Mansfield Reformatory

Something that I really wanted to do this year was visit the Mansfield Reformatory. Mansfield isn't too far from me, about an hour away, so it was insane that I hadn't visited it sooner!

I think a large fraction of people visit because this is where parts of the film The Shawshank Redemption was filmed, I know that was a big reason my mother wanted to tag along! But I wanted to go for different reasons, I love abandoned places, especially when they have a lot of history and haunting lore and I could just imagine what a great photo op it would be.

The cells were incredibly small, I can't imagine having one person living in there, let alone two.

The Reformatory opened it's doors in September 1896. They eventually closed them on December 31, 1990 due to overcrowding and inhumane conditions. It housed over 155,000 men in it's time! Can you imagine walking through this area while it's filled with prisoners? It's so weird when you explore an abandoned place and try to imagine it as it once was, new and finished and full of life.

While exploring you would occasionally come upon a random chair sitting in the middle of a room or off to the side. For some reason this seemed very eerie to me.

A cathedral stood at the top of the reformatory. All of the pews and decorations were strewn all over the place but this piece was somehow still in tact for the most part.

Right outside of the reformatory was this beautiful lake. I remember this day was particularly very hot and all I wanted to do was jump in and go swimming.


The Mansfield Reformatory is open for tours throughout the spring and summer. You can take guided or self guided tours, I picked the latter. I preferred to explore on my own and at my own pace. You can also schedule an event to stay overnight at the reformatory, which I think would be incredibly interesting and I would love to do it, but definitely not alone.

During October they have a haunt, which I've never been to, but wouldn't mind checking out!

If you're ever in the area, it's definitely worth a stop. A place with so much history should be experienced, whether you're there since you're a fan of the movie, paranormal, or just enjoy exploring.

Honey Run Falls

The past few months I have been making a short list of places I want to visit in Ohio before I move. I have a couple places and surprisingly, they are all within an hour from where I live. It seems so odd to me that I have lived in this state for 19 years and have never really explored a lot of the neat places close by.

One of those places was Honey Run Falls. It wasn't a "must visit" place but I figured since it was close by I might as well check it out while I have the chance! I had heard about the waterfall there and had been wanting to see it for awhile!

There were lots of children swimming and playing around the waterfall so I really couldn't get many photos, which was unfortunate. But I'm hoping to go back when it gets a little bit cooler out so I can take more photos at different angles. Regardless, it was a nice little water fall and would be a really relaxing spot to spend the afternoon.

We came upon this little cave that seemed like a really cool little spot. It did smell like something had died in there though, so we didn't really venture much further.

At the end of the short trail you come upon this river. It was really peaceful except for all of the mosquitoes! For some reason I seem to be particularly tasty to those awful things because whenever I try to do something outside in the morning or evening they attack me! I came back from this short trip covered in bites but it was worth it. I do wish the area was bigger and that they had more trails to explore, I have so much fun walking around the woods!

I was also kind of disappointed that I didn't see much wildlife. I saw a couple dragonflies, but I was waiting for a turtle or something!

Honey Run was a really nice little park that I would definitely like to visit again! It's a short drive and I bet it would be completely gorgeous once all of the leaves start to change in the fall.

Mount Calvary Cemetery

Earlier this month I was looking for a new cemetery to visit. One had been on my radar for awhile I'd just never taken the time to actually go check it out. I typed in the directions in my phone and for some reason it completely led me astray, but I found this beautiful cemetery on the way so it definitely wasn't a bad thing to get lost!

Mount Calvary Cemetery is an absolutely beautiful place. When I first arrived I didn't realize how big it was and only snapped a few photos. However, the next week I decided to travel up that way again and explored some more and realized there was a LOT that I missed out on.

This neat little building was quite creepy and empty. If you can see right about the door it says "Ransom" a very odd and mysterious building that I really loved.

I believe this used to be the mausoleum. Such a beautiful building and was definitely my favorite that I found.

A place where some of the Curtis' family members are buried. This cemetery is actually close to a huge home known as the Curtis Mansion. As far as I know the building is abandoned but I would love to go around and explore it sometime. You can find many members of the Curtis family buried here and they all have very elaborate headstones.

A memorial to a soldier that I thought was lovely and quite haunting. I will never get over entering cemeteries and seeing a figure on top of a headstone and how eerie it is.

This building was pretty large and locked up tight. I peeked into the window and it sure doesn't look like it's ever used anymore, I would love to get the chance to look around though.

Mount Calvary is definitely my favorite cemetery I have explored. It was gorgeous and so calming to walk through. It was well taken care of and beautiful to just wander in. I found so many amazing headstones that I was so excited to photograph. I hope in the future I find many other lovely places like this one!

 

Centerburg Cemetery

Last week I posted about a cemetery I visited known as Eastview Cemetery. This cemetery is directly across the street! This one is much older and was a lot more interesting for me personally to explore. 

This headstone with the woman walking down steps was my favorite in the whole cemetery. It was so beautiful and eerie all at the same time. You don't see as many new headstones like this anymore, at least where I'm from. So it's nice to see something so old still look this lovely.

These headstones were very odd to me. They look like tiny little seats that were carved out of wood. I had never seen stones like this before and they were very interesting!

This cemetery wasn't very big, but it was definitely still fun and interesting to explore. I actually think I might have spent about an hour and a half just walking around and reading the inscriptions and dates on the headstones. There were many detailed headstones that you can tell took a lot of work. I also love that even though this place is extremely old and no longer really used, it still is kept neat and clean.

I can't believe I have lived so close to this cemetery my whole life but have never taken the time to explore and capture it until now. But I'm really happy I did! I wish I could have found more history on it but there wasn't hardly anything I could find.