Unlike other travel bloggers who haven’t been to the places they wrote about and simply borrowed other’s photos for their posts, in my case, I made sure that I visited them all. All the unusual and weird places and roadside attractions around Southern Ohio, I have seen them with my own eyes.
If you are passing through Southern Ohio through any of these interstates: I70, I675, I71, or even I75 — there a number of quirky roadside attractions that await to be explored.
Here are my top weirdly interesting sights.
1. National Barber Museum
See the collection of over 61 barber poles, more than 800 straight and safety razors, razor strops, clippers, bloodletting tools from the days of the barber-surgeon, shoeshine chairs, spittoons, and historical barber chairs. The museum also has a barber library of over 400 volumes.
Address: 135 Franklin St, Canal Winchester, Ohio 43110. For GPS directions, here is the link to Google Map.
Admission fee: $5 for adults, $4 for senior citizens, and $3 for students
See more photos of the National Barber Museum here.
2. Antique Dolls at Mid-Ohio Historical Museum
Talking about a massive antique doll collection, the Mid-Ohio Historical Museum in Canal Winchester, Ohio has it all. Believe it or not, seeing dolls in various sizes and facial expressions, and yellowed with age in every corner of the museum, was quite spooky. It seemed like there were too many eyes staring at me at the same time.
Address: 700 Winchester Pike, Canal Winchester, Ohio 43110. Link to Google Map direction
Admission fee: $3 per visitor. Free for children under 6
See more photos of the doll collection here.
3. Pencil Sharpener Museum
From miniature planes to superhero characters to animal figures, everything inside is a pencil sharpener. Even the small cabin that houses them was built to strikingly resemble that of a pencil sharpener.
Address: 13178 OH-664, Logan, Ohio 43138. Link to Google Map for GPS direction.
Admission fee: FREE
See more photos of the Sharpener Museum here.
4. Ohio Antique Center
From old bicycles to jewelries to century-old household items, to historical memorabilia, to antique furniture, you would see them all at this antique center.
Address: 4785 E National Rd, Springfield, Ohio 45505-1857. Here’s a link to Google Map for directions.
Admission fee: FREE
See more photos of the Antique Museum here.
5. Secret Garden in Ohio
The Secret Garden is a garden shop with a twist. It has unique garden decors! What completely separates it from other shops is that, they use their uniquely-crafted garden decors to design the shop’s surrounding landscape.
Address: 4107 E. St. Rt. 73, Waynesville, Ohio 45068. For GPS direction, link to Google Map
Admission fee: FREE
See more of Ohio’s Secret Garden here.
6. Historical Houses, Cabins, and Structures at Wartinger Park
Wartinger Park is a unique park in Beavercreek, Ohio that showcases historical structures from the early 1800s.
Address: 3080 Kemp Rd, Dayton, Ohio 45431. Google Map Link for GPS directions.
Admission fee: FREE
See more of Ohio’s historical houses here.
7. Ohio’s Octagonal Schoolhouse
This is the only octagonal schoolhouse in the State of Ohio.
Address: 11 Grand St, Sinking Spring, OH 45172. Link to Google Map.
Admission fee: FREE
See more photos of the octagonal house here.
8. Field of Corn
The Field of Corn is an art installation of precast concrete ears of corn cobs erected in straight rows. According to the Dublin Arts Council, there are 109 of these corn cobs.
Address: 4995 Rings Rd, Dublin, Ohio 43017. Google Map Link
Admission fee: FREE
See more pictures of the Field of Corn here.
9. Piatt’s Mac-O-Chee and Mac-A-Cheek Castles
Located in the western Ohio in West Liberty, these Gothic-designed castles Mac-O-Chee (circa 1879) & Mac-A-Cheek (circa 1871) were built by the brothers Donn and Abram Piatt. They are about 1 mile apart. Both Piatt castles have walls manually painted with intricate patterns, ceilings look like those from Gothic churches. Both have three stories and towers.
Address: Mac-A-Cheek castle
10051 Township Rd 47, West Liberty, Ohio 43357
Hours: Open daily from 11AM to 5PM
Address: Mac-O-Chee castle
2319 OH-287, West Liberty, Ohio 43357
Hours: Open daily from 11AM to 5PM
Admission fee: $15 for a single castle, and a package price of $25 if you opt to see both Mac-A-Cheek and Mac-O-Chee.
GPS directions to the castles.
Read more about the two historic castles here.
10. Hartman Rock Garden
The Hartman Rock Garden is one of America’s most intriguing visionary environments, an outsider art phenomenon where self-taught artists construct fascinating worlds out of concrete, metal, stone, and whatever else they can find.
Address: 1905 Russell Ave, Springfield, Ohio 45506. Link to Google Map.
Admission fee: FREE
There are more information about the Hartman Rock Garden here.
11. Futuro House or UFO House
With two oblong saucers connected with a tube walkway, the Futuro House structure is certainly an interesting roadside structure along Central Ave. in Carlisle, Ohio.
Address: 9473 OH-123, Carlisle, OH 45005. Link to Google Map.
Admission fee: FREE
See more photos of the UFO house here.
12. Serpent Mound
The Serpent Mound Historical Site is the largest effigy mound in the world, about 1,400 feet long. An effigy mound is a giant earthen sculpture used as a shrine to honor the powerful spirit it represents. This mound represents the Great Serpent who was the Lord of the World Below — a world beneath the surface of the earth!
Address: 3850 OH-73, Peebles, OH 45660. Link to Google Map.
Admission fee: FREE (but parking is $8)
See more photos of the Serpent Mound here.
13. Grinnell Mill Bed & Breakfast
Built in 1813, Grinnell Mill Bed & Breakfast was originally called Moody’s or Moody’s Mill from the owners Andrew and Robert Moody. The original building was burned in 1818 and was reconstructed with the present building in 1821.
Address: 3536 Bryan Park Rd., Yellow Springs, Ohio 45387. Link to Google Map.
Call 937-767-0131 if you want to visit.
See more photos of the historic mill here.
14. World’s Largest Horseshoe Crab
This is a giant horseshoe crab along highway 124 in Hillsboro, Ohio. Unfortunately, I was not able to take more pictures as there was no parking spots for visitors.
Address: 7592 OH-124, Hillsboro, OH 45133. Link to Google Map.
Admission fee: FREE
Do you know of any other unusual and weird places and roadside attractions around Southern Ohio? Leave a comment below.