Ohio Open Doors Ends Today With Final Free Historic Tours Across Central Ohio
Sept. 20 is the last day of the Ohio History Connection series, with remaining stops in Radnor, Pataskala, Marysville, and Lancaster.
Today is the last chance to walk through rooms that usually stay locked. Ohio Open Doors, the free historic-building series run by Ohio History Connection, wraps Sunday, September 20, after a September 10 start that unlocked 42 central Ohio stops.
Every host site keeps the events free. Earlier in the window, Columbus and Franklin County opened places such as the Eddie Rickenbacker Boyhood Home, Main Library archives, the Supreme Court of Ohio, the National Veterans Memorial and Museum, and weekday Tour du Jour specialty tours at the Ohio Statehouse.
Details in this story draw from Columbus Navigator's remaining-tour roundup and Ohio History Connection's Ohio Open Doors program materials.
What is still open on Sept. 20
Four central Ohio windows remain on the final afternoon:
- Radnor Township Hall in Radnor, 1:30 to 4 p.m. (1891 hall on the National Register, self-guided Clio tour)
- Mead-Needham House at 300 S. Main St. in Pataskala, 1 to 3 p.m. (open house tied to Pataskala's 175th anniversary)
- Union County Historical Society Museum at 246 W. Sixth St. in Marysville, 1 to 4 p.m. (rarely shown pieces including an Erb surrey and Noah Orr memorabilia)
- Rock Mill at 1429 Rockmill Pl. NW in Lancaster, 1 to 4 p.m. (1824 water-powered grist mill, covered bridge, and gorge on the Hocking River)
Confirm hours before you drive. A few Open Doors listings earlier in the week disagreed on secondary details, so call or check the official map if a stop is your only errand.
What comes after today
Ohio Open Doors returns in 2028. Ohio History Connection has said dates for the next cycle should firm up by spring 2027. Until then, the Statehouse and other year-round civic museums remain the everyday version of the same idea: walk into rooms that tell Ohio's story without a ticketed festival.
Build a culture day with Things to Do: Food & Drink for a meal after the tour, or stack a festival weekend using Best Festivals & Fairs. Visitors mapping a first Columbus history walk can start with weekend in Columbus for visitors. Fall day-trips that leave the I-270 loop sit in fall weekends near Columbus.
September 20 is the last Open Doors afternoon until 2028. Pick Radnor, Pataskala, Marysville, or Rock Mill, and go while the doors are still unlocked.
