvin and Hobbes’ artwork,and discovering new titles thatpeople never heard of before isalways exciting,” said CaitlinMcGurk, the assistant professorand museum’s associate curatorfor outreach. Breaking it down,she added, holdings include350,000 original art cartoons,30,000 comic books, 75,000graphic novels, over 6,000boxes of manuscript materials,and 2.5 million comic strip clip-pings and newspaper pages.

North Market, where vendorstalls teem with Polish piroguesand dumplings, Vietnamese andIndian specialties, and vegetar-ian dishes, including cauli-flower and quinoa, to name ajust a few.South of downtown, shadedand cobbled streets intertwine inGerman Village with its re-stored 1800s brick houses builtby arriving settlers. WithinSchiller Park, trees shade the so-called Umbrella Girl statue atopa small fountain. Each Christ-mas, Umbrella Girl is mysteri-ously draped in a red cloak asno one has owned up to the hol-iday gesture. The current statueis a generous replacement froma local sculptor after the originaldisappeared in the 1950s. On the edge of German Vil-lage, The Book Loft is packedwith mostly new books within amaze of passageways and smallrooms, some only as wide as asmall closet.New to the city is the roundedarena-like National VeteransMemorial and Museum with ex-hibits including historic artifactsand timelines of practically allU.S. conflicts — from theAmerican Revolution throughthe current War in Afghanistan.Soldiers’ and volunteers’ indi-vidual stories of courage and

patriotism are told throughvideos and letters from the bat-tlefields which humanize thesoldiers’ desperation and sacri-fices. Other places to visit includethe Columbus Museum of Artwith 19th and early 20th-century American and Euro-pean art, as well as the works oflocal artists. The riverside Scioto AudubonMetro Park is a great place forhiking and bird watching, andthe Franklin Park Conservatoryand Botanical Gardens featuresexhibitions including colorfulflora and butterflies.

Canton: Football’s RootsJust over an hour’s drive fromCleveland, Canton’s greatestattraction is yet another impres-sive presidential mausoleum –the domed William McKinleyNational Memorial. The 25thpresident died eight days afterhe was shot in 1901 while at-tending the Pan AmericanExposition in Buffalo. Thememorial’s imposing exteriorreaches 95 feet high. Halfwayup the 108-step stairwell standsa statue of McKinley, a Cantonnative. In the adjacent McKinleyPresidential Library and Mu-seum, I’m amazed at the talking

Columbus reminds me ofAustin, both having a river slic-ing through with scenic greenareas and biking paths, and withcapitol buildings and state of-fice buildings. And, both have abohemian feel in some neigh-borhoods since each is home toa large university: UT in Austinand Columbus’ OSU. One such neighborhood, theShort North Arts District, liesjust north of downtown Colum-bus. Galleries and boutiquesline central High Street, muralart decorates building facades,and nightlife pulses within chicrestaurants, trendy cafes andclubs. My favorite lunch spot isthe nearby pedestrian-packed

Within Schiller Park in Colombus,trees shade “Umbrella Girl.”

mannequin likenesses ofMcKinley and his wife, Ida,standing among some of hisoriginal furniture during his lifeas a soldier, congressman, gov-ernor and, then, president. Canton is also home to the ProFootball Hall of Fame, tracingthe game’s beginning when theAmerican Professional FootballAssociation, founded in Cantonin 1920. It was later renamedthe NFL. Housed in an impres-

Commerce and Visitor Center. Put-in-Bay — South Bass’main village and often used syn-onymously as the island’s name— is centered with DeRiveraPark, a grassy and shaded lake-side green space with a gazeboand picnic areas. Restaurantsand shops line the park’s adja-cent street, with golf cartsparked bumper-to-bumperalong curbsides. Cannonballs in the park mark

the originalgravesites of sixofficers – threeAmerican andthree British –from the pivotal1813 Battle ofLake Erie. Those graveswere later trans-ferred to the is-land’s mostspectacular site,the 352-foot-highPerry’s Victory

and International Peace Memo-rial commemorating the Battleof Lake Erie, a key victory forthe Americans in the War of1812 against the British, BritishCanada and their Indian allies.From the battle comes the fa-mous quote, “We have met theenemy, and they are ours,”made by American AdmiralOliver Hazard Perry. The U.S.Brig Niagara is a replica of oneof the battle’s ships and sitsberthed along Putin-in-Bay’s

shoreline. South Bass Island isalso home to Crystal Cave withquartz-like Celestine crystals –the largest Celestine geode inthe world. Golf carts are again the wayto travel in nearby KelleysIsland’s rustic neighborhoods,where streets seem to weave inand around pastures and forest-land with more hiking and bik-ing trails than any otherAmerican island in Lake Erie.The island’s must-see attractionis the Glacial Grooves Geologi-cal Preserve, where a great icesheath 18,000 years ago carvedout long, smooth tracks throughsedimentary rock and lime-stone, creating some of theworld’s largest glacial grooves.“We always tell people, if youwant to be entertained, go toPut-in Bay. But, if you want toentertain yourself and get backin touch with nature and familyvalues, come to Kelleys Island,”said Jeni Hammond, the officemanager of Portside Marina andMissy Magoos, an old-fash-ioned candy shop that still sellsbubble gum cigarettes that Ihaven’t seen since childhood. “Go to a beach camp fire, sitdown with your family and playgames,” continued Hammond.“That’s what Kelleys Island isall about.”

Richard Varr is a freelance travelwriter and longtime contributor toHouston Woman Magazine.

sive glass and steel-frontedbuilding, the attraction tracesfootball’s roots from legendaryJim Thorpe, when protectivegear was only simple pads, tothe latest Super Bowl winners intheir emblem-emblazoned col-ors and helmets. Highlights in-clude the striking rows ofbronze busts of the game’s bestthrough the years, and whenNew York Jets quarterback JoeNamath comes to life in a holo-gram presentation.

Lake Erie Islands: Golf Carts!From Sandusky, I hop a ferryto South Bass Island where Ican’t help but notice golf cartscrisscrossing island streets asthe main means of transporta-tion. And, driving them is allpart of the fun! Visitors quicklysnatch up some of the 1500available golf cart rentals, yettrying to find one during busysummer weekends can be achallenge. “On a Tuesday, there are twofor everybody; on a Saturdaythere’s not enough for any-body,” joked Peter Huston withthe Put-in-Bay Chamber of

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