Group Tours

Explore the site of Ohio’s only Revolutionary War fort, built-in 1778 as a wilderness outpost, and visit a museum that tells the story of soldiers on the frontier. Also on site is the Tomb of the Unknown Patriot of the American Revolution, paying homage to the unknown defenders of the fort. The Ohio and Erie Canal Towpath Trail, a recreational trail over 80 miles long, goes through the site of Fort Laurens.

Call us or email us for information on group tours and field trips! Combo tickets for Fort Laurens and Zoar Village are available.

330.874.2059

330.874.3011

[email protected]

Learn more

The Museum of Ceramics houses an extensive collection of the wares produced in East Liverpool, Ohio, and the 1909 U.S. Post Office that now houses the museum is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Explore exhibits that depict the growth and development of the ceramic industry from 1840 to 1930, the period during which the city’s potteries produced over half of the country’s ceramics output.

Guided tours are available during open hours and must be scheduled in advance. The museum will also try to accommodate requests for evening tours and tours during January, February and March.

Interested parties should call the museum at 330.386.6001 to make arrangements. Adult tours have a reduced fee of $1.00 per person.

Special, age-appropriate tours are available for school groups. "Free for Fourth" is a hands-on tour designed for fourth grade classes and is free.

Learn more

Schoenbrunn Village is the site of several Ohio firsts—settlement, church, schoolhouse and code of laws. The village, restored to appear as it did more than two centuries ago, includes the original cemetery and 16 reconstructed log structures, as well as the church and gardens. A visitor center with museum and introductory video will help orient you so that you can experience the village as if you were in the past.

Call 330.808.4815 for group tour options.

Learn more

See an extensive collection from the 19th-century North Union Shakers who once lived on the site of today’s Shaker Heights, plus exhibits telling the fascinating story of Shaker Heights, a planned suburban Cleveland community developed in the early 20th century. The museum also offers periodic changing exhibits and has library collections from the 19th-century Shakers and from the 20th-century Shaker Heights area.

Museum tours are self-guided unless a guided tour is scheduled in advance. We offer guided group tours for 2-25 visitors through the Shaker Historical Society Museum and the Elizabeth Nord Library & Archives. These tours are designed for a general audience but can be customized for academic or specific interests with advance notice. Led by SHS staff, tours must be booked at least 10 business days in advance and typically last 60-90 minutes.

Your guided tour will cover approximately 150 years of local history from the founding of the North Union Shaker colony to the development of Shaker Village as a garden community outside Cleveland to the civil rights movement in Shaker Heights. If requested in advance, tourgoers will also have the opportunity to view items from the archival collections of the Elizabeth Nord Library & Archives.

Learn more

Learn about the steel industry that dominated Youngstown in the 20th century and check out the “last heats,” the final batches of steel produced at each of the mills before they closed.

The museum features hundreds of photographs representing labor, immigration and urban history. Objects on display range from workers’ tools and clothing to hundreds of photographs, some more than 30 feet long. Life-sized scenes—including a mill’s locker room, part of a company-built house, and a blooming mill, where steel ingots were shaped for further processing—help visitors understand steelmaking and the lives of steelworkers. In addition to exhibits, the center offers educational programs and an archives/library.

Please call or email ahead of your visit to schedule a guided group tour or program.

(330) 941-1314 | [email protected]

Learn more

Hike trails through the 533-acre preserve and see ancient pits left by American Indians who came from the surrounding area to quarry flint. The unique rainbow-colored flint was used as an item of trade, tools and weapons. Within the museum onsite, learn about Ohio’s official gemstone and the shaping of flint into tools, known as knapping.

A picnic area with tables, grills, drinking water and restrooms is available for visitors to the quarry.

Group tour requests can be made by calling 740.344.0498 or emailing [email protected]

Learn more

Benjamin Hanby was a man of many titles, including minister, abolitionist, student and teacher, but we know him primarily as a musician and composer. Hanby was born in 1833 near Rushville, Ohio. In 1847, his father, William Hanby, helped establish Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio, which eventually led the family to relocate to Westerville. The home where the Hanby family lived from 1853–1870, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, contains furniture and personal items from the Hanby family, including a walnut desk made by Benjamin Hanby, original plates for the first edition of Benjamin Hanby’s song Darling Nelly Gray and a large collection of sheet music and books.

