The Rust Belt Travel Guide

Kelleys Island

 

I live in the Rust Belt.

There was a time when if you had asked me what I liked about living here, I would have said, "my family lives here."  Then I started exploring my home turf and learned that there's a lot more to the story.  It turns out that the rust belt is a pretty happening place.

The Moonville Tunnel

I've written a few posts about my "travels" but I wanted to have an all in one page of recommended places to go if you happen to find yourself in my part of the woods.  I'll keep this page updated as I continue to explore.

My rating system is: 

• OMG drop everything and go here: 😻😻😻
• Hella cool place that made my toes curl: 😻
• Just a note that there's no 😻😻 rating.  We're in a world of 😻 (wow) or 😻😻😻 (mega wow)
  
• No rating: it was cool enough to be worth my time to visit and then type the name and link to it, but I wouldn't make a special trip just to go out here.  It's most likely close to a 😻😻😻 or 😻 place.  For example, I went to Grand Rapids to see a Frank Lloyd Wright house, which was everything that I dreamed it would be.  I also visited Meijer Gardens and the President Ford Museum simply because they were there.  I had to rush through Meijer Gardens so I didn't get a proper appreciation for it - if I went back it might well be a 😻, but as it is it was just a place where I was happy enough to spend an hour.  I appreciated the President Ford museum, but it's not why I went to Grand Rapids.  So that's why FLW gets 😻😻😻 and Meijer and Ford have no rating.
  
• Not mentioned: I've been to many more places than are on the list, so if it's not mentioned, the possibilities are (1) I haven't been there, (2) I've been there but it wasn't special enough to be worth typing the name or linking to it, or (3) I've been there and I hated it.  (3) is very rare and the only example I can think of is a historic mansion where the tour guide seemed annoyed that I showed up and gave me a long lecture on the town's historic connections to organized crime.  Basically she made me feel like the whole town should have been bulldozed and that I would have been better served by spending the day on the couch.
  
• Eat at: I'm not big on eating out, so if I've listed a restaurant it's a really special place to me.
  

Indiana

Lafayette - The Frank Lloyd Wright Samara House (my post here) 😻

Samara House

Indianapolis (my post here)

• Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site
• Soldiers and Sailors Monument  😻😻😻
• The State Capitol
• War Memorial Museum 
• Indianapolis Motor Speedway (please note that I am not a racing fan and would never have expected to love the track tour nearly as much as I did) 😻😻😻
• Eat at: The Old Spaghetti Factory (note: this is a chain so it may not be your ideal Indianapolis eatery.  But my family ate here so many times when I was a child that I will never come to Indianapolis and not eat here).
  

Illinois

Champaign (my post here)

Allerton Park: miles upon miles of gorgeous sculpures

• Allerton Park 😻
• Eat at: Papa Del's Pizza (plan ahead - expect a 1-2 hour wait because the pizza is really that good)

 

Chicago

The view from the Riverboat Architecture Tour

 

 

• Chicago Riverboat Architecture Tour 😻 (my post here)
• The Art Institute of Chicago 😻 (my post here)
• Frank Lloyd Wright Unity Temple 😻, Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio 😻😻😻, Frank Lloyd Wright Robie House 😻 (same url for all sites, my recap here)
   

Kankakee - The Frank Lloyd Wright Bradley house (my post here)

Springfield -  The Frank Lloyd Wright Dana Thomas house (my post here) 😻

Michigan 

Detroit area

• Cranbrook Center Three Visions of Home 😻
• The Frank Lloyd Wright Affleck House 😻
• Grosse Ile Lighthouse  
  

Grosse Ile Lighthouse

Grand Rapids (my post here)

Meyer May House

• The Frank Lloyd Wright Meyer May House 😻😻😻
• Meijer Gardens
• Ford Presidential Museum

New York 

Buffalo (my post here)

Graycliff - FLW does Lake Erie

• Theodore Roosevelt Inauguration Site
• The Frank Lloyd Wright Martin House 😻😻😻
• Frank Lloyd Wright's Graycliff 😻😻😻
• Eat at Strong Hearts (vegan cafe)
  

Ohio

Lake Erie Wonders!!!!

• Fairport Harbor Lighthouse & Museum 😻

Fairport Harbor Lighthouse & Museum

• Headlands Beach State Park (#1 it's gorgeous, #2 I've gotten some great bird photos there, and #3 you can walk past the Fairport Harbor Breakaway Lighthouse, which is a private residence) 😻😻😻

The Fairport Harbor Breakaway Lighthouse as seen from the Fairport Harbor Lighthouse

• Lorain Lighthouse 😻😻😻

The view from the Lorain Lighthouse

• Port Clinton Lighthouse

The Port Clinton Boathouse and Lighthouse

• Marblehead Lighthouse (if you forced me to pick a favorite Lake Erie Lighthouse this would be it) 😻😻😻

The Marblehead Lightkeeper's Cottage

• The Goodtime I Island Hopping Cruise 😻😻😻

 

For a good time call the Goodtime I

• Johnson's Island (site of a Civil War prison camp) 😻
• Islands!!!!!!  Click links for my recaps and ideas of things to do there.  See also Pelee Island in Ontario.
  
• Kelleys Island 😻😻😻
• Put in Bay (aka South Bass Island) 😻😻😻
• Middle Bass Island 😻😻😻

The Put in Bay Lighthouse

North West Ohio 

Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library and Museum

 

Fremont - Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library and Museum 😻😻😻  (I never would have guessed that I would be into presidential history before coming here)

 

Milan - Thomas Edison Birthplace Museum 😻 (seriously who knew that Edison was born in Ohio?  What else haven't they told us?????)

