Category Archives: Attraction

First Class Resting in Ohio

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In 1958 and 1959, following AASHO guidelines, Ohio built the nation’s first safety rest areas along the new interstate highways. Other states soon followed, and Ohio upgraded those simple parks several times over the years and added many more. In 2023, the state began a round of “reimaginings” that will build some new rest areas and upgrade others to create a generation of pull-offs that are half park and half museum. As museums, they include exhibits and information about the community in which they are located. As parks, they offer trails, attractive landscaping, and places to relax. They also provide safety, restrooms, and vending machines. I first encountered this new generation last June, when I stopped at a rest area on the way home from Pennsylvania that promoted the National Road and the Walther Museum. When I heard of the opening of one nearby with an exhibit on Cincinnati’s American Sign Museum, I knew I had to check it out. I had an opportunity to do that Wednesday.

The rest area is on southbound I-75, less than two miles past Exit 29. I naturally headed straight to the Sign Museum exhibit as soon as I got there. A couple of real signs with local connections are displayed along with information panels about several others. Plus, there’s a Plan Your Visit panel.

Here are the other three sides of the lobby-like interior. The rest area is inside Butler County, and one side holds a panel promoting the Butler County Donut Trail. I’ve been meaning to do the Donut Trail for a long time but still haven’t made it. The rest area gave me a nudge,

Outside is a trail of a different sort. Each newly imagined rest area has a Storybook Trail. As the first sign explains, these Trails are “a partnership between Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library of Ohio and the Ohio Department of Transportation”.

I mentioned attractive landscaping, and it’s really more than just attractive. It is all native Ohio plants, with signs identifying and describing them. Of course, all that education is purely optional. If you want to just look and rock, we’ve got that too. Learn more about Ohio’s rest areas here.

A Sphere of Influence

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As soon as I learned there was a complete, functioning Roto-Sphere about 100 crow miles from my home, I put it not just on the To-Do list, but on the To-Do-Soon list. It was cool enough and close enough to justify a trip on its own, but when I also learned of a historic ice cream parlor not far from the big spinning star, it became my number-one open-day, decent-weather day-trip target. I made it to the target on Wednesday.

This has absolutely nothing to do with either the Roto-Sphere or the ice cream parlor, other than being on the way. My destinations were in Indiana, and I covered much of the distance on US-52. I first saw this car on a pole on a 2003 day trip when I was driving a car that looked quite similar. I took a picture and made a silly joke about putting the car “in levitation mode”. I’ve passed the car many times since then, but today is the first time I’ve seen it with a driver. It’s also the first time since 2003 that I’ve taken a picture. Those facts are, I believe, somehow related.

Hav-A-Bite’s involvement with Wednesday’s trip also comes from being on US-52. It’s near Metamora, IN, and served me a fine breakfast. I have seen plenty of liar’s tables, both labeled and not, but I’ve not seen this warning about being the first liar before. I bet there’s a good story behind that.

The Roto-Sphere prompted this visit, but it’s obviously not the only reason I’m here. Alan Whitaker began erecting this sign garden in Whiteland, IN, in 2013. I certainly should have known about it earlier, but it took the American Sign Museum’s acquisition of a Roto-Sphere for what Google Maps calls a Garden of Gas Station Signs to register on my poorly aligned radar. That acquisition was greatly assisted by both Whitaker and Debra Jane Seltzer. Seltzer’s research (RoadArch.com) helps preserve the history of Roto-Spheres and track the survivors. Whitaker is the absolute master of their restoration and maintenance. He is fully responsible for restoring the ASM’s Roto-Sphere, which is not yet on display but should be later this year.

No one was present at the garden on Wednesday. The sphere was neither lit nor rotoing but it sure looked good. It originally stood over the Catalina Motel in Lexington, KY, and was the first one Whitaker resurrected.

