27 Best Sights in Columbus, Ohio

Four blocks east of the state capitol, this collection is particularly strong in early modernist paintings, modern American paintings, and impressionist and expressionist works. The museum holds the largest public collection of woodcarvings by Columbus folk artist Elijah Pierce and the world's largest repository of paintings and lithographs by Columbus native George Bellows. Outdoors is a sculpture garden, and a café and a gift shop are on the premises.

Zoo director emeritus "Jungle Jack" Hanna draws the late-night spotlight to the Columbus Zoo with his regular appearances, along with his cadre of animals, on the Late Show with David Letterman. The 588-acre zoo lies along the Scioto River, about 25 mi northwest of Downtown. Sights include a 100,000-gallon coral reef exhibit, one of the largest reptile collections in the United States and the largest manatee exhibit outside Florida. The newest exhibit is Asia Quest, which showcases fascinating Himalayan creatures like Siberian tigers, red pandas, and sun bears.

In 2006 the zoo bought the adjacent Wyandot Lake theme park from Six Flags and is renovating it in time to open for the 2008 season. The updated park will feature a theme park side and a water park side, as well as golf and, eventually, a hotel and indoor water park. The zoo and expanded theme park will share a common entrance, and visitors to both will receive discounted admissions.

German Village, the 233-acre enclave of preserved cottages and town homes six blocks south of the Ohio Statehouse, has its roots in an 1814 addition to Columbus's south side. It developed in the 1840s as Germans fled from wars, famine, and poor living conditions in their home country to this ethnic pocket in Ohio. After barely surviving the wrecking ball in the years after World War II, German Village has been protected as a historic area since the 1960s and listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1975. Its narrow brick streets are lined with charming old homes, gardens, and shops. There's a lively Oktoberfest in September and Shakespeare in Schiller Park in summer.

The park system includes 14 parks, totaling more 23,000 acres throughout seven Central Ohio counties. Facilities vary across the system and include bridle and bike trails, Indian mounds, a botanical park, pioneer cemetery, historic farm depicting a 19th-century homestead, wetlands, and a prairie. Clear Creek is the most remote and primitive.

More than 18 million people have come through COSI's doors since it opened in 1964. Interactive exhibits at this first-class science center allow you to explore underwater shipwrecks, discover hidden treasures, or join an archaeological dig. Find the country's only high-wire unicycle at the outdoor Big Science Park. You'll also be able to time travel in "Progress," leaping from 1889 to 1962 in the blink of an eye.

Beman and Bertie Dawes founded the arboretum in 1929 to demonstrate the value of trees and shrubs. View the 1,700 acres of plants and natural areas on the 4½-mi auto tour or more than 8 mi of hiking trails. Plants tolerant of central Ohio's climate are the mainstay including more than 4,500 unique specimens of conifers, plus azaleas, crab apples, hollies, oaks, witch hazel, and others. The icing on the cake is "Dawes Arboretum" spelled out in the 3-foot-high hedge.

Exhibits, which span from antique dolls to modern collectibles such as GI Joe, bring out the educational, historical, and cultural significance of these toys. The collection, which numbers in the thousands, includes Disney memorabilia, toy trains, and circus items. The museum is about 15 mi southeast of Downtown.

In the middle of a 90-acre urban park about 2 mi east of Downtown, this elegant glass conservatory shelters desert, rain forest, mountain, and tropical island plant habitats. Built in 1895 and styled after London's Crystal Palace, the conservatory is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Outside, hardy bamboo and Japanese maples in the Japanese garden are part of a 28-acre botanical garden. Franklin Park Conservatory is the only public garden to have a permanent glass exhibit by artist Dale Chihuly.

An abolitionist, minister, and composer of numerous songs, Benjamin Russell Hanby is most remembered for his song "Up on the Housetop." About 15 mi north of Downtown in Westerville, the home of Hanby and his family was once a stop on the Underground Railroad. Built in 1846 and on the National Register of Historic Places, the house displays furniture and personal family items, including a walnut desk made by Hanby.

An homage to Columbus's hometown golf hero, the museum documents Nicklaus's career as a golfer, golf course designer, businessman, and family man. In the heart of the Ohio State University sports complex, its vast collection of artifacts and memorabilia include the Golden Bear's six Masters trophies.

The indoor–outdoor concert stage in the Arena District changes from a 2,200-seat indoor venue to a 4,500-capacity amphitheatre. The landscaped man-made bowl allows outdoor performances in the summer.

The giant basket 35 mi east of Columbus is not just a huge sculpture–it's a building. The seven-story structure is actually the headquarters of the Longaberger Basket Company and the brainchild of late company founder and CEO Dave Longaberger. Built in 1997, the building looks like the company's famous market basket, complete with two 75-ton, three-story-tall handles on top. Building tours are available daily, but the office is closed for major holidays and occasional events; call ahead to double-check. A few miles away in nearby Dresden, at 5th and Main streets, Longaberger also made the world's largest basket. Ten maple trees were used for this behemoth. About the size of a house, the basket measures 48 feet long, 11 feet wide, and 23 feet high.

