Cincinnati and Surrounding Area History

New and old graffiti at Rock House, Hocking Hills State Park. I've visited a lot of caves and rock formations and almost always, I've found graffiti in these places. I found numerous examples at Hocking Hills over the weekend. One interesting thing I've noticed is that many tour guides will point out old graffiti, usually from the 1800's, but will also ask that people refrain from adding to it. While this is totally understandable, I think it's worth noting that the only difference between the grafitti pointed out by tour guides and that discouraged by them is age. Carving into rocks destroys them over ... Read Full Story

My husband and I spent Labor Day weekend with friends in a cabin near Hocking Hills. We headed out Sunday to hand-feed hummingbirds at Lake Hope State Park, where I happened to pick up a historical tour brochure and discovered that the Moonville Tunnel was on park property. On one of my many visits to the Forgotten Ohio site, this story caught my eye and I made a mental note to visit one day. Because I have planned many trips to weird spots, it was funny to happen upon this local gem by accident. I always assumed the Moonville Tunnel was something you weren't ... Read Full Story

My husband and I decided that it would be a sin to stay in today as the weather was absolutely perfect (though we were still feeling the aftereffects of celebrating the completion of my master's program with some of my awesome coworkers last night). We often take drives out in the country when we are bored, looking for old cemeteries to explore. I am always surprised how many we've driven past and never noticed. Monroe Presbyterian Cemetery is one such place. It was here I found several good examples of symbols I've seen before and one I had read about some time ago and ... Read Full Story

After a few people at work asked me about my blog, I invited them along on a lunchtime trip to find Cincinnati's Old Jewish Cemetery. There isn't a lot of readily available information to be found online, and I was not able to locate the organization or person/people who takes care of it. We found it just a few minutes from our office building, right on a corner near Music Hall. It is a small cemetery with nice, intact tombstones and is well taken care of. The ivy is trimmed, the grass is cut and there is a padlock on the fence to prevent ... Read Full Story

From Forgotten Ohio: "This is the grave of Johnny Morehouse and--according to legend--his dog, a pair who are Woodland's most famous ghostly residents. The story might be rooted in nothing more than an unusual tombstone, but this is what they say: Johnny fell into the Miami & Erie canal and froze to death, despite his faithful dog's efforts to pull him out. After he was buried, the dog laid on his gravesite and wouldn't be moved. Eventually it died from starvation and sadness. A special stone was made in 1861 to commemorate Johnny's dog's devotion. People leave toys, candy, and other trinkets on the ... Read Full Story