Things to Do in Mansfield, OH
Mansfield, Ohio, offers a mix of places to visit, including a former prison, a working farm, an art center, and outdoor trails. Here's what's worth your time.
The Ohio State Reformatory served as a filming location for The Shawshank Redemption. Visitors can walk through the prison cells and the chapel or take part in a ghost hunt at night.
The Mansfield Art Center features contemporary art from local and national artists. It also offers classes, workshops, and events throughout the year.
The Mansfield Memorial Museum is located in a 19th-century Romanesque building.
It displays Native American artifacts, vintage vehicles, and antique wooden carousel horses from local amusement parks.
The carousel horse collection comes from rides that once operated across Richland County.
The Renaissance Theatre on Park Avenue West opened in 1928 as a movie palace. Today, it hosts live performances, concerts, and community events.
Malabar Farm State Park once belonged to Pulitzer Prize-winning author Louis Bromfield.
The park includes hiking trails, fishing areas, and the Big House, where Bromfield hosted Hollywood guests such as Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, who were married there in 1945.
The Richland B&O Trail is open to hikers, cyclists, and horseback riders. It runs through open countryside and links to several parks along the route.
Gorman Nature Center covers 152 acres and offers walking trails through woods and meadows. It also runs nature programs for children and adults and is free to visit.
The Ohio State Reformatory
The Ohio State Reformatory is a limestone building in Mansfield, Ohio, built between 1886 and 1910. It operated as a working prison for over a century.
The sixth-floor cell block is the largest free-standing cell block in the world. From there, you can look down across the full length of the complex.
The cells are small and bare. The chapels, administrative offices, and warden's quarters are also open to walk through, along with the sub-basement and a room known as the "Jesus Room."
The building was a filming location for The Shawshank Redemption.
Guided tours run during the day. Ghost hunts run after dark, where visitors explore the cell blocks and corridors looking for paranormal activity.
The Reformatory is one of the more well-known ghost hunt destinations in Ohio.
Malabar Farm State Park
Malabar Farm State Park is in Lucas, Ohio.
Louis Bromfield, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and conservationist, built the farm in 1939 and lived there until his death in 1956.
The farm has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1973.
The Big House is open for tours, along with the Pugh Cabin and the Ceely Rose House, where a murder took place in the late 1800s.
Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall married at the Big House in 1945.
The park sits on the Appalachian Plateau. Trails run through rolling hills planted with grain crops and hay fields.
Visitors can interact with the farm animals and buy Malabar products, including fresh produce, meat, and dairy.
The Malabar Farm Inn is a restored stagecoach inn that now operates as a restaurant.
Annual events include the Maple Sugaring Festival, Heritage Days, and Barn Dances.
Renaissance Theatre
The Renaissance Theatre opened in 1928 in downtown Mansfield, Ohio. The building is Art Deco, with crystal chandeliers, painted ceilings, and plush seating.
The Mansfield Symphony Orchestra performs there regularly.
The orchestra is one of the more recognized small-budget orchestras in the country and draws musicians from national music schools alongside local performers.
The theater hosts Broadway-style musicals, classical concerts, comedy shows, and family performances throughout the year.
The Emerging Artist Program supports performers of all ages who want to develop and present original work.
Outreach programs bring live performances to schools and community centers across the region.
Kingwood Center Gardens
Kingwood Center Gardens covers 47 acres in Mansfield, Ohio. The grounds were originally a private estate and are now open to the public as formal gardens maintained year-round.
Brick paths wind through several distinct gardens, each planted differently. The Perennial Garden offers rotating colors across the seasons.
The Woodland Garden is quieter and more shaded. Birds, open sky, and the occasional breeze through the trees make it an easy place to slow down.
Kingwood Hall sits at the center of the property. Charles Kelley King had it built in 1926 in the French Provincial style.
The rooms still hold their original antique furnishings, and the architectural details throughout the house have been kept intact.
Guided tours of the third-floor living quarters walk you through how the King family lived and their role in the local community.
Richland Carrousel Park
Richland Carrousel Park sits in downtown Mansfield and is built around a hand-carved carousel made by local artisans.
Every figure on it was carved and painted by hand, and the carousel runs to music from a Stinson Band Organ.
Colorful panels around the top of the carousel depict Mansfield landmarks and local history, including Louis Bromfield and the old roller coaster from Mansfield's Casino Park.
Outside, bronze horses guard the entrance, and pink rose bushes line the picnic area.
A gift shop inside carries carousel merchandise, Ohio products, and children's items.
The carousel was built and is still operated largely through the work of volunteers and community donors.
It draws thousands of visitors each year and has become one of the more recognized landmarks in the city.
BibleWalk
BibleWalk is a museum on the grounds of Diamond Hill Cathedral in Mansfield, Ohio.
The building is designed to look like a castle, with turrets and a drawbridge leading to the entrance.
Inside, over 300 life-sized wax figures recreate scenes from the Bible. The scenes are arranged in order from Genesis to Revelation, so visitors move through the full story chronologically.
Each scene is built with detailed sets, dim lighting, and atmospheric sound effects.
Recorded narration plays at each stop to explain the story and add context.
The scenes cover some of the most well-known stories in the Bible, including Noah's Ark, the story of Moses, the birth of Jesus, the Last Supper, the Crucifixion, and the Resurrection.
The figures and settings are crafted to place visitors as close as possible to the scenes themselves, rather than viewing them from a distance.