Had Whitaker or an associate been on site, I might have gotten a look at the other collectibles (more signs, pinball machines, etc.) stored inside, but that’s not why I came, and I was not disappointed. The completely intact Roto-Sphere and the rows of signs were more than enough to make the drive worthwhile. I’ll be back.

I have no good explanation for why it took me so long to visit the Garden of Gas Station Signs in Whiteland, but only now visiting this next spot is not just inexplicable. It’s inexcusable. The ice cream parlor I mentioned is in the town of Columbus, IN, about 25 miles south of Whiteland. I have been to Columbus multiple times, and the parlor has been there since 1900. And if that wasn’t embarrassing enough, when my GPS directed me there, I realized it was almost directly across the street from a place where I’d spent some time in 2012. In fact, today I parked around the corner and passed through The Commons to reach my destination.

That destination was Zahariko’s, which I had only recently learned of from a friend’s blog post about A weekend in Columbus, Indiana. On arrival, I was guided through the arch to a table in the back portion of the main room. That’s where I enjoyed my mint chocolate chip with marshmallow, whipped cream, and a cherry while gazing at a beautiful 1908 Welte orchestrion that entertained us all with a march I should have known, followed by My Old Kentucky Home. Sorry I can’t share the music, but I can offer a closer look at that cherry and supporting cast.

This half of the business looks like — and is — a working restaurant with some truly impressive furnishings and equipment. The soda fountain and counter could have kept me gawking for an hour all by themselves. In an adjacent room, equal in size to the first, another marble counter sits unused. Although the room itself is used for overflow seating and probably accommodating large groups, it’s here that the establishment begins to look more like a museum. There are several automated music machines on display, including some, such as the Seeburg Coin Piano described here, available to take your coin and play you a tune.

This is a tiny sample of the many antique soda fountains on display. In the front of the first photo is a Cottage Soda Fountain made by James W. Tufts around 1869. The fountain near the center of that photo is from the American Soda Fountain Company. I thought it was cool enough to deserve its own picture, even though the description I have is pretty fuzzy. The two smaller fountains in the third photo are a Haussling and an Oracle. The variety of beverages and flavors dispensed by these fountains is phenomenal and includes a choice for those who don’t want to choose.

It was rather cringey to have not known about a giant sign collection that has existed for a dozen years and an ice cream parlor that has been around for well over a century, but more embarrassment was waiting when I got home. I’d chatted with my waitress about the place, and she mentioned an upstairs, but I got the impression it was only used for private rentals. When I later looked over the website, I learned that there were more public displays on the second floor. As I was leaving, I spoke with a couple of servers who told me the place was decorated extensively for the holidays. I need to go back to see the decorations, check out the second floor, and possibly see a Roto-Sphere in motion on the way. Of course, I still won’t be able to find space for my own pin on that wall-mounted map. 

Lincoln Highway Driving Forces in Massillon, Ohio

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I think I was aware of the “Driving Forces: The Lincoln Highway Journey” exhibit at the Massillon Museum before I headed to the Lincoln Highway Association 2026 Conference in York, PA, but I’m not certain. I was definitely aware of it when the conference ended, and I considered ways to include a stop in Massillon on my way home. That didn’t work out, but the museum lingered in the back of my mind until the weather and my schedule aligned for a visit on Tuesday.

I didn’t realize when I took the picture that the big neon sign I parked beneath was newer than the exhibit I came to see. An opening reception kicked off “Driving Forces” on May 30. The brand-new 30-foot sign was hung on the building around June 6. A wall-mounted plaque provides more information about the building.

The exhibit begins with several items travelers might take with them on a trip along the Lincoln Highway or any other highway of the era. Missing the official existence of the Lincoln Highway by a few years, The Negro Motorist Green Book was published from 1936 through 1966. The rather thin document on the table is a reproduction of the 1940 edition. It would grow over the years.

Some wonderful artifacts from businesses that once operated on the Lincoln Highway in Massillon are on display. John Margolies took the two photographs in 1988. Is it possible that Massillon had the very first no-tell motel?

