A Visit to Slate Run Living Historical Farm

Slate Run Living Historical Farm provides the opportunity to experience first-hand what farm life would be like on an Ohio farm in the 1880s. An old farmhouse, barn, and gardens, are open for visitors to explore. Staff, dressed in traditional attire from the 1880s, are there to work the farm, answer questions, and help get visitors involved in farm life.

I have read about Slate Run Farm for awhile now, but I have put off actually visiting. When I thought about making the trip it seemed far and I wasn’t sure my daughter would be interested in exploring the farm for longer than 20 minutes. I finally decided to check it out and made the trip down to Canal Winchester. It turned out to be an easy drive on U.S. Route 33- East out of Columbus and my daughter explored the farmhouse, barn, and surrounding gardens for close to 2 hours.

To get there I followed the GPS to the entrance of the Metro Park and then followed the signs for the “Slate Run Historical Farm” that led to a parking lot. There was then a path that took us back to the farm. Along the way we stopped to watch sheep and chickens.

We then checked out the farmhouse. It was built in 1856 and the living room, parlor and kitchen are open for visitors.

Of course, my daughter found the piano and the baby doll.

Scattered around the outside of the farm house were a variety of old-time activities for my daughter to play with. She loved swinging, rolling the wooden hoop and watching the marbles roll down the marble run.

After we were finished exploring the farmhouse we followed another path back to the barn. We spent close to an hour visiting the farm animals and exploring farm life.

The animals elicited a ton of language from my daughter: labeling the animals, animal sounds, and exclamatory sounds (those pigs were stinky… yuck!)

It was also important that she wave “hi” to every animal she encountered.

Along the way the farmers greeted us, invited us to pet the animals, and participate in some of the farm activities. My girl found grinding the feed corn to be another entertaining part of her day.

If you have been putting off a visit to Slate Run Historical Farm because you think it’s too far, trust me, it’s worth the drive. We spent two hours exploring the farmhouse, barn, and surrounding gardens and didn’t even make it to the actual Metro Park.

The details if you are planning a visit:

Directions: Plug the address into your GPS. The GPS should take you directly to the entrance and then follow the signs for “Slate Run historical Living Farm” back to the parking lot. The address: 1375 State Route 674 N. Canal Winchester, OH 43103

Hours: Check the website for holiday hours

April and May: Tue-Sat 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sun 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

June to Aug: Tue-Thu 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Fri-Sat 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sun 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Sept to Oct: Tue-Sat 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sun 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Nov to March: Wed-Sat 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sun 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Some additional tips: