Downtown Chillicothe hosted a holiday open house this weekend. I met a friend for lunch yesterday and we browsed a few shops.
We even met Father Christmas who turned out to be an old friend of mine. His name is Gary and his wife Pam is an artist who has painted a few of the murals I’ve mentioned here.
Chillicothe is experiencing quite the renaissance as there have been several interesting shops and restaurants popping up in the downtown area over the last few years. Friends who live there don’t seem especially impressed but I think it’s exciting to see so many speciality shops that you don’t find just anywhere.
There are a couple of trendy boutiques for women’s clothing and some good antique stores. What’s more impressive to me is that they have a fantastic independent bookstore, a record store and a bike shop. These kinds of specialty stores are becoming hard to find and it’s rare to find them all in one smallish town. There’s even a place that sells stained glass supplies and offers classes. I interviewed the owner once for a work project and was delighted to learn how busy they are.
In the mix you’ll find a store that sells military miniatures, a cute bakery and a candy store. The Majestic Theater, which I have written about a couple of times, is in the neighborhood and is again hosting performances.
Yoctangee Park provides green space and renovations are underway at a few buildings.
We had a good lunch at Fire and Stone Pizzeria. It’s rare for me to be impressed by a restaurant salad but this one was really good and their house ranch was delicious.
I also picked up a couple of books at Wheatberry Bookstore including this nice volume of holiday stories by Truman Capote. I intend to jump into this book momentarily.
Plus I saw my friend who I see approximately once every 12.5 years so that was nice too!
Chillicothe has much history as the city was the first and third Capitol of Ohio and has rich Native American history as well. Plus, they sometimes hold events like this Christmas open house, the ghost walk I have written about here and other fun activities. If you’re looking for a day trip in southern Ohio, this may be a good choice for you.
Make the Journey Fun 