Two pairs of horses pull a sleigh in front of the walkway leading up to the Hayes home.

Cabin Fever? Here's where to visit this winter!

Contemplating a road trip? These Ohio History Connection sites are open and welcome visitors this winter. Most are managed for us by local partner organizations, so hours vary. Some may be open more limited hours than in other seasons or may be open weekends-only—before traveling, call the numbers below to confirm that those you’d like to visit will be open when you plan to be there.

For more ideas on what to do during winter, check out the Seven Historic Sites You Should Visit This Winter according to our membership manager, Truda!

Indoor Sites

Prefer warm and indoor? These are mainly-indoor attractions.

Armstrong Air & Space Museum, Wapakoneta

800.860.0142

Campus Martius Museum, Marietta

800.860.0145

Explore the museum’s permanent exhibits to 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.

 

Fort Meigs Museum, Perrysburg

800.283.8916

The museum and visitor center featuring exhibits about Fort Meigs and the War of 1812 is open year-round. The adjacent reconstructed War of 1812 fort is closed for the winter and reopens in April.

Harding Home and Harding Presidential Library & Museum, Marion

800.600.6894

The recently restored Harding Home and new Harding Presidential Library & Museum are open. Also visit the nearby Harding Memorial Presidential Gravesite at Vernon Heights Blvd. and Delaware Ave. See “Outdoor Sites” below.

Hayes Presidential Library & Museums, Fremont

800.998.7737

The 31-room Rutherford B. Hayes Home and adjacent Hayes Museum are open. Also visit the graves of President Hayes and his wife, Lucy Webb Hayes, both on the grounds of Spiegel Grove.

 

National Afro-American Museum & Cultural Center, Wilberforce

800.752.2603

On exhibit: African Art—Form, Function and Fraught Histories, African Americans Fighting for a Double Victory, about African American service in World War II and the impact that African American World War II veterans had on the advances in civil rights that followed the war, plus Queens of the Heartland and Rhythm of Revolution.

 

Ohio History Center, Columbus

800.686.6124

See permanent exhibits on Ohio history, natural history, archaeology and historic preservation plus 1950s—Building the American Dream, featuring our fully-furnished hands-on Lustron prefab steel house of the era; and a World War I Display featuring equipment, weapons and memorabilia commemorating the recent centennial of "the Great War."

Paul Laurence Dunbar House, Dayton

800.860.0148

Shaker Historical Museum, Shaker Heights

800.860.6078

Youngstown Historical Center
of Industry & Labor, Youngstown

800.262.6137

Indoor/Outdoor Sites

Enjoy being outdoors, even in winter? In winter, these are mainly-outdoor attractions. Museums or visitor centers at these attractions observe fewer winter hours and may be closed even when the site is open.

Fort Ancient Earthworks & Nature Preserve, near Oregonia and Lebanon

800.283.8904

Museum and grounds are closed through Feb. 29, reopening March 1.

Fort Hill Earthworks & Nature Preserve, near Hillsboro

800.283.8905

The park is open daily during all daylight hours. The hiking trails are closed for certain dates during the deer-hunting season in November through January each year. Please contact the site manager for additional information. The Gorge Trail and Canby’s Trail are closed for renovation due to unsafe hiking conditions. Note the reroute of the Buckeye Trail at the Fort Hill kiosk map.

Serpent Mound, near Peebles

937.365.1935

Although the museum is closed for the winter, the grounds are open daily from 9 a.m. to dusk. Winter travelers: Park roads and grounds are not plowed in the winter, and are not accessible in bad weather. However, winter visitors are always welcome to park in front of the gate at the base of the hill and hike to the earthworks (3/8 mile).

Zoar Village, Zoar

800.262.6195

Although Zoar's museum buildings are closed for the winter, you can visit and explore this historic Tuscarawas County village, home to an unusual communal society from 1819 to 1898, at any time. Much of the village is a National Historic Landmark. Local businesses may be open. Learn more at historiczoarvillage.com. 

Outdoor Sites

Real outdoor enthusiast? These wholly-outdoor sites are open daylight hours.

Big Bottom Memorial Park, Stockport

740.559.2411

Buckeye Furnace, near Jackson

740.384.3537

This rural park is the site of a 19th-century ironmaking furnace in Ohio's picturesque Hill Country. The museum buildings, closed for the season, reopen Memorial Day weekend. 

Buffington Island Battlefield Memorial Park, Portland

800.686.1535

Custer Monument, New Rumley

740.945.6415

Davis Memorial Nature Preserve, near Peebles

614.265.6453

Fallen Timbers Battlefield Memorial Park, near Maumee

800.860.0149

Flint Ridge Ancient Quarries & Nature Preserve, near Brownsville

800.283.8707

Site is open daylight hours. Museum is closed for the season. 

Fort Amanda Memorial Park, near Wapakoneta

800.283.8713

Fort Jefferson Memorial Park, Fort Jefferson

937.547.7370

Fort Laurens, Bolivar

800.283.8914

Site is open daylight hours. Museum is closed for the season. On the grounds, see the Tomb of the Unknown Patriot of the American Revolution and the place where Fort Laurens, Ohio's only Revolutionary War fort, stood. The Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail passes through this site and is accessible from it.

Harding Memorial Presidential Gravesite, Marion

800.600.6894

The imposing neoclassical Harding Memorial Presidential Gravesite at Vernon Heights Blvd. and Delaware Ave. is open year-round. The nearby Harding Home and Harding Presidential Library & Museum are open. See “Indoor Sites” above.

Leo Petroglyphs & Nature Preserve, near Leo

800.860.0144

Lockington Locks, Lockington

800.686.1535

Logan Elm, near Circleville

800.686.1535

Miamisburg Mound, Miamisburg

937.866.4532

Newark Earthworks, Newark

800.589.8224

Shrum Mound, Columbus

800.686.1535

Story Mound, Chillicothe

800.686.1535

William Henry Harrison Tomb, North Bend

800.283.8905

Many Ohio History Connection sites not on this list close for the winter, though offer group tours by appointment during winter months. See the full list of Ohio History Connection sites, including sites that are closed for the winter, here.