Ohio Vacation and Travel Ideas for Literary Tours
National Road/Zane Grey Museum
8850 East Pike
Norwich, OH 43767
Website: http://www.ohiohistory.org/textonly/places/natlroad/
Email: On the bottom of website homepage
Phone: (740) 872-3143 or (800) 752-2602
The novels of Zane Grey (1872 - 1939) created in the American popular imagination an idealized vision of the rugged Old West that persists to this day. Grey wrote 57 novels about pioneers, and respectfully wrote about the lives of Native Americans as well. His works include Under the Tonto Rim, Code of the West, and To the Last Man. From those works, 130 movies were made, often featuring well-known actors such as John Wayne, Shirley Temple, Roy Rogers, George Montgomery, and Jack Holt.
The National Road/Zane Grey Museum features a display of Grey memorabilia, including original manuscripts, in a recreation of his study. The museum also includes an exhibit dedicated to the National Road, which connected the Eastern seaboard to the western frontier town of Vandalia, Illinois early in the 19th century.
Other sites of interest to Zane Grey fans include:
The Zane Grey Museum: For more information go to , visit: http://www.nps.gov/upde/zgmuseum.htm, or call: (570) 685-4871
The Zane Grey Exhibit in Payson, Arizona: For more information go to: , visit: http://www.rimcountrymuseums.com/zanegreycabin.html, or call: (928) 474-3483
Zane Grey is America's beloved Western author. He has given present day readers the "idea" of what it is to be a pioneer. Besides the plethora of Grey memorabilia, a tourist can visit his recreated study, which has original manuscripts. Other parts of the museum include the National Road, which connected the Eastern seaboard to the West Coast, a nineteenth century Route 66. The road started in Maryland and ended in Illinois. The exhibit includes objects along the "main street" and a 136-foot diorama. Special note: Special field trips are offered for schools. It is best to call for more information.
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Harriet Beecher Stowe House
2950 Gilbert Avenue
Cincinnati, OH 45206
Website: http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/underground/oh1.htm
Email: - none listed
Phone: (513) 751-0651
Daughter of an abolitionist Congregationalist minister, Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811 - 1896) became one of the most outspoken opponents of slavery in the 19th century. She felt compelled to write her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) after visiting Kentucky and witnessing the evils of slavery first-hand. Stowe researched Uncle Tom's Cabin by interviewing former slaves who had escaped to freedom via the Underground Railroad, and many of the characters in the novel are based on people Stowe had met. The book reached millions as both a novel and a play, and played a critical role in helping Northerners understand the horrors of slavery,
Stowe moved to this house in 1832, when she came to Cincinnati from Litchfield, Connecticut with her sister and father. Together with her sister, Stowe wrote Geography for Children while she lived here, as well as an article for the Western Monthly Magazine. Stowe lived here until 1836, when she married, and she continued to be a frequent visitor at the house. Her first two children, twins, were born in this house in 1836. The house is located in a small park, and features exhibits about Stowe, the abolitionist movement, the Underground Railroad, African American history, and other topics related to Stowe's life.
Also of interest is the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center in Hartford, Connecticut. For more information, see , visit: http://www.harrietbeecherstowecenter.org/index_home.shtml, or call: (860) 522-9258.
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The Thurber House
77 Jefferson Avenue
Columbus, OH 43215
Website: www.thurberhouse.org
Email: thurberhouse@thurberhouse.org
Phone: (614) 464-1032
James Thurber (1894 - 1961) was a humorist and cartoonist famous for his short stories and cartoons lampooning relationships between men and women. He was a frequent contributor to The New Yorker magazine. Many of his stories are fictionalized accounts of his own life, and while most are humorous, some of his work had a darker side. His anthology My Life and Hard Times included such well-known stories as "The Night the Bed Fell," and "The Dog Who Bit People." The Thurber Carnival, another Thurber classic, includes "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," and "The Catbird Seat." A play, The Male Animal, which Thurber wrote with Elliot Nugent, became a popular comic drama in the 1930s and was made into a film in 1942. A Thurber Carnival, a revue based on Thurber's stories and cartoons, earned Thurber a Tony Award for the script. Thurber played himself in 88 performances in the sketch "File and Forget."
The Thurber House in Columbus, Ohio, was home to Thurber and his family when Thurber was a student at The Ohio State University. Today, the house serves as a museum in Thurber's memory and as a literary center. In accordance with the wishes of the Thurber family, visitors to the home are welcomed like guests of the family, and are invited to sit on the chairs, play the piano, and touch Thurber's typewriter. The house features period furnishings from 1913 - 1917, the period that Thurber lived here, as well as a variety of objects that belonged to Thurber and his family. The property is also home to the Thurber Center, which includes classroom and conference facilities as well as a gallery. A reading garden between the house and the center features five large sculptures of dogs based on Thurber's cartoons, as well as a variety of blooming trees, shrubs, and flowers.
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Malabar Farm State Park
4050 Bromfield Road
Lucas, Ohio 44843
Website: http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/parks/parks/malabar.htm
Email: - none listed
Phone: (419) 892-2784
Louis Bromfield (1896 - 1956) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, an avid farmer and conservationist, and a friend to some of the most famous celebrities of his day. He served with the American Field Service during World War I, and returned home to begin a career in writing. His debut novel, The Green Bay Tree (1924), received immediate critical acclaim. Two years later, Early Autumn won the Pulitzer Prize. Many of his works became successful motion pictures.
An Ohio native, Bromfield moved to Malabar Farm in 1939, and lived here until his death in 1956. Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall were married at the estate, which attracts thousands of visitors annually. Bromfield was a proponent of grass-based sustainable agriculture, and put these principals into practice at Malabar Farm. He turned his attention from fiction writing to writing about his experience as a farmer, and became and influential conservationist.
The 32-room mansion and the grounds are preserved as they were left at Bromfield's death. Visitors can tour the house as well as the grounds, which include Clydesdale horses, cattle, goats, and chickens. Fields of corn, wheat, oats and hay are still cultivated, and twelve miles of trails offer access to farm and woodland. Wagon tours and tours of the vegetable garden are also available seasonally.
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