Here we are with another installment of “365 Things to do in Cincinnati” and today we’re featuring a new tour from American Legacy Tours – The Iconic Cincinnati Tour.
The Iconic Cincinnati Tour is a new tour this year and it takes place in and around Fountain Square. The tour is a new offering from the American Legacy Tour group.
If you’ve been around Cincinnati for the last couple of years, you’re probably familiar with the tours that come from the fine folks at American Legacy Tours. They offer a number of tours – The Queen City Underground Tour, The Newport Gangster Tour, The Civil War Cincinnati Tour, and more. They also own/operate the Cincy Haus in Over the Rhine.
We started off the tour by learning all about the fountain. I’ve been on a few tours of downtown and I’ve read quite a bit of local history but I still learned A LOT about our fountain on the tour. Did you know that the Genius of Water (the lady at the top) is 9′ tall and has 438 holes in her hands?! There’s quite a bit of symbolism going on within the design and it’s all about the water – go figure! She supplies water to a fireman and to a thirsty man. The side “pools” were designed to supply drinking water to visitors of the fountain.
Our tour took us around the fountain and its surrounding area and then we proceeded up to the home of Procter and Gamble. There we learned about the soap and candle makers who married sisters and went on to become some of Cincinnati’s most powerful businessmen.
As we walked by the buildings in between stops we learned tidbits of facts and stories about the area. Did you know, for instance, that the tiara on the new Great American Building was inspired by one of Princess Diana’s tiaras?
My favorite part of the tour was the “insiders” look at the Masonic Temple. The Masonic Temple is located on 5th Street, right next to the Taft Theatre. The building is home to the “Valley of Cincinnati”, the local branch of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry. The massive structure was built in the 1920′s (cornerstone says 1927) and was originally 3 buildings (included what is now the Taft Theater).
The beauty and grandeur associated with The Masonic Temple is just incredible. From stone to carvings to paintings to decorative art, this place is beautiful from floor to ceiling.
After leaving the Masonic Temple we stopped at a few spots along the way to admire some fine Cincinnati architecture and history and then we loaded up the elevators and headed up to the observation deck of what used to be Cincinnati’s tallest building – the Carew Tower.
I was surprised to find that our tour guide did not simply leave us to wander aimlessly around the roof. He actually took us all around and pointed out some features from each side of the building.
I can highly recommend the Iconic Cincinnati Tour. I can easily say this is one of my favorite tours that they offer. And don’t feel like you shouldn’t go just because you’ve always lived in Cincinnati. You’ll learn a lot PLUS you’ll get a guided tour of some of our most “iconic” spots. Win-win-win!
You can get all the times and dates for The Iconic Cincinnati Tour when you click here.
Full disclosure: I do own and operate a consulting business that helps businesses with online marketing strategy and American Legacy Tours is one of my clients. I organized a group of bloggers to come on the Iconic Cincinnati Tour and I did get to go on the tour without paying admission. These facts, however, did not sway my opinions one bit. The words written here reveal my true thoughts about the tour and the touring company.
I still cannot believe that locals still spell Procter and Gamble wrong. I worked at P&G in the early 60′s and I can tell you nothing (well maybe the moon and stars rumors) made the public relations people furious than spelling Procter wrong.
In this day of spell check, etc. there is no excuse. I have been noticing and doing a check and 8 out of 10 times it is spelled wrong, including scrolling across the bottom of the screen 2 days ago.