There are numerous day trips to wonderful destinations that you can take around Columbus, OH. Go on a road trip to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force or the marvelous Hartman Rock Gardens, experience farm life in the 1800s, and explore the most beautiful caverns in the country.
1. Explore the Caverns
Ohio Caverns are known as the country’s most colorful caverns and Ohio’s largest. Discover the beauty and the history of the caverns on various guided tours to view the state’s largest stalactite, magnificent formations, and breathtaking colors. The Olentangy Caverns near Delaware are just as impressive. An underground river forcing its way through the limestone rock formed the caverns over millions of years.
Explore the caverns down winding passages to rooms where the Wyandot tribe once sheltered from their enemies and the weather. There are interpretative panels and audio recordings for information at various intervals along the way. Visit the museum to view the arrows and stone implements found in the cavern rooms.
2. Slate Run Living Historical Farm
Take a step back in time and experience life on an Ohio farm in the 1880s at Slate Run Living Historical Farm. See farmworkers in period costumes go about their daily chores tending animals around the barns and plowing the fields with the help of draft horses.
Take a walk through the 1856 gothic revival-style farmhouse and watch the ladies clean the parlor and prepare meals in the kitchen. There are a variety of heirloom farm animals, including beautiful Percheron draft horses, Poland China hogs, Merino sheep, ducks, geese, turkeys, and chickens.
3. Hartman Rock Garden
Drive out to Springfield and visit the astonishing Hartman Rock Garden created by Ben Hartman between 1932 and 1944. He used metal, glass, wood, concrete, and thousands of stones to design a unique garden and fishing pond filled with magical structures, figurines, and a wide variety of plants.
Ben’s wife, Mary, called this unusual space “a garden of love” and kept it well-maintained until she died in 1997. Today this extraordinary art garden is in the care of the Friends of the Hartman Rock Garden and is open from 8 am to 8 pm for free self-guided tours throughout the year.
4. National Museum of the U.S. Air Force
Take a trip to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, the world’s largest military aviation museum, at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton and learn more about American aviation history. With thousands of historical artifacts, the displays include the early years of American aviation, the World War II Gallery, the Korean War Gallery, the Southeast Asia War Gallery, and missile and space exhibits.
Air Park outside the museum features aircraft exhibits, the World War II 8th Air Force Control Tower, and Nissen Huts. Memorial Park, with over 500 memorials, honors those who courageously sacrificed their lives for freedom.
Hop in your car and set out on an exciting road trip and discover fantastic places filled with history, art, and beauty!
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