3/20/10: Motts Military Museum

Where: 5075 South Hamilton Road, Groveport, OH‎
Cost: Adults: $5.00; Students $3.00; Seniors $4.00
Hours: Open Tuesday through Saturday 9am-5pm; Sunday 1-5 pm

*TIM'S DISCLAIMER* I don't have any really good pictures from the museum. So, I can't have a photoriffic post like Tonee. The only shots we have were through a chain link fence because the museum prohibits photography and I didn't feel like posting those. So for pictures from the exhibits, I'd like to direct you to this link Motts Military Museum Home Page . So, without further ado, my post.

I've known about Motts since sometime around 2005. However, in all that time, I've never gotten around to visiting the museum and I have no good reason for it. Kind of like the Fire Museum.

Since it is finally starting to warm up in Central Ohio, it was the perfect day to be out in their, well for lack of a better term, motor pool. In this outside area they have tanks, aircraft, howitzers, a Higgins Boat, and a replica of Eddie Rickenbacker's house.

Inside the main building, there were artifacts packed all over. It was impossible to spend less than 15 minutes looking at a single case. The first main part of the museum features artifacts from the 1700s to Lincoln's assassination. This is where most of the Civil War medical equipment is displayed. It's amazing to see how far we've come in 150 years.

Next you come across items from the 1900s to the end of The Great War. There are examples of WWI uniforms and field equipment. What was really amazing to see were the French Army uniforms. Everyone can recognize a doughboy, but you can't really picture uniforms from our allies with the possible exception of Great Britain.

Once you turn the corner, you are greeted with a German soldier in a guard tower and suddenly, you are in World War 2. In this area you see Nazi printed copies of Mien Kampf, door hinges from the Eagle's Nest, and even one of McArthur's trademark pipes. Also from the Pacific Theater, there are parts of the teak deck from the USS Missouri. Tucked away in a corner is a uniform belonging to Paul Tibbets with a model of the Enola Gay. The Tuskegee Airmen have a wall dedicated to their history and what happened to the members of the unit after the war.

There isn't too much going into Korea, the Cold War, or Vietnam. However, there is a new wing opening up soon that will give them more space to display items from these conflicts and go into the detail the other eras have.

To wrap up Tim's way-too-detailed-post-with-way-too-many-links, Motts Military Museum is a well hidden secret of Central Ohio. It too, is one of those places that you know of but have no reason as to why you haven't gone. Well worth the admission, you can get lost here for a day. Everywhere you turn in the museum there is an interesting artifact packed into some small space.

3/13/10: The Central Ohio Fire Museum

What: The Central Ohio Fire Museum

Where:260 N. Fourth Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215-2511

Cost: $6 adults, $4 kids, free parking at museum with inexpensive pay lot next door.


The Central Ohio Fire Museum is one of those places we've heard of, driven past, and even meant to visit for a good long while and never got around to it. Well, now that we've finally been there we have this to say: HOLY CRAP HOW DID WE NOT GO HERE SOONER?

On the kind of day where you don't really want to be outside and you don't really want to be in the house either, we ventured downtown to visit one of Columbus' best kept secrets. This one is definitely the kind of museum with enough fun stuff to keep the kids amused and enough cool history stuff to entertain mom and dad. A good outing for all involved, really. The museum doubles as an education center focusing on elementary and pre-school aged children to teach them fire safety complete with a practice room where the kids get to practice checking the door for heat and escaping a fire, complete with (harmless) smoke.

From here, I think I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:

The brochure available at the front desk.

The inside of the replica doors. The firehouse was used until the early 1980s, so it had mechanical garage doors before the restoration. The photos are the station as it looked in the 1950s, and then the restoration to its original 1908 appearance.

Original fire call boxes from the days of the telegraph before telephones were commonplace. These used to be every 3 blocks or so around the city.

Display on the history of fire extinguishers, including quite a few fun flops.

Looking into the basement from the bell tower, where the hoses were hung to dry after a run. It still smells like drying hoses in this room. I really don't think they'll ever get that smell out.

One of our favorite treasures: Jim from the old COSI's Street of Yesteryear! So glad to see he has a new home and a great purpose.

For the kids of all ages, a truck to play in! Our very own Tim models the donated cab that has been converted into a delightfully noisy toy.

To play a firefighter, you have to look the part! The museum caters to those of us who like to dress up while we play make-believe.

To see the myriad of other pictures we took of the museum, please click here to see our Picasa album.

The Idea isn't original

I've always wanted to play tourist right here in Columbus. For years, I've been convinced that this city cannot possibly be as boring as people seem to think it is. I've found some great things to do here and there over the years, and I have decided to dedicate this summer to seeing as much here in Columbus and around Ohio as I possibly can. Essentially, I'm going to be making a bunch of day trips with my friends to experience what Columbus (and vicinity) has to offer from Restaurants to museums and even some parks. My goal here is partially to entertain myself and partially to give others some ideas for what is around here that they can enjoy. I'm not looking for fame (heck, if more than two people read this I might fall over in disbelief!) but I am looking to have my own little interesting corner.

The point of this post, more than anything, is to get suggestions. There are already plans in the works for some of the big things around Columbus like the Columbus Zoo & Aquarium, Franklin Park Conservatory, The Columbus Museum of Art and the Ohio Statehouse, but I want to hit some of the offbeat and lesser traveled places, too. The ideas are a mixture of what we know about, what we find in tourist pamphlets we grab from random hotels and what people suggest to us. Anywhere in Ohio is up for a trip! That's the beauty of being in Columbus, I can get almost anywhere and back in a day :-D