15 minute read
Editor’s Note
Joys of Summer
As Ohioans, our collective anticipation for the weeks and months ahead runs high this time of year. We begin feeling it among the magazine staff even earlier, when planning starts for the issue that you hold in your hands.
Work on our annual guide to summer commences as northern Ohio is still solidly in the throes of winter-coat weather. Associate editor Hallie Rybka begins making lists of food festivals, outdoor concerts, wooded hikes and other warm-weather favorites long before the clock has sprung forward an hour.
We call our annual feature “102 Days & Nights of Summer,” based on the number of blocks on the calendar between the Friday rolling into Memorial Day weekend and Labor Day. It is one of our biggest issues of the year, and our aim is to provide readers a hearty dose of inspiration. We know this issue certainly inspires us. As the photographs and words begin to hit the page, we start looking forward to our own summer travels in Ohio. This issue is packed with ideas that we hope will help you enjoy the season in ways you might not have been able to during the past couple of years. My own research for this issue involved visiting the Age of Steam Roundhouse Museum in Sugarcreek, which celebrates the glory days of railroads (p. 8), and eating a cool creation known as ice cream nachos — twice! — at Miller’s Creamery in Dover (p. 36).
Art director Rachael Jirousek researched and planned our feature highlighting the barn quilt phenomenon that started in Adams County in 2001 with Donna Sue Groves’ idea of paying tribute to her mother (p. 68). The form of rural public art has since been embraced in counties not only across Ohio but throughout the nation, from Maine to California.
We get an early taste of summer in this job, and what makes that rewarding is the opportunity to share that feeling with you — being your guide to lazy days and long country roads, great concerts and classic car shows.
Summer always seems to slide by quicker than any of us expect. That just means it is up to us to make the most of it. How will you fill your 102 days? We’re here to help you find the answers, all summer long.
JIM VICKERS
Chairman Lute Harmon Sr. President & Publisher Lute Harmon Jr. EDITORIAL
EDITORIAL@OHIOMAGAZINE.COM
Editor Jim Vickers Associate Editor Hallie Rybka Contributing Writers Jane Ammeson, Nicholas Dekker, Kellie Gormly, Vince Guerrieri, Kristen Hampshire, Nathan Havenner, Richard Jeffers, Macy Kile, Sarah Miller, Kristina Smith, Ilona Westfall Digital Content Assistant Kelly Powell Editorial Interns Charity Ervin, Elena Kousaie
Art Director Rachael Jirousek Contributing Artists Scott Bechtel, Rod Berry, Laura Watilo Blake, Libby Burns, Susan Phaneuf, Bruce Wunderlich ADVERTISING
ADSALES@OHIOMAGAZINE.COM
Associate Publisher & Advertising Director Karen Matusoff Central Ohio 614/461-7645 | 800/426-4624 Northeast Ohio 216/377-3715 Northwest Ohio 419/944-0869 Southeast Ohio 614/717-6709 Southwest Ohio 513/546-4172 Senior Account Manager Marilyn Tanious Account Managers Nichole Cardinale, Karen Hopkinson, Bryan McMahan, Matt Staugler Account Coordinator Haley Parker PRODUCTION
PRODUCTION@OHIOMAGAZINE.COM
Production Manager Matt Kraniske Associate Production Manager Drew Kazdin SUBSCRIBER SERVICES
OHIOMAGAZINE@EMAILCUSTOMERSERVICE.COM | 800/453-1025
CUSTOM MEDIA
Managing Editor Claudia Plumley Senior Editor Kelsey Wagner Associate Editor Katharine Stevens Assistant Editor Gwynnie Ball Editorial Interns Katie Giffen, William Gregor, Jessica Hensley Managing Art Director Stephanie Park Art Director Lindsey Smith Associate Art Director Michael Hughes INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Director of Digital Strategy Jacquie Chakirelis Digital Strategy Manager Joe Vargo Developement Manager Daniel Klinzing
CORPORATE
Chief Financial Officer George Sedlak Finance Director Perry Zohos Accounts Payable Coordinator Geli Valli
Ohio Magazine is not responsible for the care and/or return of unsolicited photographs, illustrations, manuscripts, books or any other material submitted for possible publication. All photographs are courtesy of the event or organization listed, unless otherwise credited.
