Bob Evans, Down on the Farm

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The next stop was admittedly a little bit out in left field as far as destinations go. Just a couple hours east of Cincinnati is the town of Rio Grande Ohio. Never heard of it? We hadn't either. Oh and before I forget, it's not pronounced Rio Grande like the one in southern Texas, but Rye-O-Grand. Why the mispronounced name? When the town tried to establish a post office, the original name (Adamsville) was already taken in the vicinity and in the mid 1800's the name Rio Grande was in the papers from the war with Mexico. Since it was in the papers, the residents didn't realize the proper way to pronounce it.

Restaurant, Barn and Museum at Bob Evans

Big Sign Up Front

It was an interesting revelation. The Bob Evans slogan "Down on the farm" actually was more than a marketing thing. Bob Evans started right here in this area and the big farm he lived on and started his business is still a working farm, with the old farmhouse now a Museum of everything Bob. (And a single room of Laurel and Hardy memorabilia - don't ask, I didn't figure that one out) In mid October they have a huge festival and apparently several 100 or 1000 people show up for it. In fact they had many of the large tents already setup for the festivities.

Inside Museum Shows Replica of Original Steak House Counter

The Laurel and Hardy Room???

Luckily we were passing thru the area a week or so before the event was taking place. So the "campground", and I use that term very loosely, had nobody here on the Sunday and Monday nights we wanted to stay. That was good because our rig was probably just a tad too big to fit, but with all sites empty, we managed to get in and setup. When the festival is going, most people just dry camp in the fields since there are only a few handfuls of water/electric sites.

We wandered thru the Museum on Sunday afternoon and discovered some interesting facts about Bob. He started out with a steak house in the vicinity before he switched to the sausage route. Much of the farm is open to the public, with interpretive signs at many of the buildings. There are a handful of old log buildings that have been moved to the property. These and most other buildings are open during the day.  There is even a Bob Evans Restaurant on the property now and was amazingly busy since the town only has 800 or so full time residents. One display that was quite interesting to see was the bee exhibit. The sound of the bees only separated by a thin piece of plexiglass was quite loud but gave it a great view of a bee hive in action.

A Well Cared for Log Cabi

Inside of Cabin

Elaborate Display of Essentials from the Day

The Schoolhouse

The Low Tech iPads at Each Desk - Chalkboards

Living Quarters Above School

Beautiful Horse Looking for Company

Inquisitive Baby Cow

Bee Hive

Close Up of Hive

Even Had a Windmill on the Farm

Patriotic Barn

Quilt Barn

There is the University of Rio Grande right in town that actually has several times more students than residents of the town. In the hills just behind the campgrounds is the Jon F Burris Trail system. About 10 miles of mostly single track mountain biking trails. I tried it one evening and found them to be extremely challenging. The trails are quite hilly and full of tree roots and rocks and I found myself needing to walk my bike many times as I tried to explore the area. It was a good thing Chris opted to not join me, but now I know how she must feel when we have done other areas during our travels.

We did a bit of driving around the area try to get our caches in the various counties and managed to come across a few sights and even got a decent hike to an old ore smelting furnace. I managed to hike an additional half mile more than Chris after she was too scared to cross the bridge with rotting boards you could see through to the creek below.

Mt Olive Charcoal Iron Furnace - 1846

Caboose Along the Way

Chris Attempting Bridge Before Chickening Out

One other place we went to was the "town" of Moonville or more succinctly the ghost town of Moonville. This was a small town back in the mid to late 1800's that is now gone. About all that is left is the old railroad tunnel and a graveyard. Oh and of course a few geocaches to show you the place even existed. The tunnel was not very long but still neat to see. The tunnel was long enough that it was dark inside and even though we knew there was graffiti along its length, we couldn't read it in the dark. A handful of flash photos stitched together came out surprisingly well.

Entrance to Moonville Tunnel

Panorama of Graffiti Inside Tunnel

If for some reason you ever find yourself in this part of Ohio, we can definitely recommend stopping to see the museum and farm, but you might opt to skip the campgrounds.