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A painting of Constantine Rafinesque-Schmaltz

Remembering Rafinesque

Constantine Rafinesque-Schmaltz is the scientist you did not know that you knew. His walkabouts through Ohio impressed upon him a desire to discover more about plants and fishes and a prehistoric culture that predated him by millennia. 

The family moved to Italy to escape the terrors of the French Revolution. It was there that a self-educated Constantine came of age and took an ardent interest in natural history and languages, which would come to have its consequences in the names of organisms — through the eastern U.S., in Ohio, and even into the American Southwest. 

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A group of people playing a gameshow-style game during a land cruise

Cruising for landlubbers

Vacation cruises are among Tom and Sally Davies’ favorite ways to relax. Three-day all-inclusive getaways with exceptional food, a variety of entertainment options, and lots of lounging by the pool while making friends with your fellow travelers — what’s not to love?

The land cruises “embark” about once a month, drawing landlubbers from throughout Ohio and neighboring states. Festivities commence on a Tuesday afternoon and continue through checkout the following Thursday morning.

There is no gangplank to negotiate and no required program on the proper way to use life preservers. Just belly up to the reception desk for colorful leis and the lanyards that serve as tickets for the duration.

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A woman using a hunting horn to call her hounds during a fox hunt.

Following the hounds

Ohio Cooperative Living outdoors editor W.H. “Chip” Gross spent a morning this past autumn observing a fox hunt with the 100-year-old Rocky Fork Headley Hunt in Gahanna, one of more than 100 such traditional foxhunting clubs throughout the U.S. and Canada.

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Ohio State University's new dairy facility

On the moo-ve

Ohio State University’s herd of Jersey dairy cows will soon have a permanent new home. The cows, currently in temporary housing at OSU’s Wooster campus, should be back in Columbus in a new $6.2 million facility by the end of the year.

The dairy’s prime location just off of Lane Avenue, near the main entrance to the Columbus campus, reinforces the importance of agriculture to the university and the state, says Maurice Eastridge, senior associate chair of animal sciences and dairy extension specialist at Ohio State, and the new dairy was designed with education of students as the top priority. “Public education and research needs are its second and third missions,” Eastridge says.

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A mural in downtown Greenfield, Ohio

Throwbacks

“People call here thinking that we have the answer to every question,” Hunter says. “WVNU was the internet before the internet; for some around here, it still is the internet.” He reaches for a stack of papers, finds the report, and gives the caller the information.

It’s from here that WVNU, a tiny 2,300-watt radio station known as Lite 97.5, has been broadcasting adult contemporary hits from the second floor of a downtown office building for the last 30 years. 

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The unveiling of Wilson's new facility in Ada, Ohio

Super supplier

In the small Hardin County village of Ada, the play clock begins ticking about two weeks before the first snap of America’s most-watched sporting event. 

“As soon as they know who wins, they are making these balls and they are shipping them out,” says Lindsay Hollar, director of the Ada Area Chamber of Commerce. “The guys just want to get their hands on them.” Hollar doesn’t work for Wilson, but like lots of people in and around town, she speaks with a sort of proprietary pride about the local treasure that is the Wilson football. 

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Brandywine Falls

Ohio's national park

Imagine, if you will, the 1974 landscape in the valley carved out by the Cuyahoga River between Akron and Cleveland: beautiful waterfalls surrounded by deep woods, interesting and plentiful rock formations, colorful meandering meadows, idyllic small lakes. 

“There’s a lot of hope involved in taking a landscape and turning it into a national park,” says Jennie Vasarhelyi, chief of interpretation, education, and visitor services at Cuyahoga Valley National Park, which marks its anniversaries with a series of events and celebrations over the coming year.

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Robert Dafford working on a mural on Portsmouth, Ohio's, iconic floodwalls.

Artists at work

Along the banks at the confluence of the Ohio and Scioto rivers in southern Ohio, murals seamlessly blend into their surroundings, their muted colors echoing the tones of the buildings and landscape 
around them. 

The murals are more than just public art; they’re a symbol of resilience. Once a bustling center for steel and shoe manufacturing, Portsmouth saw its fortunes plummet with the collapse of those industries. The floodwall, built after a 1937 flood that devastated the city, stood for decades as a bleak reminder of what was lost. 

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New Year’s Eve Donut Drop, Lakeside

Ball drops

This New Year’s Eve, forget Times Square — New York City’s annual ball drop is too far away, and besides, there are plenty of options here in Ohio, where towns throughout the state proudly ring in the new year with eclectic and imaginative ways to celebrate their customs, culture, and industries.

New Year’s Eve Donut Drop, Lakeside

Anyone who has ever spent a summer day experiencing the Lakeside Chautauqua community on the shores of Lake Erie knows that residents and visitors alike relish the Patio Restaurant’s homemade donuts. Those famous cake donuts inspired a new tradition in 2022: dropping an inflatable plastic donut decorated with multi-colored “sprinkles” from Lakeside’s waterfront Pavilion. A DJ plays dance music during this only-in-Lakeside event, which of course serves Patio donuts plus hot chocolate for toasting the new year.

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