Historical sites in northeast Ohio open

COLUMBUS – Intriguing chapters in Ohio’s religious, social, industrial and military histories will be explored again this year at 10 Ohio Historical Society landmarks that will be open for the travel season in northeast Ohio.

Zoar Village.

Zoar Village in Zoar, Schoenbrunn Village in New Philadelphia, Quaker Meeting House in Mount Pleasant, and the Shaker Historical Museum in Shaker Heights all bring to life the late 18th and early 19th centuries when this region of the state was a frontier for migrating religious groups.

Zoar Village was founded in 1817 by German religious separatists whose communal society is viewed as one of the most successful in 19th-century America.

The restored dairy, bakery, greenhouse, craft shops and colorful restored gardens, all occupied by period-clothed interpreters, depict the industrious ways of the Society of Separatists of Zoar, which flourished from 1817-1898.

The site is open through Labor Day 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon-5 p.m. on Sunday and holidays.

Autumn weekend hours are 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and noon-5 p.m. on Sunday through October.

For event and general information call 800-874-4336 or 330-874-4336.

Schoenbrunn Village.

Nearby Schoenbrunn Village, established in 1772 as a Moravian Church mission to the Delaware Indians, will feature the same operating schedule as Zoar.

Costumed interpreters demonstrate the lives of the Moravians in reconstructed log structures that occupy the original site.

God’s Acre, an adjoining cemetery, still contains the graves of the mission’s occupants.

For general and event information call 800-752-2711 or 330-339-3636.

Shaker Museum.

Shaker artifacts at the Shaker Historical Museum in Shaker Heights are available for visitor viewing year-round, 2-5 p.m. Tuesday-Friday and Sundays, and special exhibits are featured from time to time.

Call 800-860-6078 for more information.

The Quaker Meeting House in Mount Pleasant can be visited year-round by appointment. Call 330-769-2893 or 330-769-2119.

Travelers also can stop by Tallmadge Church in Tallmadge, Ohio’s oldest church still functioning as a place of worship.

The structure was built beginning in 1822 and offers tours year-round by appointment. Call 800-262-6195.

Steel industry.

Time travelers can fast-forward to the days of Ohio’s early-20th-century steel industry at the Youngstown Historical Center of Industry and Labor in Youngstown.

The museum chronicles the period when huge steel mills gave the Mahoning Valley fame as the second largest steel producing area in the United States.

The museum is open year-round, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday and from noon-5 p.m. Sunday and holidays. Call 800-262-9297 for general information.

Museum of Ceramics.

Ohio’s early ceramics industry is the focus of the Museum of Ceramics in East Liverpool, where visitors can learn about “America’s Crockery City” and see extensive collections of regional ceramic ware. Call 800-600-7180 for general information.

Fort Laurens in Bolivar, the site of the only Revolutionary War military site in Ohio, features a museum and the tomb of Ohio’s Unknown Patriot.

It is open through Labor Day 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon-5 p.m. on Sunday and holidays.

Call 800-874-4336 or 330-874-4336 for event and general information.

McCook House.

McCook House in Carrollton, built in 1837, is a memorial to Ohio’s Civil War-era “Fighting McCooks,” 14 of whose male members supported the Union Army cause.

The home is open for tours 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 1-5 p.m. Sunday and holidays through September.

Call 800-600-7172 or 800-752-2711 for general information

Custer Monument.

Finally, travelers can see Custer Monument State Memorial on the site of Gen. George Armstrong Custer’s birthplace in New Rumley.

In the exhibit pavilion there, visitors can read about the life and qualities of the young Civil War-era cavalry officer, whose “Last Stand” made his name legend.

Call 800-752-2711 for more information.