Ohio history

A statue of James A. Garfield

Location: On the east side of Cleveland in Lake View Cemetery.

Provenance: Founded in 1869, Lake View Cemetery was among the nation’s first garden-style cemeteries, and President James A. Garfield, who was born and raised near Cleveland, had expressed his desire to make its scenic grounds his final resting place. Shortly after his inauguration, Garfield was shot by a disappointed office-seeker and lingered for two months before dying on Sept. 19, 1881.

Willie Ludwig smiles inside the Ludwig Mill

Willie Ludwig usually can tell when the Isaac Ludwig Mill resonates with visitors. “People will walk into the mill, look around, take a big sniff, and smile,” he says. “Then they say it smells just like their grandfather’s old timber-frame barn smelled when they were kids.”

A black and white photo of Charles Young.

Charles Young was born into slavery in Mays Lick, Kentucky, in the time just after Abraham Lincoln delivered the Emancipation Proclamation and just before the ratification of the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery.

His parents, technically still considered runaway slaves, carried him as an infant across the Ohio River to the freedom granted them when his father enlisted in the Union Army.

Ron Miller and Mark Radtke stand next to a Model A Ford-powered sprint car in the Salty Dog Museum.

The Salty Dog Museum, a top-notch assemblage of Model T and A Fords in Shandon, Ohio, came into being out of necessity for Ron Miller, his son B.J., and their friend Mark Radtke.

Before they opened the museum, the vehicles were spilling out of their backyards and garages.

“Everybody collects something, and we happen to collect antique vehicles and their stories,” Radtke says.

Owner Howard Miller watches customers roam the floor of his hardware store in Hartville.

Large windows inside Howard Miller’s office give him a prime view of Hartville Hardware’s main floor; he often leaves his desk to watch folks navigating his store.

Down on the sales floor, shoppers might run across anything from a bright green John Deere Gator to a hot pink, Lil’ Pig Traeger grill. From time to time, someone looks up, spots Miller at the window, and waves. Miller always eagerly waves back. “I grew up with so many people that work and shop here,” he says.

A photo of Sen. John Glenn

No matter how big a hero he became, through his pioneering work as a test pilot and astronaut or his service to the state and country as a United States senator, John H. Glenn Jr. never forgot his rural roots — and that made him a friend to electric co-op members everywhere, says Darrel “Cubby” Cubbison, the retired longtime member services manager at Guernsey-Muskingum Electric Cooperative.

An antique popcorn museum is displayed in a circus tent at the Wyandot Popcorn Museum.

Heading along Ohio’s Interstates and limited access highways, we sometimes forget there are amazing attractions at some of the exits.

Just off US Route 23 is Wyandot Popcorn Museum, located in downtown Marion. Famous for collecting and restoring the world’s largest collection of popcorn antiques and peanut roasters, the collection will fascinate anyone interested in antiques, collectables, and wonderful memories of another time. Two examples are more than 100 years old.