Wall-mounted signs identified several driving forces, such as the Good Roads Movement, that contributed to the Lincoln Highway journey. Of course, the original Lincoln Highway Association was top of list and the three men pictured here were top driving forces within that association.

The museum’s lower level contains a gallery filled with work by local artists. The exhibit, titled “Creativity Within Community”, is organized by the Massillon Community Arts Council.

The upper level contains several galleries devoted to what I’ll call general local history as well as two dedicated to specific local icons. From the general galleries, I’ve included a 1908 Jewel automobile built in Massillon and some glass canes Massillon Glass Works employees made from leftovers around 1900.

I found the gallery with Dr. Immel’s hand-carved miniature circus and related artifacts particularly interesting. I suppose my interest might have been boosted just a bit by my recent exposure to full-sized sideshows. The cane on the wall makes a lot more sense with a little background.

Not surprisingly, football legend Paul Brown has his own gallery in the town where he began his climb to fame by coaching the Massillon High School Tigers.

All in all, this is a very impressive museum that I enjoyed way beyond the Lincoln Highway exhibit that drew me here. That Lincoln Highway exhibit runs through October 8.

Honda Heritage Center

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I’m guessing that many of you have seen plenty of attraction lists filled with places that you’ve already seen, are no longer open, are too far away, are by appointment only, or are so distorted by AI as to be laughable. I know I have. But I recently came across a list of museums in Ohio with several entries I thought useful. Every place on the list is currently operating, and I detected not a whiff of AI. I’d already visited several, and a few were too far away to fit my immediate plans, but that’s my problem. One requires an appointment, and my reluctance to do that is a personal problem, too. The list came from Ever After in the Woods. This is my first time hearing of them, so I’m not ready to give a wholehearted recommendation, but I like what I’ve seen so far.

As I’m sure you’ve already guessed, my first selection from the list was the Honda Heritage Center in Marysville, OH. It’s roughly two hours away, open at reasonable hours Monday through Friday, and free. I drove up Friday, registered for my stick on pass, and spent just about an hour roaming through the exhibits.

The first Honda plant in Marysville, actually the first in the U.S., was for motorcycles. It opened in 1979 with the intention of building the big Gold Wings. However, that was considered a little too complex for a brand new operation in a brand new country, so production started with the CR250M shown on the right side of the photo. Before too long, the facility was turning out Gold Wings and it turned out a whole lot of them before closing in 2005.

Although I don’t believe any of these were ever made in Marysville, these are the machines that firmly established Honda in the U.S. The Civic was the first Honda automobile to achieve any sort of success here. Next to it are 50cc and 90cc motorbikes. The only vehicle I’ve ever owned with a Honda nameplate fit between these two, at 65cc. The 50cc Honda is the most popular motorized vehicle in the world with more than 85 million sold. I think everybody’s view of two-wheeled Hondas changed when the 4-cylinder CB750 came out. I never owned one, but did ride one when a friend and I swapped bikes for a day. Nice bike.

I did have one of these. I just leased it, and it’s an Acura rather than a Honda so there are two technicalities allowing my only-owned-one-Honda claim. Acura was the first upscale brand from a Japanese auto maker and the 1986 Legend was one of their first offerings. I loved the car, but didn’t care for the leasing experience.

Honda has definitely done some serious racing on both four wheels and two.

Marysville is only about thirty crow-miles from The Ohio State University campus, so it’s only natural that some long term collaboration would take place between the two. That a Buckeye wrapped pickup truck would result from that partnership was probably inevitable.

Honda continues to develop other forms of transportation. Here are vehicles with two, one, and zero (Yeah, I know it’s gotta land sometime.) wheels. The two wheeled Motocompacto looks like something Inspector Gadget might use to cover the last mile to a crime scene. The UNI-CUB is controlled by body position. I guess it’s kind of like a Segway with one less wheel.

And there are even devices like the Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility that transport themselves. Nearby is an image of ASIMO on a screen (That’s me in the corner.) with a spot marked on the floor where guys like me can stand and make awkward gestures and get undeserved compliments.

