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    Main floor, only place you can take photos
    Sandra J.

    Fun tour, got to see the whole house and it was a great experience. Did not spend the night. But I would like to in the future!

    The castle
    Tiffany S.

    Last night, on Groundhog Day, we toured the Franklin Castle located at 4308 Franklin Boulevard in Cleveland, OH. As a preface to my review of the tour, I want to state that being born on Friday the 13th and having worked in a funeral home, I do not feel fearful of the dead, nor do I believe in superstitions. I do believe in spirits, both good and evil, and probably a mix of both, zooming around us. But I am not one of the people that you'd consider a 'ghost chaser'. I scare easily (just ask my husband and kids!) and am afraid of the dark. But I do love visiting cemeteries and learning about haunted places. All of that being said, I was born and raised on the West side of Cleveland, and have been aware of the Franklin Castle for as long as I can remember. As a kid, we would drive by this 4-story stone mansion often. As a new driver, I recall going with some friends to scope it out. At that time, you could not go inside, but we sat out front in my parent's minivan and watched the windows to see if there was any movement inside; we'd all heard that it was haunted. Haunted by who, we weren't sure. It was the late 1980s, and back then we weren't Googling things yet. Stories were passed by word of mouth mostly, on the news, or in our local paper 'The Cleveland Plain Dealer'. We'd heard about infants and small children who died in the house, bones being found there. Nobody knew for sure who was haunting it, though stories floated around. Alas, we saw no signs of life, or afterlife, on any occasion. Fast forward to the present time, February 2023. Since you can Google things today, I'll leave that to you because there are loads of details to learn about the history of this beautiful, yet ominous-looking place online. As for what we learned in person last night: I don't want to spoil it by sharing too much. I'll simply note that our delightful tour guide Jens (pronounced 'yens') warmly welcomed us through the iron gate around 5:45pm, and we did not conclude the tour until after 8:00pm. For over two hours, he led our group from dark room to even darker room, up and down through all four floors (basement to attic), while talking about the past residents, mixing oxblood paint, hidden panels, walking us onto and off of stone balconies, allowing us to take a photo by the black mirror, sharing details of one raging fire, some underground tunnels, and showing us a glorious ballroom. There were areas we could take photos, and areas where pictures were off-limits. Like I wrote, I don't want to spoil it by sharing too much. If you are curious, definitely go and experience it for yourself. It is well worth the money spent. In addition to the paid tour, they offer overnight stays. I plan to go back again, maybe next year on Groundhog Day to see the progress of the continued restorations and learn more about the paranormal monitoring that has been taking place. There won't ever be any overnight stays for this gal though! I don't have the constitution for that. While I did not see any poltergeists, I do believe the place is haunted. My spine was tingling throughout the entire experience. Thanks to Jens for the warm welcome to his castle. It far exceeded my expectations! PS: I bought tickets at https://thefranklincastle.com/

    Super awesome castle!
    Rachel Macie H.

    Dark and spooky is what's always good anytime a year but even more so during October as that's when you can just feel the Erie vibes that much more! Coming here it would have been cool to go inside but someone currently lives here so they are the ones enjoying it's mysterious beautiful vibes of which only one could imagine! Next door to the house is a park that you can get some great views of the house as well as a kinda spooky vibe as this park just has that interesting feel to it! Overall this castle was super cool to look at and to just see the vibe that it has was really awesome I do hope to get to venture inside at one point because that would be insanely awesome as I'm always looking for dark and scary places to find spirits that will manifest for you!

    View from park side

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    24 days ago

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    7 months ago

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    3 years ago

    Very informative tour. Learned so much. Jens was amazing. Can't wait until the upgrades.

