Chillicothe Does Have Much to Do

Chillicothe is a small city with a population of about 22,000 located in the unglaciated southeastern portion of Ohio, with its high hills and deep valleys. Mt. Logan, which appears on the great seal of the state of Ohio, is just east of the city. Most of the city of Chillicothe is built on the flat terrain of the Scioto River valley, which is typically about two miles wide. The city's major claim to fame is that it was the first capital of the state of Ohio.

There are several activities in the area that would be of interest to a traveller, especially during the summer months. One such activity is the outdoor drama Tecumseh! which is performed Monday through Saturday from mid-June through August in an 1800 seat amphitheatre a short distance northeast of the city. The plot of the show concerns the activities of the Shawnee chieftain Tecumseh in the late 18th century. I have never seen this show myself, but I have been told that it is an excellent production, and it is now in its 30th year.

There is also a minor league baseball team in town, the Chillicothe Paints. While it is only a Class A team, you may very well find that you enjoy the baseball more in a smaller ballpark, and the players are probably trying harder than the major league players.

There are 8 state parks within 25 miles of Chillicothe, with camping, boating, hiking, and fishing available. There are also three state memorials consisting of the home of the first governor of Ohio, the site of a speech in 1774 by Chief Logan of the Mingo tribe, and a burial mound. And there is a National Historic Park located only a few miles outside the city.

Quick Tips:

You will find that most of the sites covered by my journal are located south of Chillicothe. I grew up about 30 miles southwest of Chillicothe, so I am most familiar with the sites south of the city. While I now live 300 miles away, I do often return to the area to visit relatives and attend funerals and reunions, so my information is relatively up-to-date.

Best Way To Get Around:

There is very little in the way of public transportation in Chillicothe. You can get there by bus or by auto, but once there you definitely need an auto to get around, especially since most sites of interest are actually located outside the city.

This is that good old American standard, a drive-in restaurant, such as was common in the 1950s. You drive your auto into a covered spot, read from the menu, which is a lighted sign mounted next to the parking spots, and place your order using the intercom that is a part of the menu. Soon your order is delivered on a tray designed to hang from your partially closed driver's side window. When you are finished with your meal, you signal the carhops and they remove the tray, and you back your auto out of the space.

This drive-in has an additional feature: it also has a dining room (booths only) that has a telephone in every booth. You enter the dining room, make your selection from the menus in each booth, pick up the phone, and place your order. Your food and drink are soon delivered by a waitress.

The menu includes the expected foods for a drive-in: hot dogs (including foot-long), hamburgers, cheeseburgers, hot dog platters, burger platters, fish baskets, chicken baskets, etc along with the usual selection of floats and milk shakes. The house specialty is of course the Sumburger, "a jumbo all beef patty served up on a hot bun with melted cheese, lettuce, and our own special sauce."

Typical prices during the summer of 2003 are: all baskets (chicken or seafood with french fries) $5.99, all dinners (chicken or seafood with french fries, salad, roll, and butter) $7.99, Sumburger $2.59, Sumburger Platter (sandwich with french fries and cole slaw) $4.75, hot dog $1.35, foot-long hot dog $1.95, and milk shake $2.75.

Diner 23 is a traditional diner with American style cooking in a small town. Have a burger and fries and listen to rock and roll on the jukebox, or have a traditional diner meal such as an open-faced meat loaf sandwich with mashed potatoes and plenty of gravy. Breakfast is served all day long and they also have hand-dipped ice cream. The portions I received were generous and tasted good, and the prices were very reasonable.

Sample selections from the sandwich menu in 2003 include:
sandwiches include french fries or chips and a pickle spear 1/4 Pound All-Beef Burger $ 2.99 Diner 23 Reuben $ 4.99 Grilled Chicken Breast $ 4.99 Sample selections from the dinner menu in 2003 include:
dinners served with roll, salad, and potato or vegetable T-Bone Steak (12 oz) $10.99 Home-Style Meatloaf $ 5.99 Haddock $ 6.99 Spaghetti (with roll & salad only) $ 5.99 There is also an extensive breakfast menu and a lengthy children's menu. They also have daily meal specials, sometimes of items not on the menu. For example, when I last visited, I had the special, a beef with noodles dinner that was excellent.

