A lot of people are headed to Columbus for Labor Day Weekend. Just ask the folks at Airbnb who listed Columbus as the top trending location for Labor Day 2022. We have a hunch the Notre Dame vs. Ohio State football game has something to do with it. If you're in Columbus for the game, here are a few other things you don't want to miss out on.

 

Think of The Ohio State University as a city within a city, with a population of more than 100,000, its own hospital complex, post office, museum(s), hotel and big-time sports facilities. In other words: there’s a lot to see and do if you visit campus, and you might even bump into Brutus Buckeye. Here are some of the highlights of a campus tour…

 

Let’s start at this on-campus art museum that features an interesting, eclectic, and ever-changing roster of exhibits. The museum is in the middle of campus, just off High Street and E. 16^th Street.

 

Just west of the museum is the Oval, a large field of grass, trees and paths that’s a gathering spot for students. The Oval is lined with several of the university’s most architecturally interesting and historic buildings, as well as a few interesting places to visit, including the Orton Geological Museum, which houses the remains of a 24-foot-long, 1,000-pound Cryolophosaurus dinosaur and the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum that features a fabulous cartoon collection and rotating exhibits. On the western edge of the Oval is a large statue William Oxley Thompson, president of the university from 1899 to 1925, and the namesake for the large library directly behind his statue.

 

No visit to Ohio State would be complete without a visit to the famed Ohio Stadium, the Horseshoe, or Shoe, so named because of its shape. To get to the stadium from the Oval, walk west and between the McCorkle Aquatic Center on the left and the Recreation and Physical Activity Center (RPAC) on the right (each a top-notch facility). Just past the tennis courts is a large field, and, if it’s the right time of year, and you’re lucky, you just might get to hear and watch the TBDBITL (The Best Damn Band in the Land) march through a rigorous and tuneful practice session.

 

 

Once past the band’s practice field, walk through Buckeye Grove, where a tree is planted in honor of every All-American football player. And so, there are a lot of trees. A veritable forest of Buckeye legends. See if you can find your favorite All-American Buckeye.

 

Once through the Grove, you’ve arrived at the Shoe. You can’t miss it! It opened in 1922, was the first horseshoe-shaped, double-decked stadium in the land and now seats 102,780 scarlet-and-gray clad fanatics. A lap around the stadium is about half a mile. It’s pretty much mandatory to take a selfie in front of the stadium entrance on the north side. Tours of the Shoe are available.

 

Jack Nicklaus, Jesse Owens and Woody Hayes are three of the most famous Buckeye sports legends. Each is honored on campus.

 

The Jack Nicklaus Museum is located at 2355 Olentangy River Road. It contains more than 2,000 items of Nicklaus memorabilia, including the famous 3-wood he used to win so many tournaments, lots of trophies and his first professional paycheck, which was won in 1962 and was for $33.33. Even the great ones had to start somewhere!

 

Owens will be forever famous after winning four gold medals at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and just might be the greatest track performer of all time. The Buckeye Bullet, who once set three world records and tied another at the 1935 Big Ten Championship meet, is immortalized in bronze just outside the Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium (track and field) at 2450 Fred Taylor Drive. Taylor? He led the men’s basketball team to the 1960 NCAA title. There’s no statue of Taylor (yet), but there is one of …

 

Hayes, who won 238 games and five national titles. There’s a larger-than-life, bronze statue of the larger-than-life coach just outside the Woody Hayes Athletic Center at 2491 Olentangy River Road.