We arrived on Wed 5/19/21 during regular business hours and no one was…read more there to help us. We struggled to finally find a parking space around the block.We also tried calling the phone number listed on the board at the entrance to no avail ,window shades were drawn. If they were possibly closed due to Covid there was no indication of notice. It was a great disappointment ,especially with the hassel of finally parking. Hopefully not to many people have to go thru what we did!!

The Betts House is a small museum tucked away in the West End, just off of Central Avenue. Clark…read moreStreet looks like it is miles away from Downtown Cincinnati, with its Italianate houses and gigantic canopy of oak trees. This part of town looks like it's straight out of a New England movie, with historic houses to boot. The Betts House is the oldest house in Cincinnati and Ohio, erected in 1804, just one year after Ohio became a state. The Betts family originally owned several blocks of land on the West End, but as generations passed, Cincinnati expanded and plots of land were split. Surprisingly, when the Betts lived here, the West End was considered rural. Just two stories tall and consisting of eight rooms, the house chronicles the history of the Betts family and the evolution of the West End in the permanent upstairs exhibit. Downstairs features a rotating exhibit, currently which is about the New Madrid Earthquake in 1811. The earthquake was felt here in Cincinnati and caused extensive damage to the Betts' kitchen. Sounds pretty cool, so why only three stars? During my visit, a mother brought her toddler to visit one of the docents. Their conversation could be heard loudly throughout the house, even when I was on the second floor and they were downstairs. The toddler was screaming and crawling all over the place. The docent didn't seem to mind that she was getting weird looks from myself and a few of the other guests. That being said, please do not bring children to the Betts House. It's a museum for adults or mature youth. Most of the exhibit features text and diagrams which are much too complex for anyone under age 10. Also, since there is a lot of reading, excessive noise and talking disturbs other patrons. Lastly, when I went upstairs to view the Betts Family exhibit, the room featured a few posterboards propped up on the floor. They weren't on stands or affixed to the wall like a normal museum. I actually had to kneel to read the end of the paragraphs. As a historical landmark, the Betts House is worth a look. The presentation at the museum, on the other hand, I could go either way. Cost per person: $2.00 Viewing Time: 1 hour Tips: - Ample, free street parking - Not handicapped accessible, as it is preserved as a historic house. - Check out the neighboring house with a placard, where the Gamble Family once resided.

had a great tour today with anthony. he really knew all about the city and other things. thanks…read morefor the day.

There's no way a two-hour tour can cover a city's complete history. However, our driver, Anthony,…read moredid an excellent job of hitting the highlights. He is well informed and answered all of our questions. He seems to really enjoy his job! Videos shown on the trip were a nice addition.

The tour gives a fascinating look at the history of the OTR neighborhood. We moved away from…read moreCincinnati in 2022 before the OTR revitalization effort started. Never would I have guess we would be going on such an interesting tour and having a wonderful meal after the tour in this area. So good to see this progress. Our tour guide was Laura and while she gave useful historical facts she definitely left us with less than a hospitable feeling and that it was a bit of a drag to be giving the same tour over and over. Maybe this is the norm or maybe she was having an off day but if you are busking for tips at the tour it is a good idea to pretend to enjoy your job. Still glad we did the tour and it left us wanting for even more information on the OTR area.

We took the Ultimate Underground Queen City tour, with Linda on the day the Keys went missing. We…read morehad a lovely walk, listening to the history of the bars and breweries of the Queen's City. I adore hearing the old stories about the cities I visit and this one, is one of the better tours I've been on. Linda clearly LOVES leading the tours, She knows what she's talking about and no question threw her. She had a great sense of humor and even let us know about other tours for later in the evening. I will take the other tours that you have in the future when I visit for longer times. These are great!

Did you know Cincinnati is home to the World's Largest Unfinished Subway System?…read more In 1916, Cincinnatians had a dream: to relieve traffic congestion and improve health concerns by creating a rapid transit system underneath present day Central Parkway. Originally part of the Miami-Erie Canal, the unused waterway was drained, dug out by horse-and-plow, then filled in with concrete. The plan was to create a 16-mile loop of mass transit around the city, stretching from Race Street at Central Parkway, to Clifton, Norwood, Oakley, then back Downtown. The project progressed for ten years then came to a halt after a change in political leaders and financial troubles. The completed portion included six stations along a route spanning from Downtown to Norwood. In 1928, the Cincinnati Subway project was officially abandoned. Over the years, people tried to revive the subway system as well as proposing other uses for it, such as: a wine cellar, a mushroom farm, an aeronautic wind tunnel, and an entertainment venue similar to Underground Atlanta. The Cincinnati Subway is still in tact today. Two miles of tunnels are located underneath Central Parkway between Race Street to just north of the Western Hills Viaduct. Three of the stations remain; the other three were demolished in the 1950s to make way for I-75. While the concrete structure is complete, no rails, electricity, or trains were ever installed. The structure itself is in good condition, especially for being almost 100 years old. While it is off-limits to the public, Cincinnati Museum Center gives an annual tour of the subway in May; an excellent opportunity to go exploring in our city's deepest secret. The tunnels have the potential to be used for modern-day rail transit, with a few improvements, of course.

Beautiful views of the river and the city. It was clean and close to everything. No matter what…read moretime of the day it is amazing.

What a beautiful area…read more There's a gorgeous walk about the area, not far from the bridge, and a greenspace with a little lending library and a collection of bronze statues that over look the Ohio River.

One of my favorite experiences in Cincinnati!! As someone who's always been obsessed with signage…read moreand neon, it was a dream come true for me to visit. Someday I'd love to go to the museum in Vegas and compare. I really wanted to take neon classes here, but didn't get the chance to - neon classes are generally super rare from what I can tell. If you have interest at all, you should take classes!! The love, care and knowledge put into this museum is really obvious. I just wish it was larger and had even more signs :) Loved the "city" concept as a display. I'll think of the sign museum fondly when I remember Cincinnati!

Great experience at the sign museum on our first ever trip to Cincinnati. We had spent way longer…read morethan expected browsing at Jungle Jim's and hurried our way over to the sign museum with an hour to spare. The employee let us know they closed in an hour, but we should still have enough time (an hour was the perfect amount of time for us to read and look at all the signs). It's priced reasonably enough that I would pay to go back and see it again if I wanted. Tons of signage (haha) to read about the signs. A couple of them had QR codes you could scan to read more about. The history of the sign industry was really cool to learn about, and seeing them lit up and in action was even better. I loved the way the museum was styled and designed, making it look like you're walking down a bustling street complete with storefronts, street lamps, and even a couple fire hydrants. If you're a fan of vintage artifacts and big flashing signs, then this is the place to visit!

This place will forever be in my memories from my childhood. Every Easter my family and I would go…read moreto church have Easter lunch then all pack up and come up to the Garden. It's such a beautiful place I just hope it doesn't get demolished or torn down. It's a landmark I think.

This was a really cool site to see while traveling in the area. The main attraction is a replica of…read morethe tomb Jesus was buried in with stones from the Jordan river and Solomon. It's hidden away behind an apartment building up a steep hidden road. Overall, if you are nearby stop by for a little religious history

Formerly Haunted Cincinnati Tours - They fit us in as I waited until the last minute to book. My…read moremom was hesitant to do a ghost tours. She is not a big fan of being scared. I pinky promised this was not that. And it didn't disappoint! Our guide was great and was very knowledgeable on the history and hauntings of the city. It was a great walking tour of the city filled with haunting tales of times passed. At the end we even got to try out EMF Readers - I would have rather had another story or two, but it was a neat experience. Definitely check it out if you are in the area.