Travel America 250-Ohio’s Driving Trails This Summer

Explore the multitude of ways the people of our state shaped the nation along America 250-Ohio’s themed driving trails. Created with the help of Ohio Travel Association executive director Melinda Huntley, the Ohio Commission for the U.S. Semiquincentennial’s Creativity, Air & Space, Innovation and Lake Erie to Ohio River trails share how Ohio influenced not only our nation’s culture but also the course of history.

“We’re linking these sites into a bigger picture and a cohesive story,” Huntley says. “When you connect all these things, you realize … there’s something special [here].

She also notes that, once travelers begin exploring, they quickly start to find interesting connections and crossovers between the trails. Explore them yourself this summer and beyond to learn about innovative Ohioans, the wealth of artists and craftspeople that hail from the Buckeye State, our deep air-and-space connections and how Lake Erie and the Ohio River provided a geography that helped us flourish.

Innovation Trail
The Innovation Trail’s 81 sites include locations tied to inventors who transformed how we live. The Thomas Edison Birthplace Museum in Milan details the prolific inventor’s beginnings, and in Dayton, you can visit Delco Park and the Charles Kettering History Walk, which traces the story of the National Cash Register founder, who also invented the electric car starter, electric windshield wipers, techniques to diagnose cancer and more. In fact, many of the Innovation Trail sites in southwest Ohio are located in or near Dayton.

“You have communities in Ohio that support innovation,” Huntley says. “Where you can experiment and you can innovate; you have suppliers and resources.”

Bill Kennedy, site superintendent for Fort Ancient Earthworks & Nature Preserve, says community-level innovation has been at work in Ohio for 2,000 years. Part of the larger UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks spread across the southern half of Ohio, Fort Ancient is an example of the innovations displayed by Indigenous people who didn’t have a written language, lived seminomadic lives and used basic digging tools. 

The 126-acre hilltop enclosure was created using the equivalent of 125 million basket loads of soil at 30 pounds per basket, Kennedy says. While it’s impressive that the builders were able to construct such large structures in precise shapes such as circles, squares and octagons (some of which incorporate astronomical alignments that mark the summer and winter solstices), Kennedy points out that organizing labor at such a significant scale over centuries is equally impressive. 

“They’re sharing knowledge and traditions through stories and songs,” Kennedy says. “There’s a collective memory of what they’re working on. And it’s not done through coercion. They are building works of a monumental scale voluntarily.” To learn more about the America 250-Ohio Innovation Trail, visit america250-ohio.org/ohio-innovation-trail.

Air & Space Trail
One of Huntley’s favorite stories on the Air & Space Trail involves a supposed newspaper typo. Ida Holdgreve, who was born near Delphos, applied for a “plain sewer” job listing she found in the newspaper. When she showed up at the Wright brothers’ airplane factory in Dayton, they told her she’d be sewing fabric for “planes,” as in airplanes. Turns out, the newspaper had mistakenly changed the word, thinking it was a typo. 

“She’s probably thinking, ‘Well, I’m not fancy; I can do this,’ and applies for the ‘plain’ job,” Huntley says with a laugh, noting that the Delphos Canal Museum has an exhibit dedicated to Holdgreve. 

The Air & Space Trail’s 41 sites include The John & Annie Glenn Museum in New Concord and the Armstrong Air & Space Museum in Wapakoneta, dedicated to the Ohio-born astronauts. But it was the work of Dayton’s Wilbur and Orville Wright that made it all possible, says Brady Kress, president and CEO of Carillon Historical Park.

“The first human-powered flight features pretty prominently in air and space,” he says. “And the guys who did it are from here.”

At Carillon Historical Park, visitors can learn about how the Wright brothers developed the technology that led to those flights, including how suppliers and peers around Dayton enabled their advances. Plus, from Kress’ viewpoint, the Holy Grail of powered flight is on display at the museum in an exhibit area designed with the help of Orville Wright himself. 

“The 1905 Wright Flyer III is the only airplane designated a National Historic Landmark,” Kress says. “It was built, engineered, flown and tested all here in Ohio. The brothers considered it their most important aircraft.” To learn more about the America 250-Ohio Air & Space Trail, visit america250-ohio.org/air-and-space-trail.

Creativity Trail
Huntley says she thought she knew Ohio well, but it turns out there was a lot that she discovered or re-discovered when developing the Creativity Trail, which spans 115 sites tied to music, ceramics and glass, literature, visual arts, folk arts and carousels. 