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    Take A Hike Cleveland

    Take A Hike Cleveland

    4.6
    (8 reviews)
    1.9 mi

    It's difficult to rate this, since it's a free tour. But it did not meet my expectations at all…read more My family and I went on a Statue tour downtown on a Sunday morning. There was an older male who was our tour guide. Now, I've been on several other city tours before, both in Cleveland and other cities, so I've seen a wide range. This tour wasn't my favorite, and I wouldn't recommend it. Our tour guide was pretty arrogant. Instead of trying to impress us with the history of our city, he tried to prove he was superior by all the things he's done. Okay? Like idc, pal ! He wasn't open to any questions, requests, or feedback of any kind. It was his tour and he did things his way, and that was THAT! No engagement whatsoever. The "facts" were really just one generic sentence written from a page. (Other tour companies provide stories about what we're seeing, you know, like history!) At the end of our tour though, there was a man who played Tom Johnson who was PHENOMENAL though. He should be the one giving all the tours !!!!

    Patty was a very good guide. We had a group outing for one of the December tours about the historic…read morehotels of downtown CLE. It was a seasonal holiday tour and the city was sparkling. They provided us with hot chocolate and cookies at the start of the tour, as well as a complimentary gift to choose from several options. I picked a tumbler with the Take a Hike logo. You also get a drink coupon for the bar at the Arcade to use after the tour or at another date. What a great touch! For a little over 30 bucks, you get a 90 minute tour, which I think is probably pretty close to the national average for a walking tour, especially considering it comes with some swag. We had a special guest, Mr. Schofield, who acted in character and told us a bit of history about one of the stops, which was a clever touch. The only suggestion I have is to have a warming stop or two in the middle of the tour. (We did have one, but that was close to the end of the tour.) I love learning the history, but honestly by the last stop I was kind of checked out because it was so cold. I would love to come back in the summer. Patty told us the summer tours are free! They also have a passport program where you collect stamps for each tour you take and can earn prizes and stuff. What a great concept!

    Photos
    Erie Street Cemetery Tour Guide
    Erie Street Cemetery Tour Guide
    John Malvin character actor
    John Malvin character actor
    Blue Urn in Palace Theatre

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    Blue Urn in Palace Theatre
    Cleveland History Center

    Cleveland History Center

    4.2
    (43 reviews)
    5.8 mi

    Another Cleveland museum crossed off the list! I took my boyfriend here a few months ago and we had…read morea great time, spending a few hours looking around, before needing to leave as they were closing to the public to host a private wedding reception (great location for that, btw. The building is gorgeous!) It did need to have better signage throughout and I wish the layout was a bit less random as we kept circling back and forth and not knowing what we had and had not seen. Anyway, as of August 2025, the cost was $15 a ticket per adult for entry. The Hay-McKinney Mansion was included in the ticket price. We probably should have waited to go in a free tour because information was scarce. I liked touring the mansion but I had a much better time going through the non mansion of the museum complex. I am glad we were able to attend the doll exhibit before it went away later that month. I grew up collecting American Girl dolls and Madame Alexander dolls and this filled me with nostalgia. I also loved the fashion in WWII exhibits. The outfits were fabulous! They closed off a gallery and the outside for a wedding that was about to begin. It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon and I wish I could have been invited, lol. There were also temporary exhibits on black photographers, women in politics, mini bikes, the superman hum vee from the 2025 I had a good time looking through the Crawford auto aviation museum and of course, riding the massive and free, carousel! It's almost 125 years old and cost 3 million dollars to restore and each horse is hand carved out of wood. The ride is a must-do for all ages! Overall, a good local city museum with some awesome things inside.