Cleveland Magazine | Ohio Magazine Lake Erie Living | Custom Media Quest Digital 1422 Euclid Ave., Suite 730, Cleveland, OH 44115 216/771-2833 | fax 216/781-6318 | glpublishing.com
Lakeside Living
The Chautauqua movement swept North America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with destinations that drew people to hear preachers, scientists, politicians and entertainers. Founded in 1873, Lakeside Chautauqua was one of them. Today, it remains among the last Chautauqua communities in North America, offering programming around the four Chautauqua pillars: recreation, education, arts and entertainment, and religion. 236 Walnut Ave., Lakeside 43440, 419/7984461, lakesideohio.com
SUSAN PHANEUF Classic Looks: Rivertown Inkery & Apparel’s Doug Burns celebrates Cincinnati’s past and present with designs he hopes customers will enjoy for years to come. Train Station: The Age of Steam Roundhouse Museum in Sugarcreek offers guided tours that provide a walk through the glory days of railroads.
Classic Looks
Rivertown Inkery & Apparel’s Doug Burns celebrates Cincinnati’s past and present with designs he hopes customers will enjoy for years to come. Doug Burns’ wardrobe has always been peppered with vintage T-shirts. The difference now is that many of them are his own creations. Burns, who founded Cincinnati’s Rivertown Inkery & Apparel in 2013, started small by selling shirts and prints featuring his designs at the city’s pop-up markets and getting a good reception for what was at the time a hobby.
By 2018, the operation was a fulltime business, and Burns opened a storefront in the city’s Oakley neighborhood. Although his designs have evolved over the years, one thing remains the same: vintage-inspired looks that draw from Cincinnati history are king. Burns’ designs give new life to local landmarks of years past, like Queen City Beach and the Reds’ former home of Riverfront Stadium. Another shows an overhead view of the ballclub’s Crosley Field, which closed in 1970.
Other shirts celebrate the Cincinnati of now, with orange-andblack tiger designs offering a nod to the Cincinnati Bengals and another that celebrates Fiona, the Cincinnati Zoo’s star hippopotamus. Rivertown Inkery has expanded into stickers, bags and patches, but apparel is still at the heart of the business, and Burns says he aims to make clothing that customers will enjoy for a long time to come.
“We’re drawing inspiration from the past, and there are designs from 20, 30 years ago that are still really cool today,” he says. “We always want to produce stuff that’s going to last — [shirts] people are going to want to wear in 10, 15, 20 years.” — Kelly Powell
3096 Madison Rd. #1W, Cincinnati 45209, 513/401-5086, rivertowninkery.com
The Age of Steam Roundhouse Museum houses 22 locomotives.
Train Some people collect model trains. Other people collect real ones. Jerry Jacobson was the latter. After selling his 525-mile freight railroad in 2008, he kept his collection of old equipStation ment, including his steam locomotives. To protect and preserve them, he bought 34 acres of land The Age of Steam in Tuscarawas County. He then built 2 miles of storage tracks, as well as other amenities, including a 115-foot train turntaRoundhouse Museum ble and a full-size roundhouse, historically where locomotives in Sugarcreek offers a were repaired and maintained. walk through the glory Although Jacobson saw the completion of the roundhouse’s days of railroads. construction, he did not live to see the Age of Steam Roundhouse Museum as it exists today — filled with his collection of steam locomotives (as well as others that have been acquired since), which are beautifully presented and lovingly cared for by the museum’s staff and volunteers. Rolling stock, passenger cars and other pieces from his collection are displayed outside.
“This was not patterned after any singular building of its kind,” says Dan Condo, visitor services coordinator at the Age of Steam Roundhouse Museum. “What Jerry and his associates did was travel around to other existing roundhouses that were still standing at the time, as well as scour blueprints and photographs of other such buildings, and handpick aspects he liked and put them together to make this place.”
The 22 steam locomotives housed in the 18 roundhouse bays span from 1897 to 1948. Only one of the steam engines is currently operational, while many of the others have been restored to how they looked during their prime. Scheduled 90-minute group tours allow visitors to learn about the collection. (Longer, more in-depth options are available, too.) Tours travel through the roundhouse, onto the property and into the back shop.