For example, she didn’t know about northeast Ohio’s influential Cleveland School art movement in the first half of the 20th century that included artists Viktor Schreckengost, Julian Stanczak and Charles Burchfield, whose former Salem home is now the Burchfield Homestead Museum. 

“You had prolific artists working, and students were exposed to that work,” Huntley says. “And then they went off and did their own works. They had access to inspiration, and the region nurtured this talent.”

Those regional connections are part of what Jason Annecy attributes to the wealth of creativity found in the state’s rural Appalachian areas, where glassmaking, woodworking and ceramics were creative outlets that also met basic needs. 

“Creating is heritage and it’s community,” says Jason, who re-opened 1940s-era glassware maker Gay Fad Studios in Lancaster with his husband, David Annecy, in 2022. 

Founded by Fran Taylor, Gay Fad Studios created midcentury glassware that gained national attention and eventually became a $10 million company with international sales. Inspired by Taylor’s success as a woman in a male-dominated world, the Annecys reopened Gay Fad Studios as a boutique and museum, where they create and sell glassware based on Taylor’s designs and tell the story of her company. 

“The glassware makes you feel like you can take a moment, make yourself a really special cocktail and sit down with a friend and have a conversation,” Jason says. “Those are the universal things that we as people have desired for centuries.” To learn more about the America 250-Ohio Creativity Trail, visit america250-ohio.org/ohio-creativity-trail.

Lake Erie to Ohio River Trail
It’s easy for Ohioans to be spoiled by their access to water. Living sandwiched between Lake Erie and the Ohio River will do that to you. Both have played large roles in the evolution of the United States in the 250 years since the country’s founding. 

The 161 stops on the Lake Erie to Ohio River Trail (by far the most among the announced America 250-Ohio trails) chart a course that includes War of 1812 locations such as Fort Meigs Historic Site in Perrysburg, spots along the Miami & Erie and Ohio & Erie canals that spurred Ohio’s economic development in the 19th century, and the Campus Martius Museum, which shares Marietta’s history as the first permanent settlement in the Northwest Territory.  

But keeping all that freshwater fresh involves research too. Ohio State University’s Stone Laboratory, located on the 6-acre Gibraltar Island in Lake Erie, houses one of the oldest freshwater biological field stations in the United States, with roots dating to 1895.

Students and researchers at Stone Laboratory routinely monitor water quality by testing for algal blooms, mercury and more to gauge the lake’s health and its effect on wildlife. The lab also hosts scheduled tours and field trips.

The two-hour public tours take visitors around the island to check out Cooke Castle, a mansion that once served as a dormitory for students, a former fish hatchery with educational exhibits operated by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, natural wonders such as grooves left by retreating glaciers and the lab itself. 

“We’re an information hub for Lake Erie right in the middle of all this,” says Kevin Hart, laboratory manager. “It’s a unique opportunity in a unique setting.” To learn more about the America 250-Ohio Lake Erie to Ohio River Trail, visit america250-ohio.org/lake-erie-to-ohio-river. 

Save The Date
Check out these upcoming America 250-Ohio celebrations scheduled for this month and next. For more information about America 250-Ohio activities, visit america250-ohio.org.

May 30-31: Train to Newark Strawberry Festival and America 250-Ohio Picnic
Take a train ride to Downtown Newark to enjoy the Americana Strawberry Festival and participate in the America 250-Ohio picnic. Dennison Railroad Depot Museum, 400 Center St., Dennison 44621, dennisondepot.org

June 6-8: Day in the Life of a Lighthouse Keeper 
Brian Ellis of Fox Tales International will re-create the daily life of a lighthouse keeper on the Great Lakes. He will be at the Port Clinton Lighthouse on June 6, South Bass Island Lighthouse on June 7 and the Lakeside Chautauqua Orchestra Hall on June 8. america250-ohio.org

June 13-14: America 250 Celebration: America in 1776
Join a celebration of America complete with costumed interpreters, 18th-century games and historic demonstrations. Adena Mansion and Gardens, 847 Adena Rd., Chillicothe 45601, ohiohistory.org

June 24: Ohio Goes to the Movies: Toy Story 2
Academy Award-winning director and editor Lee Unkrich hails from Chagrin Falls and was co-director of the 1999 film “Toy Story 2.” Chagrin Falls Intermediate School Theater, 77 E. Washington St., Chagrin Falls 44022, clevelandfilm.com

June 27: Ohio’s Homecoming & Signature Picnic: Lima
Join the city of Lima for an all-star picnic extravaganza including the Lima Symphony Orchestra. Greater Lima Region Park & Amphitheater, 128 E. Spring St., Lima 45801, america250-ohio.org/picnic

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