Recently I had an opportunity to spend two days driving across the Buckeye State of Ohio on US 40, "Our National Road". So in this entry I am going to blog about Dublin, Ohio as our "Namesake" city and share some highlights and photos of some of the things to see along Our National Road.

Dublin, Ohio from the book "For Namesake, A Travel Book - Places in America Inspired by Famous World Cities _[1]

Dublin, Ohio (40.099229, -83.114077) http://aMAP.to/dublin-ohio

Dublin, Ohio is a city of 41,751 located in Franklin County along Ohio Route 745. The city is a suburb of and lies 15 miles northwest of the Capital city of Columbus. Parts of Dublin lie in Delaware and Union counties. Interstate 270, “The Jack Nicklaus Freeway”, and US Highway 33 pass through Dublin, as does the Scioto River.

The first settlers arrived in the Dublin area as early as 1802 and it was plated as a village in 1810. It was named after Dublin, Ireland, the birthplace of one of its developers. Dublin remained small until recent times and had a population of only 681 in 1970. Since then it has blossomed due to the construction of I 270, corporations who moved there headquarters there such as Wendy’s International and the growth of Muirfield Village golf club. _[2] Muirfield Village was founded by Jack Nicklaus and has hosted the annual Memorial Golf Tournament since 1976. It was named after the famous Muirfield golf course located in Gullane, Scotland on the Firth of Forth. Dublin officially became a city in Ohio in 1987 when it reached a population of 5,000.

There are no less than six four-year colleges and universities in the Columbus area. These include Ohio State University, Franklin University, Ohio Dominican University, Pontifico College Josephinum, and Capitol University in Columbus; and Otterbein College in Westerville. Ohio State University with 59,000 students is the largest University in Ohio. Founded in 1870, it has a large campus (1755 Acres) four miles north of downtown Columbus and 6 satellite campus located throughout out the state. Ohio Wesleyan University lies north of Dublin in the city of Delaware, Ohio.

There are lots of attractions to see in the Dublin and Columbus area. In Dublin itself you can tour the Fletcher Coffman Homestead, an 1860’s era home and see the rather quirky Chief Leather Lips Monument, a smaller sculpture similar to South Dakota’s Crazy Horse (see pictures below). Every August, Dublin holds an annual Irish Festival. Theatrical productions are offered at Abbey Theater, a part of the full service Dublin Community Recreation Center. In Powell, just north of Dublin, you may visit the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium or cool off at the Zoombezi water park. Delaware, 15 miles north, has Perkins Observatory, the Nash House Museum, Olentangy Indian Caverns and the birthplace of President Rutherford B. Hayes. Columbus offers the Columbus Museum of Art, Jack Nicklaus Museum, Ohio Historical Museum, Columbus Topiary Garden, Columbus Center of Science and Industry, James Thurber House, the Statehouse, the Ohio Capitol Building and the Santa Maria. The later is a full size replica of one of the ships that Columbus sailed to America in 1492. Theatrical productions are available at Wexner Center for the Arts on the campus of Ohio State University. For information on these and other attractions in the area see the Discover Ohio web site _[3]

For outdoor recreation Dublin has 46 developed parks and some 72 miles of bicycle trails. There are also numerous parks in Columbus. Boating is available at Alum Creek Lake, O’Shaughnessy Reservoir and Hoover Reservoir. There are two nearby Ohio State Parks; Alum Creek on Alum Creek Lake and Delaware, near the city of Delaware.

Notable residents from Dublin include Nick Goings, NFL football running back; Brady Quinn, NFL football quarterback; Chris Quinn, NBA basketball player; and Jay Richardson, NFL football defensive end. Jack Nicklaus and James Thurber were born in Columbus, grew up there and attended Ohio State University. Another famous person from Columbus was world war one flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker.

Images of the Chief Leather Lips Monument in Scioto Park in Dublin (yours truly at the top)

US 40, "Our National Road" Across Ohio

In driving US 40 we utilized the great Travel Guide "The Historic National Road in Ohio" available at the Ohio National Road Association http://www.ohionationalroad.org

There is much to see along Our National Road in Ohio and two days is not enough time to see it all. The following are photos that I took of just a few of the many things to see. My reason for posting these is to encourage you to travel and enjoy Our National Road. It truly is a fun and interesting drive.

Spanish Revival Service Station in Bridgeport

Restord Mile Marker and Brick Section at St. Clairsville

Old Road Section near Hendrysburg

Peters Creek 1828 S-Bridge

Fox Run S-Bridge Park

Eagles Nest Monument near Brownsville

Springfield, Ohio has one of the 12 Madonna of the Trail Monuments. It is in downtown Springfield right alongside US 40. For a list of all 12 locations you may go to the following web site: http://www.dar.org/natsociety/content.cfm?ID=324&FO=Y&hd=n

If you like airplanes you can see literally hundreds of them preserved at the United States Air Force Museum at Wright Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio. They range all the way back to World War One up to the present. This is a must see museum. Here are just a few images. The last one is me crashing the Space Shuttle in the simulator they have there.

That's all for this entry. If you enjoy these posts or even if you don't please comment.

The starting picture is at the City Hall in Dublin.

Notes:

1. http://www.amzn.com/B00CBM6JFK or http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/2940016722009

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dublin,_Ohio

3. http://consumer.discoverohio.com