No one will be surprised to hear that I paused in the Heritage Center lobby to check email and search for nearby breweries. You may be surprised to see that once I reached a brewery, I ordered a flight. It’s something I don’t normally do because I think a full pint of a single beer is better. But everything I read about Camp Brewing made a point of mentioning the flights in small Igloo coolers so I decided to go with the flow. The original location really is at a camp near Indian Lake. I went to the second location in Marysville where Markley poured and delivered my flight with a smile.

ADDENDUM 23-Aug-2026: There’s a reason Camp Brewing’s flight holders look familiar. One of my long time travel companions could actually be the first piece of gear in my brewery. If I took the stickers off, and if I had a brewery. Walmart now sells what appears to be the modern equivalent of this cooler for $27.99.

A Day in Greenfield

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A little more than a week ago, I saw an announcement in the Indiana National Road Association’s Facebook group about an upcoming road-related event. The author of a new book on the National Road would be presenting a lecture in Greenfield, IN, on Wednesday, and I thought that sounded pretty interesting. Making it more inviting was a list of activities in Greenfield that attendees might like. Near the top of the list was the James Whitcomb Riley Boyhood Home, and that was the nudge I needed. I have driven through Greenfield multiple times and told myself more than once that I ought to visit Riley’s home but had yet to do it. Some other things on the list also sounded interesting,  so I decided a drive to the middle of Indiana was justified. Had I known just how perfect the weather was going to be, justification would have been even easier.

I had plenty of time to make the 6:30 lecture, so I did not push myself to hit the road super early. I did, however, start early enough to feel comfortable trying out a new place for breakfast. That new spot was Nick’s Restaurant in Harrison, OH, and breakfast was goetta and eggs. I do like Glier’s Goetta, which has a near monopoly in the area, but I also like eating at places that go a different way. Nick’s is one of those places. If I recall correctly, their goetta comes from Wassler Meats.

I used US-52 for much of the drive. Besides being extremely pleasant, it helped make sure my arrival was safely beyond the 11:00 opening time for James Whitcomb Riley Boyhood Home and Museum. The white house is the boyhood home. The yellow house is the museum. It contains a gift shop and many Riley-related items, including a couch that James used to nap on. The museum is free. A tour of the boyhood home is $7.00 for adults; less for the old and the young.

James was raised in this house and got the inspiration for many of his poems here. When Little Orphant Annie (real name Mary Alice Smith) had “come to our house to stay”, this is the house. James and an older brother and sister were born in a log cabin. Three younger siblings were born in this house that their father, Reuben, built. Reuben was a lawyer, politician, and—as evidenced by this house—a talented craftsman. The spiral staircase (backside here) is just one of the building’s impressive features. Just out of frame of the staircase photo is the beautiful storage box Reuben made for his wife, Elizabeth Marine Riley.

The wear and tear on the trunks is from James’ extensive touring. I don’t recall that the other two items pictured had any Riley connection, but they fascinated me all by themselves.

I had a most wonderful guide whose name I learned as we moved from the museum to the house but which, as is way too often the case, I failed to record and have forgotten. Apologies. You did an outstanding job. She not only shared information about the things we were looking at but about when we were looking. My visit just happened to coincide with the 110th anniversary of James Whitcomb Riley’s death, July 22, 1916. A bit more than a year later, he moved into his current home, which I visited some time back.

That list of Greenfield attractions in the INRA announcement included a dining suggestion. The menu at Carnegie’s looked pretty good, but to be honest I was more attracted to the building it occupies. The 1909 Carnegie Library has been repurposed with a restaurant downstairs and an event space upstairs. And yes, food and service were excellent.