“We are a museum but, in all reality, we are an industrial facility, because the preservation and restoration work continues five days a week,” Condo says. “So even as tours are going on, we have staff working all around. That’s why we do guided tours specifically, so we can keep the group together … and make sure the group is safe.” — Jim Vickers
FASCINATING OBJECTS FROM OUR PAST
ZOAR GARDEN NOTEBOOK Chronicles the work of Simon Beuter
Known as “The Gardener,” Simon Beuter played a key role in the German Separatists community at Zoar, where he not only helped feed the families of the communal settlement, but also provided produce and services to people across Ohio and beyond the state’s borders. The Zoar community, founded in 1817 by those fleeing religious persecution in their homeland, was well established when Beuter stepped into his role as head gardener in 1845, a position he held until the society dissolved in 1898.
In those 53 years, Beuter managed the 2.5-acre biblically symbolic garden plot, which featured a radiating, geometric design. He taught community members to plant and harvest, with excess items — from seeds to cuttings — sold to people outside the community. The selection of flowers and plants became one of the most complete in all of Ohio. A greenhouse allowed for orange, lemon and other fruit trees to be nurtured in the winter, and Beuter developed his own hybrids.
Beuter kept a record of the gardens in a leatherbound notebook that chronicled his work. It lists practical information, including a “Catalogue of Apples and when Ripe”; records of fruits, flowers, and ornamental trees and shrubs; and illustrations of garden grids. — Richard “Jeff” Jeffers
$2,625
SOLD AT AUCTION
Richard Jeffers is the owner of Garth’s Auctioneers & Appraisers in Columbus.
Art of the Game
Former Major League Baseball player, manager and coach Tom Runnells of Sylvania turns old baseballs into works of art.
Baseball has always taken center field for Tom Runnells — from his first hit in Dodger Stadium for the Cincinnati Reds, to managing a perfect game for the Montreal Expos. Today, this Major League Baseball playerturned-coach transforms old baseballs into one-of-a-kind works of art that celebrate the game. Tom Runnells donates proceeds from his Runnells, who lives in Sylvania with unique baseball artwork to charities that serve youth in the Toledo area. his wife, former WTOL Toledo News anchor Chrys Peterson, uses utility knives and shears to cut baseball hides into shapes while preserving their raised seams. He fashions them into numbers or logos and then collaborates with portrait artist Jeff Stone and the local Frameworks shop to assemble custom art pieces that celebrate a particular player from the game’s past.
Runnells donates proceeds from art sales to youth-serving charities such as the Toledo Mud Hens’ Knothole Gang and the Toledo Police Athletic League. We talked with him about his art and the ongoing allure of baseball in his life. — Sarah Miller
What is it about baseball that always draws you back?
A: Growing up in Colorado, I loved playing baseball. I played all sports — football, golf, tennis, basketball — but baseball was my niche. I guess because I was small. My name was “pipsqueak” all through high school. I was a walk-on in college. I really do believe that it was my passion and work ethic that did it for me. There were others that were bigger and more talented than I was. I was so determined that this was what I was going to do in my lifetime.
You’ve created different works of art from baseballs. What are your favorite pieces?
A: I love creating a piece to honor someone. I’m a huge New York Yankees, Mickey Mantle fan. My Mantle art hangs in a doctor’s office in Toledo. I just finished a piece that’s probably my favorite — it’s a Moses Fleetwood Walker. He’s the first Black [Major League Baseball player], known for being a Toledo Blue Stocking.
Where does your baseball art end up and where can people see your work?
A: They’re like my babies. Sometimes, it’s hard to sell them. My wife won’t let me sell a few. I donate a lot of them to fundraisers. I’ve had a couple of art shows in Sylvania’s Fuller Art House. A gentleman called me from England who bought some Negro League pieces to display in the Royal Air Force Museum London. I’ve become very interested in the Negro League history and players. Those were really the players that paved the way.
Living life simply. Holmes County & beyond.
Get your Amish Country Ohio Map & Visitors Guide online at visitamishcountry.com or call us at 330-674-3975.
DISCOVER OHIO’S AUTHENTIC APPALACHIAN COUNTRY
AMERICAN ADVENTURES!