The Diner 23 is located at 300 West Emmitt Avenue (US route 23) in Waverly, Ohio, 15 miles south of Chillicothe. It is open Monday through Saturday 7am to 9pm and is closed on Sunday.

The Emmitt House Restaurant is a good restaurant with a reasonably large selection of entrees on the menu at not unreasonable prices. The portions are generous and the food is well prepared. I have eaten both lunch and dinner there, and have never been disappointed with my meal.

Sample selections from the sandwich menu in 2003 include:
sandwiches include french fries Emmitt Burger $ 5.25 Reuben Grill $ 5.25 Broiled Chicken Breast $ 5.95 Sample selections from the dinner menu in 2003 include:
served with salad and potato or vegetable Filet Mignon (8 oz) $20.95 New York Strip Steak (12 oz) $19.95 Grilled Pork Chops $12.95 Haddock $12.95 Spaghetti with Meat Sauce $ 8.95

The Emmitt House Restaurant is located on the corner of Emmitt Avenue (US route 23) and Market Street (state route 220) in downtown Waverly, Ohio, 15 miles south of Chillicothe. The restaurant's parking lot is located on the opposite corner of the intersection.

Their hours are 11am to 9:30pm Monday through Thursday, 11am to 9pm Friday and Saturday, and they are closed on Sunday.

It is ironic that none of this monument is what it appears to be - it is all a reconstruction based on a survey by amateur archeologists during the early 1800's.

The Hopewell Culture National Historical Park near Chillicothe, Ohio, contains the Mound City Group, a 13-acre field containing 23 mounds surrounded by a rectangular earthen embankment. However, everything there is a reconstruction, since most of the original mounds constructed by the Hopewell Indian culture had been leveled by plowing by farmers during the 1800's. Those that had survived the plowing were leveled by the U.S. Army.

For some reason, this area has been very popular with the military. The Mound City area was used as Camp Bull from 1812 to 1814 during the War or 1812, and as Camp Logan from 1861 to 1865 during the Civil War. Camp Bull and Camp Logan were training and drill areas with no permanent structures, so no major damage was done to the mounds.

In 1917, Camp Sherman, a World War I training and detention facility, was built at Mound City. At least twelve mounds were completely leveled, and all the others were severely damaged in some way. Luckily, the mounds had been surveyed in the 1840's by a newspaper editor and a physician, and the floors of most of the mounds were left intact. An archeologist with the Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society had convinced the army to construct their buildings on pylons instead of digging foundations into the ground, thereby saving the Hopewellian archeological deposits located beneath the mounds. By 1923 the site had been declared the Mound City Group National Monument, and the recreation of the mounds was begun.

The Mound City Group Visitor Center is located just outside Chillicathe, Ohio, on state route 104 two miles north of the intersection of route 104 and US 35. This is the visitor center for Hopewell Culture National Historical Park.

The visitor center is open daily 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. with extended hours to 6:00 p.m. from Memorial Day through Labor Day. The visitor center is closed Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and January 1.

The park entrance fee is $3.00 per person over the age of 17, with a maximum charge of $5.00 per private vehicle. The entrance fees are waived December-February.

The visitor center contains an information desk from which one can obtain a map/guide of the park, restrooms, a museum, an auditorium featuring the park’s 17-minute video "Legacy of the Moundbuilders", and a educational bookstore maintained by Eastern National Monument and Parks Association.

A stone monument was erected in 1842 to commemorate William Hewitt, a hermit who lived for 14 years in a cave just south of the crest of what is now known as Divide Hill, located nine miles south of Chillicothe on US 23. Hewitt died in 1834 at the age of 70, but only after becoming a local legend.

The Columbus and Portsmouth turnpike (now U.S. Route 23) was built past the mouth of Hewitt's cave in 1840, and in 1842 the turnpike company erected the monument on the shelving rock forming the roof of the cave. When the cave was destroyed by highway development, the monument was relocated to the intersection of US 23 and state route 372. It has since been again relocated to a spot beside the log church at the Scioto Trail State Park campground at Caldwell Lake.

The cave was located approximately 1,000 feet (300 meters) south of the intersection of US 23 and state route 372 in the space now used by the northbound lanes of US 23. It was destroyed in the early 1950's when the highway width was increased to four lanes.