Ohio tourist information
|
"OH-IO!"
The Ohio State Buckeyes are known for their competitive college football team, but most Ohioans don't even know why their state is nicknamed after a poisonous fruit! Ohio is commonly referred to as the "Buckeye State" due to the abundance of Buckeye trees in Ohio. The trees grow a nut, which is poisonous to humans and most animals. Native Americans in Ohio called the nut "Hetuck", or "buck's eye" because of its brown circular shape with a small white oval, which resembled a buck's eye.
The name "Buckeye State" came into prominence during the Log-Cabin and Hard-Cider presidential campaign of 1840 when furniture, cabins, and cider kegs were made from buckeye wood in honor of William Henry Harrison, who was the first Ohioan to become President. In the election versus Martin Van Buren the Whig campaign song contained a reference to the buckeye. A far less poisonous and tasty candy is made to resemble to the buckeye, composed of a peanut butter center partially covered in chocolate. The resemblance is striking, and the candies are delicious.
|
Ohio is the 35th largest state by size, but 7th by population (11,459,011 residents in 2004 according to the US Census Bureau). Ohio's nickname is "The Heart of It All", purportedly because of its shape (kind of like a heart), its central location to the densely populated areas of the US, its mosaic of big commercial cities, small towns, industry and farmland, and its critical role in "America's Heartland" (which can refer to the Midwest agricultural sector and the Great Lakes industrial base).
Ohio has always played and continues to play a critical role in the development of the United States history and government. One of Ohio's contributions to history was the Underground Railroad network which helped escaped slaves move to the free northern states and Canada. Many Ohioans, most notably Harriet Elizabeth Beecher Stowe and John Brown campaigned against slavery.
Ohio has also been home to eight American Presidents, giving it the nickname Mother of US Presidents. American Presidents from Ohio were Ulysses Grant (18th, born in Point Pleasant), Rutherford Hayes (19th, Delaware), James Garfield (20th, Orange), Benjamin Harrison (23rd, North Bend), William McKinley (25th, Niles), William Taft (27th, Cincinnati), and Warren Harding (29th, Corsica/Blooming Grove). William Henry Harrison (9th), born in Virginia but settled (and buried) in North Bend.
Ohio is considered one of the most important states in Presidential elections due to its 20 electoral votes and is often one of the few states that can go to either party. Unlike California, Illinois, New York that lean Democratic and Texas which almost always votes Republican, Ohio's voting tendencies changes from election to election.
The Wright Brothers, Orville and Wilbur, inventors of the airplane, were from Dayton in Ohio, giving the state one reason to call itself the Birthplace of Aviation (though the brothers actually flew the airplane first in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Dayton was their home and the place were they conducted their research, development, and fabrication activities, as well as test-flights of various glider prototypes). Ohio, however, has additional claims to the nickname. Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk the moon was an Ohioan, as was former U.S. Senator and astronaut John Glenn, who was the first American to complete an orbit of the Earth from outer space. Ohio has also been home to 23 other astronauts, the Wright Patterson Air Force Base, the NASA John H. Glenn Research Center, and National Museum of the United States Air Force.
Inventor Thomas A. Edison was born in Milan, Ohio. His birthplace and home have been preserved.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Ohio
