Ohio has never let itself get stuck in the past. Places such as Cleveland and Cincinnati helped forge the industrial age, but when the industries hit hard times, they managed to exchange rusting factories for gleaming city centers. And in this, the age of computers, Columbus has created some of the highest tech in the country.

So why does this forward-thinking state also put a living-history farm around every bend in the road? Well, we're not sure. But it's refreshing to find a place that can both remember the past and move toward the future.

And it's fun, too: The new and old make for first-rate travel attractions. You can go from serene countryside, traditional crafts and the decidedly unmodern Amish to trendy entertainment zones and interactive museums. Or you can enjoy places such as the Lake Erie Islands, whose beaches and waters are appealing no matter which century you're feeling partial to.

Geography

History

In long-ago centuries, about 1000 BC to AD 200, two ancient Native American cultures—the Adena and, later, the Hopewell—inhabited the Ohio River Valley. They built large earthen ceremonial mounds, several of which can still be visited. Later, the Algonquian-speaking Shawnee were a prominent tribe in what's now Ohio. They were primarily farmers and hunters and were particularly known for their well-defined political and ritual organization: Two different chiefs, one for peace and one for war, led the tribal councils.

The first European to visit what became the Buckeye State was the explorer Robert Cavelier LaSalle, who arrived in 1669 and claimed the area for France. Over the next century, fur traders from the British colonies along the East Coast became interested in the area. This led to conflicts that, in part, caused the French and Indian War. The British won control of France's North American territory in 1763, but settlement of the Ohio area did not really begin until after the Revolutionary War. The Ohio River then became a major thoroughfare to the West. Known as the Gateway State, Ohio was the edge of civilization. The historic Treaty of Green Ville is credited for opening up the Northwest Territory and was signed by the great Indian chief Tecumseh and General "Mad" Anthony Wayne.

Ohio became a state in 1803, and settlers quickly spread across the rolling hills and rich farmland. The railroads that followed, coupled with waterways and Lake Erie ports, aided the state's development as a major manufacturing center. After the Civil War, Ohio began to exploit its natural resources, especially iron ore, coal and petroleum. The Ohio River brought in raw materials and carried away the products of Cincinnati's industrial output, and ore fleets helped make Toledo one of the steel centers of the nation. In Cleveland, John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company made the northeast Ohio market boom well into the 20th century. The state's prowess as a manufacturing center continues today, even though almost half of the acreage in Ohio is still farmland.

Ohio's economy pivoted on its steel cities (Cleveland and Youngstown), glass city (Toledo) and rubber city (Akron). However, in the 1960s and 1970s, businesses relocated in droves to southern states, leaving behind what became known as the Rust Belt. Some of these former industrial powerhouses died and others reinvented themselves in the 1980s and 1990s. For example, Cleveland has successfully transformed itself, thanks to the medical industry. The world-renowned Cleveland Clinic has produced some of the most advanced breakthroughs in heart science.

Snapshot

Ohio's main attractions are Cincinnati, Cleveland, U.S. history, excellent zoos (in Columbus, Cleveland, Toledo and Cincinnati), the Lake Erie Islands, theme parks and festivals.

Ohio will appeal both to travelers who enjoy quiet, rural scenery and family amusements, and those looking for the shopping, dining, cultural and entertainment offerings of large cities. Those who demand rugged or dramatic scenery may find the state less to their liking.

Potpourri

Ohio is the birthplace of aviation pioneers Wilbur and Orville Wright, and astronauts Neil Armstrong and John Glenn. Eight U.S. presidents were also native Ohioans: James Garfield, Ulysses S. Grant, Warren Harding, Benjamin Harrison, William Henry Harrison, Rutherford B. Hayes, William McKinley and William Taft. Many of their homes are open to the public.

Towboats on the Ohio River move 80 million tons of cargo a year, nearly double the amount that moves through the Panama Canal. On any given day you can sit on the Serpentine Wall in Cincinnati and see a barge of coal from the east heading west passing a barge of coal from the west heading east. (It might appear odd, but they're different kinds of coal.)

The Ohio calendar is absolutely stuffed with free festivals. Among them are days to honor wine, washboards, ribs, roots music, canals, dogs, corn, apples, apple butter, maple syrup, oil derricks and believe it or not, testicles. (Yep, the folks in Tiro cook up nearly half a ton of the "prairie oysters" and serve them up with a whole lot of beer.) The state also honors more than a dozen nationalities, including Cincinnati's Oktoberfest-Zinzinnati celebration, which claims the world's largest chicken dance as one of its favorite traditions.

Ohio has the largest Amish community, the largest and most famous Indian effigy mound and the largest basket in the world—one big enough to house the headquarters of the Longaberger Basket Company. It's a sight that stops Newark visitors in their tracks.

Kent State University in Kent is still remembered as the site where four anti-Vietnam War protestors were killed by national guardsmen in 1970.

From Ohio have come the world's first traffic light, cash register, ice-cube tray and vacuum cleaner. The first strip-mall shopping center was built in Ohio, as was the first U.S. kindergarten. Other interesting firsts include the first airmail delivery, which was done using hot-air balloons. The state also had the first-ever concrete skyscraper, the first outdoor telephone booth and was the birthplace of the ice-cream sundae. In addition, the Cincinnati Redlegs (Reds) were the first professional baseball team and the Cincinnati Observatory Center in Mount Lookout houses the oldest operational telescope in the country, first used in 1873.

March is the traditional month for Sugarin' Days, when Ohioans collect and boil down the sap of maple trees throughout the state. Some of the most popular sites are the Brukner Nature Center (Troy), Paint Creek State Park (Hillsboro), Hueston Woods State Park (near Oxford), Aurora Farms (Aurora) and Indian Lake State Park (near Lakeview). Visitors can drop in almost any weekend during the season to see how maple syrup is made and sample the end product.