Most Ohio History Connection sites are open year-round, but we have a few that close for the winter. However, that doesn’t mean nothing is happening at these sites!

“The offseason is actually our busiest season,” explains Tanner Immel, site manager of Schoenbrunn Village in New Philadelphia. With 18 cabins to care for, as well as a gift shop to restock, programming to create, local schools to connect with and organization to be done, he is VERY busy!

During a recent visit to Schoenbrunn Village, Tanner showed us a few of the things he’s been up to. This fall, he and his staff built a wattled fence around the Village vegetable garden and brought interpretive items from the cabins into the visitor’s center for safekeeping. They also winterized the gardens by covering them with shredded leaves, brought in or covered all the signage in the Village, winterized the bathrooms and mended fences. Throughout the winter, Tanner checks all 18 cabins once a week and deep cleans two cabins a week. He also oils all the locks and hinges in the Village, restocks first-aid kits, clears fallen branches and makes sure the entire property is safe from animal and weather damage.

Inside the visitor’s center, Tanner keeps up with basic maintenance, as well as organizing and inventorying all the office and interpretive supplies. Another big winter job is to order new items for the gift shop and enter them into the sales system. All these tasks set the site up for success during the visitation season.

And because a visit to Schoenbrunn Village isn’t only about seeing the buildings, but also about learning the history of the site, Tanner spends a good portion of the winter reading, researching and refining the information he presents during tours. He excitedly told us about several new facts and connections he’d learned that he was eager to pass along to visitors this spring.

Our other managers of winter-closed sites have been busy, too. Plan to visit these sites this upcoming spring and summer so you can see results of all this hard work!

Ohio History Connection members enjoy free general admission to all of the historic sites and museums in our network. Go to ohiohistory.org/join for more details!