The Hanby House is managed locally by the Westerville Historical Society. To schedule an appointment to tour the site, please email [email protected] or call 614.891.6289.

Learn more.

The Great Circle and Octagon Earthworks in Newark are part of the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks, Ohio's only UNESCO World Heritage Site.

SPECIAL TOURS – lead by Senior World Heritage Archaeologist, Brad Lepper! Beginning at 12:30pm on the first and third Friday of the month from April to October. These tours are FREE and do not require pre-registration.

Great Circle Earthworks – First Friday beginning at The Great Circle Museum

Octagon Earthworks – Third Friday beginning at the Octagon Visitor Center

Regular guided tours of the Great Circle are offered from March through November at 2:00 pm on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Tours will include a 45 min walk through the Great Circle. $10/adult, $7/senior (age 65+), $5/child (age 5–12). Children under 5 years of age and Ohio History Connection members are free.

There are now free regular tours offered at the Octagon Earthworks beginning at Noon, Wednesday–Sunday.

To schedule a group tour outside of regularly scheduled hours please contact our site manager via email ([email protected]) or call our office at 740.344.0498.

Learn more

Bring Your Group to explore Ohio's History!

A unique outdoor area, Wahkeena Nature Preserve can best be described as a “living museum,” showcasing the rich natural diversity of the Hocking Hills region. With a focus on education, the site features a Nature Center with seasonal displays, self-guided interpretive trails, Natural History programs and historical signage.

Normal operating hours:

Wednesday through Sunday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. We are annually open mid-March through mid-November.

All organized groups require a reservation before visiting. Please call (800).297.1883.

Learn more

The hilltop home of Thomas Worthington, father of Ohio statehood, and Ohio’s sixth governor is a National Historic Landmark and was designed by America’s first architect, Benjamin Latrobe. Construction was completed in 1807. Explore the gardens, grounds and outbuildings and tour the education and visitor center where you can learn more about the site.

Contact 740.772.1500 or [email protected] for group tour inquiries.

Built around 2,000 years ago by the Ancestors of many modern American Indian tribes, Fort Ancient Earthworks and Nature Preserve is Ohio’s oldest state park and the largest hilltop enclosure in North America. While the name suggests that this site was used as some kind of defensive structure, evidence shows it was actually a gathering place used for ceremonial purposes.

Experience an on-site museum and gift shop (members receive a 10% discount), recreated American Indian garden and three miles of hiking trails with scenic overlooks.

There will be a guided tour offered on the third Friday of every month at 1:00 pm, with Archaeologist and Site Manager Bill Kennedy through the Museum and weather permitting outside at the Moorehead Circle and Calendar Mounds. It typically lasts between an hour and 90 minutes. There is no pre-registration or sign up required.

Regular guided tours of the museum are offered at 2:00 pm everyday as requested by visitors. Tours will include a 30 min walk through of the museum and if interested (and weather permitting) an outdoor walk. Tour admission is free for all Ohio History Connection Members and is general admission for all non-members. Visitors that are planning on attending the tours are asked to stop at the front desk of the museum to purchase tickets prior to tour departure. All tours will begin in the lobby of the museum.

To schedule a field trip or a group tour outside of regularly scheduled hours, please contact our Education Coordinator via email ([email protected]) or call our office at 513-932-4421.

The newly restored Harriet Beecher Stowe House connects visitors to both the pivotal Cincinnati years of the abolitionist author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin and the 20th century African American pursuit of civil rights. Groups can tour rooms highlighting two eras of the house’s history 100 years apart—the 1840s when Harriet Beecher Stowe lived in Cincinnati as a young teacher, mother and friend of the Underground Railroad, and the 1940s when the house was the Edgemont Inn, an African American boarding house and tavern listed in the Green Book. Visitors will gain insight into the power of literature in shaping societal perspectives and be inspired by the enduring impact of generations joining their voices for truth. Allow 60-90 minutes.