I had picked the Hancock County Historical Society museum from the announcement list as the place to fill part of the afternoon, but when I reached the published address, I missed the word “museum” on the message board and thought I was in the wrong place. Turns out it was just the wrong time. When I parked and did the research I should have already done, I learned that the museum was indeed housed in the church but was only open on weekends. As I started to ponder what I might replace the museum with, a car pulled over in front of me and its driver entered the church. Perhaps, I thought, the museum was being opened. Maybe for no other reason than it had been identified as a place to visit by the National Road group. I walked to the door, entered, and learned that the museum was not being opened and that the door would have automatically locked itself if I’d been a little slower. I also learned that the fellow whom I’d seen enter was society president Michael Kester. He was there specifically to meet someone else a bit later, but when he discovered I was from some distance away, he graciously offered to show me around the museum. There are a few items displayed on the main floor and a lot more downstairs.

One corner of the main museum area is given to temporary displays and is currently devoted to World War II. An exhibit on a local circus family will replace it sometime this fall. There is a real Riley connection with Little Orphant Annie’s sewing machine. For a time, roosters and donkeys coexisted as Democratic Party symbols, with the use of the rooster originating in Greenfield. Although, as explained here, this particular specimen is from 1876, the rooster-and-Democrat partnership began around 1840. Once Thomas Nast got behind the donkey, the rooster faded and was essentially gone by 1932.

I made it to the Brady J. Crytzer presentation that had been the seed for this trip in plenty of time but was disappointed to learn the author had no copies of the new book with him. The first hardback printing had sold out, and while copies were available from bookstores and other sources that stocked them, the publisher could provide none to the author. That may have been aggravated by the fact that a paperback rollout is approaching. I can’t say for certain that I would have bought a copy, but that was a big part of my reason for attending. The lecture was certainly entertaining, and even though I did not learn anything new of any significance, there were a couple of comments that will influence where I next go digging in National Road information. It turns out that Crytzer made a couple of stops in Ohio recently. In early June, he was at an America 250 event at the Blaine Hill “S” Bridge on the National Road near St. Clairsville, and just a couple of weeks ago he was at the Book Festival in Columbus. St. Clairsville isn’t a whole lot farther away than Greenfield, and Columbus is quite a bit closer. It also seems likely that copies of the new book were available at both events. Of course, if I’d picked one of those over Greenfield, I’d have missed seeing the porch that Little Orphant Annie shooed the chickens off of and the politically inclined rooster that resisted getting shooed for the better part of a century.

Howard Steamboat Museum

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I was vaguely aware of the Howard Steamboat Museum in Jeffersonville, IN, but it wasn’t until it kept popping up as I poked around the internet in preparation for my March visit to the Arabia Steamboat Museum in Kansas City, MO, that I thought seriously about visiting. Within moments of entering, I regretted not visiting the museum years ago. I expected a collection of steamboat artifacts, and there are indeed plenty of those, but the museum is so much more. The setting for those artifacts is a Gilded/Victorian Age time capsule unlike any I’ve seen before.

James Howard started building steamboats in 1840. His son, Edmonds, began construction of this 22-room mansion in 1890.  Edmond and his wife Laura moved into the mansion, furnished for the most part with items purchased at the previous year’s Chicago World’s Fair, in December, 1894.

Their son James and his wife Loretta were the mansion’s last residents. James expressed his desire to convert the family home into a museum, and after his death in 1956, Loretta made that happen, with nearly all of the original furnishings remaining. When several feet of water flooded the house in 1937, most of the contents were saved by moving them to the upper floors. The Steinway piano was too heavy and suffered greatly from the floodwaters, as shown in displayed photos. The cabinet has been wonderfully restored, but not so the internals. It is beautiful to look at, but will never be played again. The house was constructed by workers and with materials from the boat building operation, and the floors were made exactly like a boat deck. Almost unbelievably, they survived the flood. The beautiful terrarium is a boat builder story in reverse. Intended as an aquarium, my guide Aaron explained that its builders could keep water out but not in. It leaked from the beginning, so the water was replaced by sand, and even that leaks a bit.

