Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Road Trip to Chillicothe

On Sunday Dr. M & I took a road trip to the Adena Mansion & Gardens in Chillicothe, Ohio. It's a beautiful estate, and the home of the sixth governnor of Ohio, Thomas Worthington.

There is a really nice museum showing the history of the area. It also has some nice exhibits showing a store and tavern - and lots of hands on things for children.



The house was built in 1807 and is pretty fascinating - mostly because of the garish color schemes that were popular at that time. Made my head spin just a little bit! Here are a few examples:




It was also interesting to me because this family was quite wealthy, so the furnishings and their lifestyle was different from a lot of the historic homes I've visited. One feature that I especially loved was this serving cabinet - the servants could put food on it and then spin it around into the room. There was one in the drawing room & in the dining room. Sorry for the fuzziness - a result of low-light no-flash photography:


While I enjoyed the house a lot, I loved the gardens. I went a little overboard on the pictures.











We visited some of the outbuildings - there was a field hands house that is apparently used for school children's visits. Here I am trying out one of the games. I think I could have mastered it after about 500 more tries. {Please note the extremely white legs - no, I am not wearing white stockings!}


It seems like everywhere we go there are sheep. I'm not sure how this happens, but I think Dr. M is a sheep magnet. They were in this fabulous barn.





We also saw a field with a few burros in it.


And, inexplicably, a camel. ????


All in all, a great day - and free if you're a member of the Ohio Historical Society (which, of course, we are).

13 comments:

  1. What a GREAT place Dana! Loved the gardens too! And sheep! LOL... bet they were there JUST for Dr. M's visit! :c) Thanks for taking us along!

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  2. well, you know, everybody had camels back then.

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  3. 2,000 acres is a good chunk of land. The interior did make me dizzy with all the swirly patterns. I loved the barn photo and the one of you mastering the toy.

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  4. a camel????? What the heck?!?!

    I so laughed at your "Not wearing white stockings" comment... that's how my legs are too!

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  5. Chillicothe is such a fun sounding name. I love the way y'all always find wooly sheep. The camel doesn't surprise me so much. They like to guard packs, much like llamas and alpaca do. Perhaps they're members of that sheep flock's family.

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  6. Love the sheep. My legs are a little...um...pale too. And I live in CA where we have sun all year long. Now you see, I would still be there trying to get that ball into the hole, I just can't give up on those kinds of things.

    Great trip.

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  7. The mixed patterns would make me a bit dizzy. Lovely photographs of the gardens.

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  8. There are a couple of places around here that I really need to get to. So much to see in our own backyard!

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  9. What an awesome road trip. Lovely sites to see. those aren't white socks? LOL you are too funny. I have much whiter legs than my arms too.

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  10. So true, Mary! Many people's backyards are filled with interesting places. We drive through Chillicothe (a Shawnee name) every time we go to NC. It's only an hour away from where we live, we can visit the house and grounds for free because my job pretty much dictates that I remain a member of the OHS, and so finally we made our way there. Like so many historical sites we have visited, we were delighted to have found this one. And they have sheep!

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  11. great photos

    For some reason there seem to be a lot of people around our area that keep Alpacas - so you will see random ones in fields where they really don't belong

    Camels - that's a new one :)

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  12. The wallpaper back then was really something, wasn't it? For a keepsake, I peeled some of the wallpaper off my grandmother's bedroom wall before they demolished her house. It was a large pattern with bold colors.

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  13. Wow, what fantastic pictures. It must be nice to live in a place where the day trip is possible. Out here it is miles of desert to anywhere. Not to mention that I hate to drive.

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Thanks for stopping by - I'd love to hear what you have to say!

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