Day-trip destination: History, festivals await in trips to Zanesville and Logan
Ebenezer Zane probably did not use a washboard on his trailblazing trip through Ohio’s forest primeval. After all, Zane finished hacking out Zane’s Trace in 1797; the first washboard wasn’t patented until 1833.
How Zane fought ring-around-the-collar while chopping trees and founding the city of Zanesville is a question best left to historians and laundry researchers. But this month, the history of Zanesville and the legacy of the simple washboard will be celebrated at separate festivals of their own, each about an hour’s drive from Columbus.
Zane’s Trace Commemoration: 225th Anniversary of Zanesville
In exchange for blazing Zane’s Trace from Wheeling, in what is now West Virginia, to Limestone, near present-day Maysville, Kentucky, Congress granted land to Zane, including the site where the trace crossed the Licking River. Zane established a ferry there, and the town of Zanesville, which would go on to become Ohio’s second capital, began growing soon thereafter.
The city will host the Zane’s Trace Commemoration (www.zanestracecommemoration.com) festival Friday through Sunday to celebrate the trail’s 225th anniversary, or quasquibicentennial (which may or may not be an actual word depending on whom you ask and how picky they are about their Latin).
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The festivities will include live entertainment on two stages, food trucks and trailers, beverages — including the adult variety — a Cruise-In Car Show, a parade, and an “Anything That Floats But a Boat Race” on the Muskingum River.
Visitors also will find several other worthwhile stops in Muskingum County to check out during the festival or any time this summer.
One, which celebrates another historic thoroughfare and another great Zane is The National Road & Zane Grey Museum (www.nationalroadandzanegreymuseum.org), just east of Zanesville near Norwich.
Museum exhibits tell the story of the National Road, begun a decade after Zane’s Trace was completed. The road eventually passed through Zanesville (and Columbus) while connecting Cumberland, Maryland, with Vandalia, Illinois. It later became known as U.S. Route 40.
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Zane Grey, born in Zanesville in 1878, was a descendent of Ebenezer Zane and became one of the most popular American novelists in the early 20th century, writing numerous bestselling Western novels. Visitors will see a recreation of his study, and memorabilia including original manuscripts and posters of movies adapted from his books.
The museum also includes a large display of art pottery, ceramics and tile produced in the area.
For more information about things to see and do and places to stay in the Zanesville area, visit www.visitzanesville.com.
The Logan Washboard Arts & Music Festival
Logan, in Hocking County, is the home of the Columbus Washboard Company (www.columbuswashboard.com), the last remaining washboard factory in the country.
The town’s annual Washboard Festival (www.washboardfest.org), June 16-18, pays homage to the humble washboard — not so much for its utility in removing stains, but for its ability to make toes tap, fingers snap and people dance and holler.
Many of the musical groups and individuals performing during the festival will utilize the washboard as their rhythm instrument of choice — a traditional role in Appalachian, folk, old-timey and Cajun music especially. (Plenty of non-washboard acts will also play, just so you know.)
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The weekend also includes a parade, tractor show, festival food and crafts demonstrations.
The Columbus Washboard Company just finished a move from its old factory on the edge of town to new headquarters at 4 E. Main St. in the heart of downtown Logan. During the festival, the new site will open for tours for the first time.
After checking out historic Logan, visitors can also explore the many diverse attractions and activities in the picturesque Hocking Hills region.
Some of the most scenic trails in Ohio await nature lovers at Hocking Hills State Park, Conkle’s Hollow State Nature Preserve, Wakeena Nature Preserve and Clear Creek Metro Park among other sites.
For more information about all the region’s attractions, visit www.explorehockinghills.com.
Steve Stephens is a freelance travel writer and photographer. Email him at sjstephensjr@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Zanesville and Logan histories to be celebrated at separate festivals
