Ohio Historical Society

I just visited the OHS museum last week, my first visit since middle school. We had a great time and ended up spending 3 hours there! It's a wonderful place for people of all ages. On the first floor there is a display of Ohio's natural history from ice age to present day. There are numerous skeletal, fossil and taxidermied examples of extinct and endangered species. There is a gallery of memorabilia from Ohio frontier life, depression era, immigration, and wars. There are restored vehicles and clothing(including a white hood outfit worn by a KKK member). There is also a collection of 18th and 19th century fine furniture. Also, don't miss the mummy in the center of the museum, under the stairs. You will feel there are endless nooks and crannies to discover in this museum. It's educational and fun. There is a temporary exhibit running until the beginning of September called Kidstuff: Great Toys From Our Childhood. The entire 2nd floor is filled with toys like Monopoly, Slinky, Mr. Potato Head, Barbie, GI Joe and Twister. While some of the vintage items are under Plexiglas, most of these are out and available to be played with by kids of all ages. Admission is free for ages 5 and under, $3 for 6-17, and $7 for adults. more

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The Ohio Historical Society Museum is a really fun place for kids and families. They have room after room of interesting exhibits. They even have realy Caboose outside that you can go in. The coolest place there is the Ohio Village which is a full-scale replica of an old town Ohio village. Everything is real. You can even catch the staff playing a game of cricket or baseball in the town square and they are dressed in period clothing. All the other employees in the village are dressed in period clothing also. It's really fun. more

If you really want to get down and dirty with Ohio's history, this is the place to go. Permanent exhibits include "Two Centuries of Change" which chronicles Ohio's progress from 1770 to 1970, and you are supposed to approach it as if Ohio were a "microcosm of the country" which I guess it is, and that's why every fast-food chain does product testing here. I don't think that's in the exhibit, though. There's another exhibit called 1st Ohioans which shows you arrowheads and garbage left behind by the Indians. This is where the dioramas come in, showing daily life in Ice Age Ohio, which I believe was mostly hungry and dirty but at least no one felt disenfranchised by the information glut of our increasingly fast-paced technologically-driven era. And the OHS is neither glutted nor fast-paced, so, relax and view the dioramas. more