CINCINNATI – History lurks inside the walls of the city’s buildings, is buried beneath the ground we walk on, flows through the rivers and creeks and is inside each of us. Cincinnati Museum Center (CMC) Heritage Programs are ready to tell those stories and more. Building, bus and walking tours are on sale now.
Did you know a Middletown company has continuously been making stained glass longer than any other in the country? Ever wonder how 450 million gallons of storm water and sewage are processed every day? Did you know that a uranium processing facility has been reborn as a protected wetland and prairie area? Find the answers to these questions and more during one of the Heritage Program tours.
Walk the banks of a stream that once enticed settlers, farmers and industrialists to stake their claim along the Mill Creek. Over the centuries it has been a dump and sewer for mills, slaughterhouses and breweries but today is being returned to its use as a natural resource.
Tour incredible 19th and early 20th century churches and cathedrals across the city and marvel at the towering architecture. You’ll even explore the underground crypt containing the remains of some of the city’s earliest Irish Catholics at St. Francis Seraph Church in Over-the-Rhine.
Learn about the legacy of Maria Longworth Storer, founder of Rookwood Pottery , by visiting the St. Ursula Convent’s archives. You’ll also visit the Rookwood Pottery Factory in Over-the-Rhine to watch pottery artisans creating new works for today’s market. Also included is a visit to the Cincinnati Wing of the Cincinnati Art Museum led by Anita Ellis, former curator of decorative arts and author of several books on Rookwood Pottery.
Discover Greater Cincinnati’s rich American Indian history as you explore the Newtown American Indian Education Center and walk the Hahn Site, CMC’s active archaeological dig site and a location that has been uncovering prehistoric items since 1885. Hear the story of the Mariemont Embankment, a Fort Ancient culture effigy mound along the Miami Bluff, and visit the graves of Columbia’s founders at Pioneer Cemetery.
Visit Clermont County for a private tour of the Tri-State Warbird Museum. See firsthand how aircraft from the “greatest generation” are being restored to flying condition and hear accounts of heroism in the skies over Europe and the Pacific. Weather permitting, watch in awe as a warbird takes flight and thunders across the sky.
Travel up the road to Middletown to tour BeauVerre Riordan Studios, the oldest continuously operating stained glass studio in the United States. Since 1832, BeauVerre Riordan Studios have produced dazzling pieces of stained glass, including those in the Memorial Mausoleum at Spring Grove Cemetery and the blue Tiffany windows at the Calvary Episcopal Church on Clifton Avenue. And meet the Cincinnati Art Museum’s curator of decorate arts, Amy Dehan, for an interpretation of the resplendent Mitchell Tiffany windows.
You can even put on a hard hat and get a look behind the scenes of the restoration of Union Terminal. Along with CMC Heritage Programs, Turner Construction and GBBN Architects will discuss how engineering, science and history are coming together to say a National Historic Landmark.
Whatever your interest, there’s a tour for you. But hurry, tours fill up fast. To register for a tour, please call (513) 287-7031. For more information visit cincymuseum.org/heritage/tours.
You can also take a walking tour through some of Cincinnati’s most iconic neighborhoods and areas. Each 2-hour tour covers approximately 2 to 2 ½ miles and over 200 years of history. Learn about the area’s history, prominent residents throughout history, architecture, preservation and revitalization. Walking tours are available from April through November. Visit cincymuseum.org/heritage/walking-tours for more information. Call (513) 287-7031 to register.