    I'll never forget moving to New Jersey in the mid-90s and meeting the lady who would eventually…read morebecome my wife. During one of our first dates, she commented that I knew more about her hone state than she did. Though I doubt that was the case, I had made it a point to learn about the place that my broadcast career took me at the time. Had I been moving to Cleveland, this would have been the spot to learn more about the city and area. My daughter is here as a patient of the Cleveland Clinic. She awaits a transplant and has lived here for a few months already (in Parma). I took a quick weekend trip here to visit her and learn more about the culture. This museum offered a wonderful crash course. I've always thought of this town as the dingy, cold locale for unfortunate fans of the Browns and Indians. I was totally wrong. In fact, Cleveland was very much a player in our country's industrial age. (Far more than my home state of Texas!) Detroit seems to get all the credit for the automobile industry, but Ohio -- particularly Cleveland -- really got there for the cash. Who knew? There are other parts of this museum that left me asking 'Why?' The motorcycle display, while pretty cool, doesn't have much to do with Cleveland any more than any other place. Some of the art ... same thing. Still, you'll learn more about Euclid Avenue than you ever thought possible, and the carousel is a marvelous piece of history.

    Photos
    Cleveland History Center
    Cleveland History Center
    Cleveland History Center

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    Thomas Edison Birthplace Museum

    Thomas Edison Birthplace Museum

    4.8
    (15 reviews)
    47.8 mi

    Small museum but a big experience…read more Nice little old house (two, actually, with the office/gift shop/extra gallery.) great staff- friendly, informative. We learned a lot. Kid K was bored by the end but still said she liked it. Family history plus info about his intentions. Steep stairs so be careful. Classy items in the gift shop. Definitely worth a visit if you are nearby, or a detour if you are at all interested in history or technology.

    I had the privilege of touring the historic birthplace of Thomas Alva Edison. And, I had the…read morepleasure of having Deb - a wonderful retired school teacher - narrate the tour. To get to the historic house, I had to drive past the quaint Milan town square, which in itself seems to be a genuine piece of Americana. The house and adjacent museum visitor center are located near the top of a hill. They overlook what is now a defunct historic canal. Inside the visitors center, there is an impressive collection of Edison's audio inventions - many that still work! Inside the house are several artifacts owned by the Edisons, as well as other period-correct pieces. A few of Thomas Edison's personal items are even on display upstairs. Deb enthusiastically painted a vivid picture of how life was in the Edison house. She explained how many of the artifacts were used. The "school teacher" in her certainly came out, as she encouraged questions. The house is conveniently located only a few miles from the Ohio turnpike. I highly recommend experiencing this interesting and informative, historic gem.

    Photos
    Thomas Edison's shadow still looms large.
    Thomas Edison's shadow still looms large.
    Edison Historic marker.
    Edison Historic marker.
    Edison House and visitor center (behind)

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    Edison House and visitor center (behind)
    Cleveland Bike Tours

    Cleveland Bike Tours

    4.3
    (12 reviews)
    2.0 mi

    We always try to book a bike tour the first day in a new city. It helps you to get the lay of the…read moreland and allows you to cover more area than just walking. (We cannot say that about bus tours). This tour did not disappoint! We thoroughly enjoyed our bike tour with Joe on a beautiful August day. He fitted us with helmets, adjusted the seats on our comfortable bikes, and gave us an overview of the tour. Cleveland is a bikeable city and we felt very safe with Joe leading the way. We stopped at 15 to 20 points of historical and current interest. Joe was enthusiastic and gave us exactly what we expected, fresh air on our faces and a fun way to see and learn about Cleveland. Our Rating: A+, 5 stars

