Things to Do in Granville, Ohio

This Greek Revival house on East Broadway was finished in 1842, and 16 of its 27 rooms are open to visitors. Robbins Hunter Jr. lived here from 1956 to 1979, filled it with antiques and left it to become a museum, which opened in 1981. Guided tours run during open hours, and general admission is free.

★ Good to know The museum is open seasonally from May until just before Christmas, while its Jill Griesse Historic Garden is open daily from dawn to dusk.

Built in 1812, the Buxton Inn has been a tavern, a stagecoach stop, a restaurant and an inn. It sits a block from the Robbins Hunter Museum on East Broadway. Rooms are bookable while a renovation refreshes the property.

★ Good to know Dining and the courtyard are being brought back in stages, so check the inn’s site for what’s open before you plan a meal there.

Coal and railroad magnate John Sutphin Jones built this stone and half-timber inn, and about 5,000 people turned out when it opened on June 26, 1924. Its sandstone came from Jones’s own Bryn Du estate. Today it has 27 rooms and three suites, a pub, a fine-dining room and a wine shop.

★ Good to know Even if you’re not staying, the pub is an easy way to see the oak-paneled interior.

This 1905 mansion sits on a 52-acre estate on the east side of the village, with a 32-acre front lawn once used as a polo field. The village bought it and has run it through the Bryn Du Commission since 2004. It hosts public events, art classes, an art show and a lecture series.

★ Good to know Most of the calendar is private events, so check Bryn Du’s public events page before you go.

Denison started in 1831 and moved to the hill above the village in 1855. The 900-acre campus includes a 560-acre biological reserve and Swasey Chapel, completed in 1924. Student and professional music, dance and theater play to the public at the Michael D. Eisner Center for the Performing Arts.

★ Good to know The Donald Ross-designed Denison Golf Club, an 18-hole public course, is a short walk from the Granville Inn.

This paved rail trail runs about 14 miles from Johnstown through Alexandria and Granville to Newark, on an old Penn Central line. It’s one of Ohio’s first rail trails. The route passes farmland and Raccoon Creek under a lot of tree cover, and there’s a bald eagle nest along the creek.

★ Good to know Ride east from Granville and you can connect to Newark and the earthworks without driving.

The society was founded in 1885, and its museum fills the 1816 Bank of the Alexandrian Society building at 115 East Broadway. Exhibits range from a mastodon tooth to a bassoon from the War of 1812. The society also keeps the Old Academy Building at Elm and Main streets.

★ Good to know The museum opens on Saturdays in season, and the research archive is open Thursdays, so check the society’s hours page first.

Just east of Granville, the Great Circle and the Octagon are part of the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Hopewell culture built them between about 100 B.C. and A.D. 400, and they’re the largest geometric earthen enclosures in the world. The Great Circle has a small museum, and the grounds are open for self-guided walks.

★ Good to know Dogs on leashes are welcome, and the Ohio History Connection runs monthly guided tours at both the Great Circle and the Octagon.