Because the home’s construction was treated as a side project to boat building, its cost was never known. The cost of the fabulous chandeliers is known, and Aaron shared it, but I’ve forgotten the exact amount. I do recall it was over $600,000 in today’s dollars.

After a guided tour of the first floor, Aaron turned me loose, and I headed upstairs with a tour guide book in my hand. This is where more of those steamboat artifacts are displayed, but there is also quite a bit of original home and office furnishings.

Exhibits tell the Howard Steamboat story along with the general story of the steamboat era.

A remarkable piece of history from the steamboat era is this stateroom door from the famed Robert E. Lee. I imagine this desk was moved here from the boat works across the street. Sitting atop it are an Ediphone, a typewriter, and another Ediphone with some wax cylinders.

The Howard home was naturally one of the first with both indoor plumbing and electricity. The electricity originally came from a generator at the boat works. Because the generator did not operate full time, lighting fixtures could use either electricity or gas.

When I learned about a nearby candy company that is more than a hundred years old, I had to stop. I bought a bag of Red Hots, which Schimpff’s has been making making since they opened in 1891, and downed a root beer float at one of those cool tables. Those may be Coca-Cola napkins, but it’s root beer in the glass.

Skirmish at Dogwood Pass

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I first heard of this faux town in southern Ohio a couple of weeks ago when someone reported on a visit there in an online travel group.  Dogwood Pass began as a man-cave-style retreat for Mike Montgomery and his buddies, but has grown to be a whole lot more. The place was used to raise funds for a seriously ill child in 2012, and the practice has been repeated annually, with an event benefiting a different child each time.

Ideas kept coming, and the place has become a year-round attraction, with something going on at least twice a month, and much more around Halloween and Christmas. When I learned that one of the big Civil War-themed events would take place on June 6 and 7, I thought it would be a good time to check it out. When it aligned with perfect weather, I knew it.

The three dozen or more buildings that make up the town sure look like authentic 19th-century structures, and there is even a boot hill for the truly permanent residents.

Storefronts and wooden crosses are definitely not the only thing to look at. Among the less static attractions are the Roy Rogers Memory Museum, the g-g-g-g-granddaughter of Little Turtle, Buildings, and a hard-working village smithy.

Two Civil War reenactments were scheduled, and as the time for the first one approached, Dogwood Pass founder and owner Mike Montgomery told spectators a little about his man-cave’s wild transformation and the upcoming visit by Morgan’s Raiders. Everyone should stay behind the safety rope, he explained, to avoid getting “run over, shot, or killed”. This was especially important today, he said, because “It’s too hot for anyone to dig a hole to put you in.”

The town folk remained calm and it was business as usual until word arrived that Morgan was on his way.

The town cannon was fired as the raiders reach the edge of town but it was just wasn’t enough. Confederate troops were soon in the town square.

In 1863, Morgan’s Raiders worked their way through many small towns in southern Indiana and Ohio looking for horses, food, or anything else the could use. On Saturday, reenactors did the same in Dogwood Pass, and for a time were in complete control of the town.

It was short lived, however. Before long, United States troops appeared and cleared the town of the intruders.

Of course, not all of them left. Then, after a moment to let folks take in the scene and consider what they had just witnessed, the command “resurrect” brought everyone dispatched during the melee back upright. The reenactors eventually joined in formation and all the participating units were introduced. I regret that I can’t recall and share their identities. Many had traveled quite some distance and every one of them added something to a very impressive operation.

An even bigger battle was planned for the afternoon but I left after peace was restored in the town. The event continues today, with what I believe are repeats of both reenactments. I’m sorry that this is being published too late for any but the nearest neighbors to use that information but encourage everyone to check out the Dogwood Schedule and plan a future visit. It’s quite impressive.