Cost & Logistics:
Pricing for a 1-hour tour is $7/Adult, $6/Senior Adult, $6/College Student, $4/Youth (grades 1-12) for 15 or more. One complimentary admission per bus.
Contact [email protected] to schedule. Bus parking is available.

Field Trip opportunities can be found here.

Take a guided tour of the restored home of Rev. John Rankin, located on a bluff overlooking the Ohio River, and learn how the Rankin family and their neighbors in Ripley and other nearby communities helped the enslaved on their path to freedom via the Underground Railroad.

At this National Historic Landmark, you can step inside one of the best-documented and most active Underground Railroad “stations” in Ohio and get the story of Ohio’s role in the abolitionist movement that set the stage for the end of slavery as well as the modern Civil Rights movement.

John Rankin wasn’t the only famous abolitionist in Ripley. You can also visit the John P. Parker House, home of an African American inventor and active conductor on the Underground Railroad who helped hundreds make their way to freedom.

Regular hours:

April–October

Wednesday–Saturday: 10 a.m.–5 p.m.
Sunday: Noon–5 p.m.
Monday and Tuesday: Closed

Tours of the house are on the hour; the last tour begins at 4 p.m.

Please call 800.752.2705 to inquire about group tours

Learn more

The National Afro-American Museum & Cultural Center is the permanent home of one of the nation’s largest collections of Afro-American materials, with over 9,000 artifacts and artwork, 350 manuscript collections, and thousands of photographs. The ever-changing array of exhibits at the NAAMCC benefit from the vast number of materials in its collections. View current exhibits here.

Regular museum hours: Wed.–Sat., 9 a.m.–4 p.m.

To inquire about group tours, please call 800.752.2603 or email [email protected]

Learn more

Tour the restored home of poet Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872–1906), who gained international acclaim as a writer and voice for equality for African Americans. In 1936, the Ohio General Assembly dedicated the house as a memorial to Dunbar—the first state memorial in Ohio to honor African American history. The Paul Laurence Dunbar House is part of the National Park’s Service’s Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park and the Dayton Aviation Trail.

The Paul Laurence Dunbar House is open Friday through Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tours take place throughout the day and admission is free.

For group tour inquiries, please call 800.860.0148.

Learn more

Please join us every second & fourth Friday of each month for a guided walk around the World’s Largest Effigy Mound with archaeologist Bill Kennedy of the Ohio History Connection. This walking tour gives an overview of pre-contact American Indians in Ohio and at Serpent Mound: one of the most iconic effigy mounds in the world. Tour begins in front of the museum visitor center at 1:30 pm. Tour last for 1.5 hours.

For group tour inquiries, please call 800.752.2757.

Learn more

Explore the museum and learn about Campus Martius, a civilian stockade built in 1788 as the first organized American settlement in the Northwest Territory. See the Ohio Company Land Office, reportedly the oldest building in Ohio, and the Rufus Putnam House, once part of the Campus Martius stockade. Exhibits trace the early settlement of Ohio, as well as later migrations of rural Ohioans to cities and industrial centers.

Campus Martius Museum offers a wide variety of programming for educational and adult tour groups. Programming can be customized to fit schedules, interests or learning objectives.

Learn more

Tour John Glenn’s childhood home in New Concord, Ohio, and experience life during the Great Depression and on the home front during WWII. The John & Annie Glenn Museum presents the life story of John and Annie Glenn through a series of engaging tours, featuring collections and galleries that contain special childhood treasures and memorabilia from Glenn’s military, political and space careers.

Regular hours:

Open May–October
Wed.– Sat., 10 a.m.–4 p.m. & Sun., 1–4 p.m.

Any group over 10 visitors who have scheduled their trip previous to coming to the John & Annie Glenn Museum get a discounted price. We are happy to open the museum for group tours at any point in the year.

$7/adult; $2/student

Travel Into Yesteryear Pass – Includes a tour of both the John & Annie Glenn Museum and the National Road & Zane Grey Museum located just 5 miles west on Route 40, the National Road.

$9/adult per museum; $18 in total.

Learn more