Adjacent to the world headquarters of the American Motorcycle Association, about 20 mi east of Downtown, the museum displays the actual machines that Hall of Fame inductees rode and celebrates the accomplishments of the more than 260 men and women recognized by the Motorcycle Hall of Fame, such as Evel Knievel and the founders of the Harley-Davidson Motor Co.

Exhibits span all periods of military history, up to the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and include all countries in which the United States has been involved. About 10 mi south of Downtown Columbus, the museum serves as the repository for the Ohio Military Hall of Fame. Unique exhibits include a replica of World War I flying ace Captain Eddie Rickenbacker's boyhood home and a M47 tank driven by Arnold Schwarzenegger when he served in the Austrian Army.

The Ohio Designer Craftsmen present five changing exhibitions per year at this museum. Fine crafts shown might include glassware, pottery, metalwork, quilts, or weaving. If you like what you see, you can learn to do it yourself. Lessons, which are open to all ages and levels of experience, tend to center on current exhibitions. Weekend classes in the past taught jewelry making, tie-dye and batik, and pottery. The museum is about 4 mi northwest of Downtown.

This two-building complex, just past the Ohio State Fairgrounds, is a storehouse for the state archives. Collections, presenting the history of the Buckeye State from the Ice Age to 1970, range from Native American fossils to papers written by Ohio political leaders. Permanent exhibits include artifacts on the state's industrial progress such as an operating 1880s carriage shop and vintage automobiles; the chronology of the prehistoric and historic Indian cultures; and the interaction of man and nature in plants, animals, geology, geography, and climate.

The massive presence of Ohio State makes it a city within the city of Columbus. The Oval, the heart of the Columbus campus, is beautifully landscaped with 115 varieties of trees and surrounded by stately buildings including Orton Hall, the Main Library, and University Hall. There are guided tours available weekdays at 10 and 2 for groups of six or more. Call to schedule ([p]614/292–3030), preferably at least a month in advance.

The Ohio Legislature convenes in this 1861 Greek Revival building. The dome of the rotunda is painted with the state seal; the building also has portraits of Ohio's governors and presidents and historical documents. You can take a self-guided tour of the Senate chamber when it's not in session. Building tours are given on the hour weekdays 10–3, weekends noon–3.

Across from the State House, the ornate 2,779-seat theater opened in 1928 to show movies and live stage shows. Saved from demolition in 1969, the theatre now hosts BalletMet, the Broadway in Columbus series, and special performances, including musical artists, dance, comedy, children's entertainment, and classic films.

When opened in 1929, this was a vaudeville house and movie theater designed to resemble Versailles Palace in France. The 2,827-seat Downtown venue had a brush with destruction before it was saved in 1989. Today the theatre accommodates shows for the Broadway in Columbus series and Columbus Association for the Performing Arts (CAPA) concerts.

The Short North arts district on High Street, north of Downtown and south of the expansive Ohio State University campus, is a hip, happening area many liken to New York's SoHo. This lively, trendy neighborhood, full of excellent restaurants, bars, boutiques, and unique shops, has one of the largest collections of art galleries between New York and Chicago. Try to catch the Gallery Hop, held on the first Saturday afternoon and evening of each month; crowds congregate to stroll from gallery to gallery.

The city's first public building with full electricity, the 933-seat Victorian-era theater is the venue for the Columbus Jazz Orchestra, Chamber Music Columbus, and ProMusica Chamber Orchestra.

James Thurber once reflected, "I have lived in the East for nearly thirty years now, but many of my books prove that I am never very far away from Ohio in my thoughts, and that the clocks that strike in my dreams are often the clocks of Columbus." His restored boyhood home contains memorabilia and creations of the Columbus native, author, humorist, cartoonist, and playwright, and Thurber House sponsors a writer-in-residence program based in the house as well. It's at the edge of Downtown, a block east of the Columbus Museum of Art. Guided tours are available on Sundays for $2.50.

Instead of stippled paint, the medium is shrubbery in a one-of-a-kind topiary replica of Georges Seurat's postimpressionist masterpiece, A Sunday on the Island of La Grande Jatte. Fifty-four people, eight boats, three dogs, a monkey, and a cat look to a creek instead of the Seine River. The tallest figure stands 12 feet high.

Once the American Rose Society Headquarters, the 13-acre garden within Whetstone Park has more than 11,000 rose bushes; an herb, daffodil, and perennial garden; plus specialized collections of miniature and heritage roses. It's one of the largest municipal rose gardens in the United States.

A well-traveled Native American trail through hardwood forests, meadows, and ravines is now part of the 650-acre Blendon Woods Metro Park. Just one of the parks in the system, it offers four-season fun with cross-country skiing, disk golf, hiking trails, and a nature center. In the waterfowl refuge, you might see 500 or more black ducks on the 11-acre lake on a winter's day.

Affiliated with the school's department of horticulture, the Chadwick Arboretum and Learning Garden is an outdoor laboratory of local and regional trees and plants including wildflowers, prairie plants, and perennials. The calming labyrinth garden, set in a ring of arborvitae evergreens, is modeled after one at Chartres Cathedral in France.