USS Cincinnati Memorial

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The USS Cincinnati Cold War Memorial Peace Pavilion officially opened yesterday. It’s an addition to Voice of America Park in West Chester, OH. There was a reception at the site on Friday evening, and a flag-raising ceremony on Saturday morning, with about 140 sailors who once served aboard the boat present. Both were private events. 1:00 was the announced time for the public opening, but that seems not to have been strictly enforced. I arrived about a quarter till and there were plenty of people already walking around the skeleton-style full-size replica of the submarine. It had rained most of the morning and it seems likely that things were a little wet at the earlier ceremonies, but around noon the clouds started to clear a little and it was dry all the time I was there.

The nuclear-powered USS Cincinnati (SSN-693) was commissioned in 1978 and was in service until 1996. She was nearly 362 feet long and displaced about 6,250 tons. That is big enough to be called a ship and that is the word I initially used in the previous paragraph when referring to past crew members. But something made me question that, and an online search let me know that submarines are, by tradition, typically referred to as boats.

I have some vague (and apparently false) memories of talk about parking the complete submarine on the Cincinnati riverfront, but that was never a real possibility. A request was made, but the Navy wasn’t about to put a nuclear powered ship (or boat) into private hands. However, when the sub was scheduled for scrapping, memorial organizers did manage to get the rudder (in the previous paragraph), the conning tower, the auxiliary engine (a.k.a. Big Red Machine), and a piece of the hull.

There is some impressive signage throughout the site explaining the project and the workings of the submarine. There are plans to add educational interactive displays in the future.

There was evidence of the previous night’s reception (e.g., leftover very tasty cookies) inside the site’s only building along with several USS Cincinnati related artifacts and photos. I have a hunch that many of these will be included in more permanent displays as time permits.

Unsure of what crowd and weather conditions would be this weekend, I grabbed some pictures when I drove by about two weeks ago. Everything was pretty much in place except the signs. Until the rain stopped while I was on my way to the park, I thought there was a pretty good chance they would be all I would have for this post. I am sure happy that’s not the case, but figured I might as well share a couple shots without tents or people.

Loveland Museum Center

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Saturday was not the first time I’ve visited the Loveland Museum Center, but earlier visits happened long enough ago that this website did not exist. They were, in fact, long enough ago that I remember almost nothing about them. To be entirely honest, I don’t remember half as much as I should from Saturday’s visit. To illustrate, I met three extremely friendly and helpful staff members while I was there, but the only one whose name I remember is the lady who guided me through the exhibits and supplied tons of information: Nancy. The main museum building is known as the Bonaventure Hoise. It was built in 1862 by Dr. John S. Law. It was the home and office of Dr. Frank S. Lever into the 1950s. Apparently, Bonaventure was the name of an owner between the two doctors.

I don’t believe any of the building’s current content is original, but what is there is appropriate and interesting. A placard identifies the refrigerator as a General Electric “Monitor Top”, and says the name came from its resemblance to the gun turret of the Civil War ironclad, USS Monitor. I’d heard the name before, though not the explanation. I had my doubts, but it does make sense, and the internet seems to support it.

There is an impressive collection of guns and a display about a log cabin that I’ll have more on later. The large document on the left side of the third picture grants eleven hundred acres of land on the Little Miami River to Colonel Thomas Paxton. It is signed by President John Adams. This led to the founding of the village of Paxton, which eventually became Loveland.

During restoration, the name of paperhanger R.W. Prendergast was uncovered and preserved. It was placed there in 1872. It was apparently uncovered and again papered over in 1932 when S.G. Tufts added his name. Upstairs, a bit of wallpaper, thought to possibly be original, is similarly preserved.

That previously mentioned cabin is now on the museum grounds. It was built in 1797, covered over the years with numerous additions, then rediscovered in the 1980s when some remodeling was planned. A placard from that previously pictured display is here, and one from inside the cabin is here. Although they are not directly connected to the cabin, quite a few historic items are displayed inside it. The covered wagon bows against the wall caught my eye, and I snapped a picture, partially so I could mention that I once read that wagon bows were the first commercial product exported from Darke County, OH, my home.

Here is a different view of the cabin and the museum, along with a shot of the modern building containing museum offices and an event space. 