    After coaster mecca (Cedar Point), a friend and I had about half a day to spend in Cleveland and…read moredecided to look for a sightseeing tour. Cleveland Bike Tours is one of two major bike tour operators in the city and one of just a handful of sightseeing tour operators there period. We'd never done a bike tour before, but they had great reviews on Trip Advisor and a really professional website, so we made last minute reservations for the Downtown tour. Likely due to the poor weather forecast, we were the only two on the tour. Private tour at group-subsidized prices! Score! It did rain a bit during the tour but thankfully it was just water so nobody died. When we started the ride (which were not on those skinny road bikes us tourists love to fall over on) I got nervous that I wasn't cut out for it. I'm in the worst shape of my life and had only been on a bike once in the past ten years. I was really feeling it in my legs and thought I had gotten in over my head after two days of walking and getting abused by coasters. Then I realized we had just biked up a hill... and felt like an idiot. I was so focused on remembering how to bike I hadn't noticed the incline. After the initial hill the ride wasn't strenuous AT ALL. Cleveland, for the most part, is flat as a pancake. Really, anyone can participate. Even lazy people. The tour gives a nice overview of some of the more prominent landmarks downtown, including some historic buildings, sports stadiums, public art, and monuments. While Cleveland may have some of the highest rates of poverty in the nation (for a city), you'd never know it from downtown, which is pristinely clean, beautiful, and filled with activity. I'd love to see a longer tour option in the future with interior stops at some of the historic churches, banks, and the three arcades. The standard tour will leave you wanting to revisit your stops so you can see things in more depth, which is great if you're looking for an introduction to the downtown area and have time to explore after. If you're more limited in time, you might want to look for a private guide for the day. Alternatively, check out CityProwl: free audio-guided tours of various parts of Cleveland. They would make a good supplement to the bike tours. You can find them in the iTunes podcast library if you search for CityProwl as one word. Cleveland has plenty to offer the out-of-towner who has a few days to kill, and the Cleveland Bike Tours offerings are a solid introduction to much of what's available outside University Circle. The tour hosts, Cleveland native couple, Anne and Joe, are fantastic. They were accommodating, polite, and fun. Anne was the primary guide for our tour and is especially energetic; you can really tell she loves her city, and as always the love a guide exudes for their home spills over to the rest of the group. While we probably won't be back to Ohio anytime soon (as Bostonians, we are HIGHLY suspect of midwesterner's overt politeness and eagerness to start conversations with strangers... we know you're all planning something sneaky!), should the call of the coasters become unbearable, we'll definitely be booking with Anne and Joe for another one of their tours.

    Photos
    Cleveland Bike Tours
    Cleveland Bike Tours
    Cleveland Bike Tours

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    Midwest Railway Preservation Society

    Midwest Railway Preservation Society

    4.0
    (4 reviews)
    2.2 mi

    I'm here again seeing the passion these guys have for saving old cars and engines. The Midwest…read moreRailroad Preservation at the Roundhouse tour was fascinating. We saw old steam locomotives, learned how they work, and that the machine shop is busy making parts no longer found. The American Freedom Train, after years of work (I saw it in sad shape in 2018) will take to the rails next year for the 250th birthday of the U.S.A. Passenger cars were sitting for restoration, some in working order. The black one on the turntable was lived on by a wealthy couple during Covid as they traveled safely. The car that we sat in was used in the movie "The Natural" and Robert Redford sat there. The "Death" Car filled with steam and killed everyone in it, and now has active ghosts. Cabooses are no longer due to automation. Only an engineer and a conductor ride each train. I need to find a group and go again. Look for open houses here. Not expensive. A deal with a Groupon.

    So, I will admit.... This isn't really my thing. I am not big into trains, planes, etc, but I…read moremarried someone who is. So I saw the Groupon offer and bought it for my husband's birthday. While I admit that I didn't read the description enough, I thought this would mostly be a train ride. It wasn't. So this starts in a large machine shop shared with a business. There is many friendly volunteers to check people in. Then a tour guide takes you to first a caboose to walk through. Then comes the train ride. It was cool as it was vintage passenger car, but was only 15 minutes. After this, you tour various old style steam and diesel trains. This is great for kids to a point, some do get restless, but there is plenty to look at. Adults interested in mechanics and old trains will also love it. They also have ghost tours as the passenger car was the site to an accident that killed many people. This group is interesting because they are mostly volunteer and are working to retire very expensive machinary. They also had a blacksmith (my favorite part).

    Photos
    Four working stalls in the roundhouse.
    Four working stalls in the roundhouse.
    Midwest Railway Preservation Society
    Used for traveling during the pandemic.

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    Used for traveling during the pandemic.

    Franklin Castle - historicaltours - Updated July 2026

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