Hale Farm And Village

Looking for some fun things to do near home with our grands and having a great couple of days of wonderful weather, we decided to spend a day at nearby Hale Farm and Village in Bath, Ohio.

We thought we might take the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railway there but in addition to not being able to make it to the train early enough, the grands ride trains in Japan all the time so they weren't enamored with the idea of a train ride.

I checked out the prices online ahead of time and found out that adults were $10 and kids were $5. We'd been to Hale a few years ago but it was for a lantern tour at night during the Christmas season. I wondered what would be offered for such a price. Was I ever pleasantly surprised!

While the historical buildings were not as interesting to the kids they did explore them with an eye to some of the unique period items, especially the toy replicas they were allowed to pick up and use. They were however fascinated with the pottery shed, blacksmith shop, spinning area, broom maker and the candle maker.

Each of the people involved with the crafts gave a great explanation of how things would have been done back in the early days of the 1800's. Our youngest, the five year old, was intrigued by the pottery wheel demonstration and the oldest, eleven, loved the candle making.

All of them were entranced by the blacksmith and left with a "pocketful" of jokes and funny sayings. The only thing that disappointed me was that we got to the glassblower too late to watch the demonstration and we needed to leave before she was back again from lunch.

There is lots of room to roam between a pioneer era section and the 1800s village across the road. We arrived at the village in time to sit in on the school master's talk. The kids enjoyed that more than I thought they would.

Then we were dismissed to make it over to the commons where a gentleman recruited the youngsters for training in marching Civil War style. Amazingly he got the kids to perform quite well even with a couple of fancy drills and a charge down the hill. I think he must have been a retired school teacher.

The general store offered all sorts of candies and some soft drinks and grandpa shelled out a few coins for some sweet treats. Of course that was all after a delicious lunch at the cafe in the Gatehouse Visitor Center.

We stopped a few minutes to look at the vegetable garden in the pioneer area and were surprised to get quite an explanation of how crops were grown back in the day from the gal who was weeding it out.


I am still amazed at how much we got for our admission fee. It was a Williamsburg-type experience and a price that was affordable. Great day!