Salty Dog Museum

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I have known of the Salty Dog Museum for several years, but had it in my mind that it was open by appointment only. I think it may very well have started out that way. But I recently learned that it is pretty reliably open on Thursdays and Saturdays. On those days, the crew is very likely on site, busy restoring something, with the doors to the two museum buildings unlocked. There’s a decent chance of it being open at other times, and a slight possibility does exist that it won’t be open on a particular Thursday or Saturday. In other words, even though the museum has settled into a fairly consistent two days or more a week schedule, everything on the sign out front remains true.

Had I tried one more door beyond the two I found locked, I’d have been able to step into the museum building filled with cars. As I contemplated my next move, Dan stepped into the sunlight to get a better view of something in his hands. I approached and asked about the museum, and he invited me into the workshop. After casually noting that I was starting at what was the normal end of a museum tour, he told me about the 1917 Cincinnati Fire Department ladder wagon currently being restored along with the “tractor” that eventually replaced the horses that pulled it originally.

Then Dan introduced me to museum co-founder Mark Radtke, who gave me a tour of highlights before letting me loose to wander at will. I’ve seen Mark in a video or two with Ron Miller, the museum’s other founder and the founder of Ron’s Machine Shop. Ron died in 2023, and I really regret not getting here while he was still around. As you can see, Mark graciously agreed to a photo after leading me through the proper door into the auto section. Before we stepped out of the workshop, I got to watch Mark and some of the others dig through a foot-thick catalog, then do some back-of-the-envelope calculations involving IDs, ODs, and probably some other Ds, too, to determine exactly which fitting to order for some piece being restored. Seeing how much that group enjoyed what they were doing, then seeing Ron’s enthusiasm for the collection of vehicles and paraphernalia he and Ron have put together, sure put me in the right mood for looking it over.

We returned to the other building, where Mark went back to work, and I went off exploring. The museum started with cars, with the fire engines coming along later. Apparently, however, once they started coming along, they really came along. The number and quality of the firefighting vehicles here is phenomenal.

Ahrens-Fox was a Cincinnati-based builder of fire engines. That no doubt accounts for many of their vehicles being displayed in the museum.

When there’s that much firefighting equipment around, there’s bound to be more than a few ladders. Many are displayed on engines and trailers, and there is also a wall filled with them. Those not lying flat against that wall could present something of a hazard, but Salty Dog does a good job of making them visible.

I noticed this rock waterer and asked about it when Mark and I were walking between the two display areas. It was their answer to the Genius of Water on Cincinnati’s Fountain Square, he explained. Then he demonstrated its remote control. I snapped this picture as I headed back to the car display building. Ain’t it wonderful what a group of engineers and mechanics can accomplish with just a few spare parts?

You may have spotted this car in the background of the earlier photo of Mark. Although it was not the start of building or collecting cars for either of them, this car might mark the beginning of the Miller-Radtke collaboration that led to the museum. In 2008, the pair went to Bonneville as spectators, but ended up as an impromptu crew. They also ended up hooked. They built this car and captured two Bonneville Salt Flats land speed records with it. There are some details on its Ault Park Concours placard.

There are several more race cars next to the Bonneville car, and a slightly different sort of race car sits a short distance away. It’s the 1915 Ford Model T that Ron Miller drove to victory in the 2001 Montana 500. The 1911 T in the third picture isn’t a race car, but it does look rather racy, and I’m rather fond of the after-market hood ornament.

Looking back from the other end of the building will give you an idea of just how many cars it contains, and it might give you an idea of just how much these guys like Fords. It’s not all Fords, though. Among the “off brands” on display are a 1908 Schacht, a 1902 Holsman, and a 1932 Chrysler. There are even a few motorcycles available for viewing.

Crosby, Stills, and Nash said it first:

Will you come see me Thursdays and Saturdays?
What have you got to lose?
          Suite: Judy Blue Eyes, 1969