It’s our Day 143 of “365 Things to do in Cincinnati” and today we’re featuring the Civil War Cincinnati Tour, a brand new tour from the guys who do the Queen City Underground Tours and the Newport Gangster Tours. Being a big Civil War buff I was excited to go on the tour to see what role Cincy played in the Civil War… and I wasn’t disappointed!
I must tell you that this post will be light on detailed info as I really want you to experience the tour for yourself and I don’t want to give away the fun facts. It’s kind of like telling you how a great movie ends, you know? But I will share some of the outstanding pictures I have from the unusual places you get to go into with this tour (which is worth the cost all by iteself IMO).
Like the Queen City Underground Tour, the Civil War Cincinnati Tour gets started at Mica 12/V, a great little shop in the Gateway Quarter. After a brief introduction to the tour we started off towards Memorial Hall.
We stopped right outside Memorial Hall to discuss the headstones of some of our Civil War heroes. The street view of Memorial Hall is just gorgeous. How have I never noticed the amazing architecture of this building before?! And just wait until you see what’s inside!
I’ve never been inside of Memorial Hall. It is breathtaking. Simply amazing! You will see all kinds of Civil War era touches, from the carved wooden doors to the intricate marble staircases.
Inside there’s a theatre type venue with a stage and seating. Hands down, it’s some of the most gorgeous painting and artwork I’ve ever seen…
After we left Memorial Hall we walked a few block more and stopped to hear about the importance of the canals and waterways in the war as depicted in the mural painted on this building…
We found a good patch of shade and stopped to talk about the importance of Cincinnati’s Black Brigade, who were instrumental in fortifying our fine city. Side note : the Black Brigade’s flag is currently on display at the Museum Center’s “America I Am” Exhibit (also an incredible thing to do while it’s here).
We stopped to hear about Cincinnati’s first fire department, put in place to keep this building from being burned down (IronWorks)…
We then moved INTO the old Emery Theatre. What a site to see! My pictures are terrible as the lighting is really dim. The Emery Theatre is currently in pretty bad shape and they are hoping to start renovations sometime soon. It was still really cool to get to go on stage and look at the place.
Afterwards we headed to Old St. Mary’s Church. What appears to be a very unassuming building from the street looks like this inside…
Stunningly gorgeous! The entire place, floor to ceiling, is full of intricate detail. Old St. Mary’s Tower is rumored to have held guards who watched over the River for advancing soldiers.
And I couldn’t resist snapping a pic of this incredible bit of architecture to show you guys…
The Civil War Cincinnati Tour starts on Saturday, September 4, 2010. Right now they are only showing September tours so I would go while you can. This tour starts at 1pm, lasts about 90 minutes and is just $15 per person.
I would highly recommend you fit this into your schedule this fall. It’s well worth $15!
Civil War Cincinnati starts at Mica 12/v in the Gateway Quarter. More info is available at the Civil War Cincinnati site.
Hi – Just wanted to let you know that Civil War expert Peter Cozzens will speak at the Mercantile Library on April 18. His talk is about Cincinnati generals who played a part in the Civil War, specifically Lytle, Hayes and Rosecrans. The talk is open to the public. For info, go to http://www.mercantilelibrary.com.