Wednesday, June 18, 2014

H is for Local History



I drive my kiddos crazy and my hubby too.  I love learning about and visiting historical places. It's amazing sometimes what is in our own backyard.

We are from the Great state of Ohio.  Did you know that:

  • There have been 7 presidents from Ohio.
  • The first ambulance service was established in Cincinnati in 1865.
  • Cleveland had the first traffic light in America.  August 5, 1914

There are tons of facts you can find on the 50 states website.

Ohio is FULL of historical sites.  So we are trying to visit as many as we can over the next year or so.  One of our first stops was the Rutherford B. Hayes Home.

Rutherford B. Hayes was the 19th president of the United States.  He lived with his uncle and mom at Speigel Grove, which is located in Fremont, Ohio.

He lived there with his wife Lucy also.

These gates were actually at the White House.  They were donated and been used at Speigel Grove.




There were only so many places we could take pictures.


 This was a gift to President Hayes.
White House China cabinet.



 Some of Lucy's dresses.


 Campaign banner

So how do you find local historical places to visit?

I just "Google" it.  I searched Ohio History.  Ohio has a huge Historical society that has listed for historical markers, sites and a ton of information so we are pretty fortunate.  Most states have similar organizations.

We are also fortunate that our Ohio Historical Society offers a family membership card, similar to a family zoo park pass.  For an annual fee, we can visit all the Ohio Historical Society sites for free.  The membership is tax deductible and they even give an educators discount.  We definitely earned our money back on this one.

So don't forget that field trips go beyond the zoo, check out your local history and how it's being preserved.


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