SEE IT, BELIEVE IT

GO BACK IN TIME OR BLAST FORWARD INTO THE FUTURE. EXPERIENCE NOSTALGIA TRIPS, GORGEOUS ART OR EVEN THE STRAIGHT-UP WEIRD — YOU’LL HAVE TO SEE TO BELIEVE AT MANSFIELD’S MUSEUM MUST-SEES.

BY JAMIE RHEIN

Step back and relive milestones of the 19th and 20th centuries at the North Central Ohio Industrial Museum. This exhibition located in the Historic Ohio State Reformatory is a testament to ingenuity, housing artifacts from closed factories and manufacturing genius.

Mansfield Memorial Museum is packed full of wonders. Meet ELEKTRO, the Westinghouse robot of the 1939–40 World’s Fair, or listen to a taxidermy frog playing a doll-sized piano. The museum’s eclectic mix tells a vivid story, including

Black history, natural history, military history and the tales of Mansfield’s most famous such as Johnny Appleseed and Martha Mansfield — a Ziegfeld Girl who hit movie fame in the 1920s.

Inspired by its namesake Aviation legend and Mansfield native, the Frank P. Lahm Aviation Museum celebrates Lahm’s legendary life — including working with the Wright Brothers and being the first person in the military to ride in an airplane — as well as Ohio’s legacy as an aviation powerhouse.

All the way from bucket brigade days to internal combustion power equipment, the Mansfield Fire Museum highlights firefighting’s past. Historic fire trucks, artifacts and an antique fire alarm are paired with a turn-of-the-century fire station and walk-through Main Street. Oak Hill Cottage, of Louis Bromfield’s novel, The Green Bay Tree, is one of the most perfect examples of mid-19th century Gothic architecture around, with furnishings and belongings dating back to Victorian times. The treasures within once belonged to the Jones family who lived here from 1864 to 1965.

Noah’s Ark, The Last Supper and Martin Luther are among the 100 diorama-style scenes at BibleWalk. The realistic life-size wax figures are a themed Bible