Features
Ohio seems to have a bit of a thing with flags. It’s not just that our state flag is the only one out of the 50 that is not a rectangle (an interesting story in its own right).
You might have seen a service flag: a blue star (or stars) on a field of white, surrounded by a red border — hanging in the picture window of a seemingly random home in the neighborhood or in a shop window of a downtown building. But many folks might be unaware, or at least unsure, of its significance.
On just about any night of the week, though certainly on almost every Friday and Saturday, there’s bound to be a square dance happening somewhere in Ohio.
The Crows got into square dancing by chance. They went to dinner late one summer evening to a restaurant where many of the other patrons were wearing what they later learned to be traditional square-dancing attire: the women in ruffled skirts worn over fluffy crinolines, and men in western-style shirts that matched or complemented their partners’ outfits.
In the 19th century, Ohio held a crucial place in the national transportation system as Americans gradually gained access to wider and wider areas of the country.
As a result, busy inns and taverns sprouted all over, and quite a few of them are still in business today. These centuries-old establishments are rich in history — and in some cases, ghosts. Below, we have listed some of the more notable haunted watering holes in the state for anyone interested in dinner with the departed, or an overnight stay with the spirits.
The Crosskeys Tavern
19 E. Main St., Chillicothe
Cherish Harrell first started collecting oddities (and later selling them) when she attended huge conventions like Cincinnati’s HorrorHound or one of the giant regional Days of the Dead events.
The Secret Chamber is not just a store; it’s a hub of creativity and community.
“We host art shows based on themes like Friday the 13th or cryptids,” says Harrell. “We also host themed classes that include making spell kits, crystals, or spooky terrariums.”
Among the events that draw the biggest crowds are the photo shoots with Krampus, a half-goat, half-demon monster from central European folklore that punishes misbehaving children at Christmastime; and the evil bunny during Easter.
In 1772, four years before the start of the revolution that wrested control of the colonies from Great Britain, the British king, George III, gave hundreds of acres of land in what was then the Colony of Virginia to an Englishman named Alexander Smiley, for the purpose of f
Smiley, with help from the eighth and ninth generations of Smiley farmers — his son, James, and two grandsons, John and Alexander — raises corn, soybeans, hay, and Charolais beef cattle on 100 acres of the original Smiley farm, plus additional farmland they either own or lease.
“The deed from King George was for at least 500 acres, but might have been for more than 1,000 acres,” John says. “We’re just not sure because parts of it were parceled off when people got married, and lots of the property records were destroyed in a courthouse fire.”
Vintage aircraft are a common sight in the sky above and along County Road 25A at the south edge of Troy in Miami County — especially during late September, when the WACO Air Museum and Learning Center hosts its annual fly-in.
“The fly-in gives us a chance to show off our facility,” Royer says. “It is here that people can walk through the history of Troy and Miami County, which were at the forefront of the aviation history.”
WACO (Weaver Aircraft Company) in Troy was the largest manufacturer of biplanes in the country during the late 1920s and early 1930s. Buck Weaver, a civilian who instructed military pilots in Texas during World War I, and friends Clayton Brukner, Sam Junkin, and Charlie Meyers founded the company in 1920.
Technically, the Vinton County Air Show has been around longer than the Vinton County Airport has been open. The first was in 1969, the year after the runway was built near McArthur as part of Gov.
The group of locals with a passion for aviation has managed and maintained the airport and its 3,750-long runway since 1992. The air show — now one of the longest-running non-military, free air shows in Ohio — is its largest source of funding (the air show itself is free; boosters raise money by asking for parking donations and serving one of the best chicken dinners around).
The third Sunday each September, the Vinton County Air Show draws spectators by the thousands in search of family fun, highlighted by daredevil stunts, high-flying aerobatics, and a skydiving Santa Claus.
Ohio might not be the first place that comes to mind for scuba diving, but with Lake Erie and numerous former quarries turned dive sites, the state has developed a solid reputation among enthusiasts. For Rich Synowiec, it’s become his life’s work.
“I was going through college and never finding exactly what I really wanted to do,” Synowiec says. “I was an early entrepreneurial spirit and I wanted to do something that I would love to do — not necessarily something I would make a million dollars doing, but I never wanted to hate my job.”