Winding roads, rolling hills, rivers and creeks, plus some of the best food in the Midwest — it can all be found in Appalachian Country.
TUSCARAWAS COUNTY OHIO
124 E. High Ave. New Philadelphia 44663, 800-527-3387 traveltusc.com
Let yourself blossom! Springtime is in full bloom in Tuscarawas County, the other side of Amish country! Share springtime with your family and home with new fashions and décor from our downtown shopping experiences! Relax in nine local wineries, three breweries, and countless local restaurants.
CAMBRIDGE/GUERNSEY COUNTY VCB
627 Wheeling Ave., Suite 200 Cambridge 43725, 800-933-5480 visitguernseycounty.com Cambridge/Guernsey County is home to Salt Fork State Park & Lake, Seneca Lake and The Wilds. From sandy beaches to safari tours, numerous parks serve as a backdrop to amazing family getaways. Request a FREE guide!
ZANESVILLE-MUSKINGUM COUNTY
205 North 5th St. Zanesville 43701, 740-455-8282 visitzanesville.com EXPLORE HOCKING HILLS
13178 St. Rte. 664 S., Logan 43138 800-HOCKING (462-5464) explorehockinghills.com Pamper yourself with scenic hikes through prehistoric caves with waterfalls. Visit day spas, try shinrin-yoku a/k/a forest bathing. Woodland sauna pods, cleansing salt cave and cozy cabins await in the Hocking Hills, Ohio’s natural crown jewels.
PORTSMOUTH-SCIOTO COUNTY VISITORS BUREAU
342 Second St., Portsmouth 45662, 740-353-1116 ohiorivertourism.org Enjoy museums, local eateries, microbrewery, charming shops, Floodwall Murals, antique shops, skateboarding, hiking, biking and kayaking.
GLENLAUREL, A SCOTTISH INN & COTTAGES
14940 Mt Olive Rd. Rockbridge 43149, 800-809-REST (7378) glenlaurel.com
Escape the ordinary for a romantic experience like no other! Glenlaurel, A Scottish Inn & Cottages is situated on 140-acres in the heart of Ohio’s Hocking Hills. The adult-only resort boasts luxurious accommodations, six and seven-course fine dining, private gorge/hiking trails, and more! Unplug from technology and reconnect with one another. Romance awaits!
APPALACHIAN BYWAY OF OHIO
State Route 78 Caldwell 43724 740-305-3177, go.osu.edu/abo The Appalachian Byway of Ohio includes State Route 78 in Noble, Monroe, Morgan and Athens Counties. Enjoy museums and historic landmarks like the Jail Museum in Downtown Caldwell or the Monroe Theatre and the Big Muskie in Morgan County. Learn more at go.osu.edu/abo or call 740-305-3177. MARIETTA – WASHINGTON COUNTY
241 Front St., Suite 7 Marietta 45750, 800-288-2577 mariettaohio.org We were the first settlement in a new frontier over 225 years ago and our early pioneer spirit can still be felt throughout our community. Navigate our rivers, explore our shops, taste our cuisine and immerse yourself in our rich culture and history.
ROSS-CHILLICOTHE CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU
230 N. Plaza Blvd. Chillicothe 45601, 740-702-7677 visitchillicotheohio.com
The perfect destination to experience the excitement of “Tecumseh!” Outdoor Drama, explore the magnificent ancient earthworks, views from scenic trails, and savory local flavors.
VISIT COSHOCTON
432 N Whitewoman St. Coshocton 43812, 800-338-4724 visitcoshocton.com Open seven days a week! Home of Historic Roscoe Village, The Monticello III Horse-drawn Canal Boat Ride, Three Rivers Wine Trail, locally owned shopping & dining, Three Rivers Ride Motorcycle Trail, Hunting, Fishing & Coshocton Ring Geotrail.
BELMONT COUNTY TOURISM
67800 Mall Ring Rd., Unit 485 St. Clairsville 43950, 740-695-4359 visitbelmontcounty.com Belmont County, Ohio is known for its small town hospitality, picturesque main streets and beautiful landscapes. Discover museums and events that represent the heritage and history located in the heart of Appalachia. Plan your visit to friendly, beautiful, Belmont County today!