Sandusky 

The Cooke Dorn House.  Simply put, it's my favorite historic house ever.

• Merry Go-Round Museum
• The Cooke Dorn House (if you force me to pick a favorite historic house tour this is it) 😻😻😻
• The Follet House 😻
• Maritime Museum of Sandusky 😻

Toledo

• National Museum of the Great Lakes 😻
• Toledo Museum of Art
   

North East Ohio

Akron - Stan Hywet

Canton

• First Ladies Museum and Saxton House (actually forget the museum, what you're after is a tour of the Saxon house - the residence of first lady Ida McKinley's family) 😻😻😻
• McKinley Museum and Monument 

Cleveland

• Goodtime III boat cruise 😻😻😻
• USS Cod Submarine 😻

USS Cod

• William G. Mather Steamship 😻

William G. Mather Steamship

• Lakeview Cemetery (yes I'm recommending that you visit a cemetery.  Make sure to visit the President Garfield Memorial)
• A Christmas Story House
  

Mentor - President Garfield Home 😻😻😻

Oberlin

• Monroe House and School House Tour
• The Frank Lloyd Wright Weltzheimer/Johnson house  😻

Peninsula

• Cuyahoga Valley National Park 😻
• Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad 😻

 

Central Ohio (heads up this is possibly the worst organized section...to me Central Ohio means either "Columbus" or "the middle of no where"

Malabar Farm State Park (my post here) 😻😻😻

The Ohio State Reformatory (aka Shawshank Prison) 😻😻😻

Shawshank Prison - a place to get busy livin' or get busy dyin'

Warren G. Harding Presidential Site  😻

John & Annie Glen Museum

National Road and Zane Grey Museum

Moonville Tunnel 😻😻😻

Hocking Hills State Park

Serpent Mound

Chillicothe  

• Adena Mansion
• Chillicothe Trolley
• Yoctangee Park
• Hopewell Culture National Historic Park
  

Columbus (my post here)

• Ohio History Connection Museum
• Ohio Statehouse 😻
• Kelton House 😻
• Topiary Garden (right down the street from the Kelton House)
  
• German Village (fun place to hang out and The Book Loft is a must) 😻😻😻
• Shrum Mound 😻 (separate trip from the rest of the CBUS stuff, my post here)

Newark Earthworks

Springfield (I didn't identify any of the places by name but here is the post that I wrote about the trip)

The Hartman Rock Garden - when it's the 1930s and you've been laid off and have extra time on your hands...

• Hartman Rock Garden 😻😻😻
• The Frank Lloyd Wright Wescott House (this is the place that kicked up FLW from an interest to an obsession) 😻😻😻
• Springfield Museum of Art
• Veteran's Park (near the Springfield Museum of Art)
• Eat at Speakeasy Ramen

Urbana - Champaign County Museum 😻 (my post here)

Urbana, Ohio is a good looking town

West Liberty

The Ohio Caverns.  Stalactites and Stalagmites and Oh My!

• Ohio Caverns 😻😻😻
• Piatt Castle

Yellow Springs (my post here)

The Yellow Springs at Glen Helen Nature Reserve

• Glen Helen Nature Reserve 😻😻😻
• Indian Mound Reserve (Ok, fine it's not technically in Yellow Springs but it's close) 😻😻😻

The waterfall at Indian Mound Reserve currently holds the #1 spot on my Favorite Rust Belt Waterfall list.

South East Ohio

Marietta (my post here, see also Blennerhasset Island in West Virginia)

• The Castle 😻
• Campus Maritus Museum
• Mound Cemetery 😻😻😻 (yes another cemetery and this one gets a three-cat-heart-eyes rating)
• River Trail
• Ohio Valley Gem Sternwheeler
  

Ontario, Canada

Point Pelee

• Point Pelee National Park (my post here) 😻😻😻
• Pelee Island (my post here) 😻😻😻
• Eat at the Westview Tavern 
  

Pelee Island Lighthouse

Pennsylvania

Presque Isle State Park

People - this is Pennsylvania!!!!!  View from the Presque Isle Lighthouse

• Tour the lighthouse 😻😻😻

Presque Isle Lighthouse

• Lady Kate boat tour
• The Erie Maritime Museum (in Erie PA, about 30 minutes away)
  
• The Erie Land Lighthouse (in Erie PA, about 30 minutes away) 😻😻😻 
  

The Erie Land Lighthouse.  It gets upstaged by the Presque Isle Lighthouse so the odds are that you will have it all to yourself.  Between the gorgeous views and the laid back, welcoming vibe, if you force me to pick a favorite Erie PA lighthouse, this is it.

 

Frank Lloyd Wright Stuff (these three sites are close to each other, somewhere south of Pittsburgh.  My post here)

• Polymath Park 😻😻😻
• Kentuck Knob 😻😻😻
• Fallingwater 😻😻😻

Fallingwater!!!

West Virginia

Blennerhassett Island (my post here) 😻😻😻

Blennerhassett Island.  Aaron Burr slept here.

Wisconsin

Milwaukee/Racine area

• FLW Wingspread 😻
• SC Johnson Headquarters 😻😻😻
• Miller Brewery Tour 😻😻😻
• FLW Burnham Block 😻
• Eat at: Twisted Plants