Its time to get your walking shoes out, as three Ohio communities prepare to showcase historic properties.

The 15th Annual Champaign County Preservation Alliance House and Garden Tour takes place on June 23-24 in Urbana. This year’s edition features the interiors of 8 historic residences, as well as a garden, church and museums. Always one of Ohio’s best history showcase events, the CCPA Tour will include entertainment, food, a “Tea in the Garden” and more. For details, check out this coverage in the Urbana Daily Citizen. For a taste of Urbana, click here to view a photo review of the community (click on each thumbnail for a larger picture).

Lovers of history and urban living will enjoy the annual City Hop on June 16, now in its 8th year of highlighting the advantages of downtown Columbus living. While it also includes new construction, the tour always includes renovated period buildings – this year that list includes the Buggyworks, originally built in 1902 as home of the Columbus Buggy Company; the Hartman Loft Condominiums, located in the former Hartman Hotel; and “8 On the Square,” housed in a newly renovated 1906 building near the corner of Broad and High with views of the Ohio Statehouse. Click here for details.

In Dover, a special historic house and garden tour highlights the 200th birthday celebration of this Tuscarawas County community. On June 24, no less than fourteen homes, chuches and gardens will be on display, as well as the magnificent Reeves House and a series of classic cars at each tour location. The tour is hosted by the Tuscarawas Heritage Home Association; for complete information, click here.

Recent news has brought to light new developments in ongoing efforts to preserve important local historic resources.

In Tiffin, the long-awaited report from MKC Associates about the Seneca County Courthouse demolition proposals included a surprise fourth possibility – renovation – even though it was not part of the initial set of proposals to be reviewed (click here for coverage by the Toledo Blade). And, in what was hardly a surprise, the cost of renovation was revealed to be less than any other scenario, including demolition and new construction. In response to the findings, however, at least one commissioner again reiterated his belief that the only relevant consideration was space needs – without regard to the impact of any particular position on economic revitalization. The commissioners have not set a definitive date for their final decision, and a recently-filed lawsuit remains pending.

News has reached Preservation Ohio that the home and garage of the first person to travel from one coast to the other in an automobile is being demolished – to be replaced with a chain auto parts (AutoZone) store! This travesty is being perpetrated over public opposition in Jefferson, county seat of Ashtabula County, a community without any protection for its historic resources.

Proponents of saving Dayton’s NCR Building 26 were disappointed when the Ohio Historic Preservation Office issued a finding that the property is not eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. This report from OHPO came after an independent study by Preservation Dayton and a letter from the National Trust for Historic Preservation both suggested that the initial study which found that the building was not eligible was flawed. Although the OHPO letter advocated for preservation, the net effect was to remove legal barriers to the University of Dayton to proceed with demolition.

Photo:  Fetch House, being demolished in Jefferson - Preservation Ohio File Photo

Each Summer weekend, avid letterboxers hit the backroads of Ohio - visiting cemeteries, public parks and other scenic areas. As they search for the hundreds of letterboxes scattered across the state, they are also often learning valuable lessons about Ohio history and culture.

Letterboxing, according to Wikipedia, is a hobby which “…combines elements of orienteering, art and puzzle solving.” It began in mid-19th century England, and became popular in this country following a National Geographic article in the late 1990s. As of the present time, there are more than 20,000 letterboxes hidden across the United States. In each, a log book and official site stamp await the visitor who follows directions to their whereabouts. Clues can range from simple instructions (such as “Go ten steps from the hollow tree toward the farmhouse in the distance”) to more complex clues that can include, for instance, numbers and names from gravestone inscriptions. The hobby is inter-generational, and attracts both families with small children and senior citizens alike.

Ohio has became a hotbed of letterboxing, and many of the boxes across the state are located in sites with connections to Ohio history. The Old Church Cemetery Letterbox in Waterford, a tiny hamlet on the Morrow/Knox County border, includes a narrative of the settlement of the area - which occurred during the “Ohio Fever,” in which “thousands of emigrants, mostly from Pennsylvania...flocked to this part of Central Ohio in search of cheap and fertile land" after the War of 1812.  The Ohio and Erie Canal Letterbox Series in Cuyahoga County takes searchers on a trip to find 4 letterboxes while teaching them about the history of canal transportation in Ohio, while many of the covered bridges in Fairfield County are also letterbox locations.

Click here to learn more about letterboxing, and how you can take a trip through Ohio history.

Photo:  Letterbox uncovered in northern Franklin County - Thomas Palmer