We love exploring small towns with great histories behind them, and history is something that the northwestern town of Defiance definitely has and celebrates.
Defiance is less than an hour from Toledo and the ride into town takes you through peaceful Ohio farm country on Route 424 along the scenic Maumee River. Historic markers along the ride and in town tell visitors a lot about Defiance's Revolutionary and early 1800s battlefield history, as well as the town's history as a bustling canal town in the latter part of the 1800s.
Town treasures include a pretty Carnegie Library with a stained glass ceiling dome, the campus of Defiance College, a re-created 1800s farm village and a downtown shopping and dining district undergoing a streetscape update as we visited one day last month..
Find out more about our visit by checking out my latest story for the Ohio Tourism Division's Discovering Ohio blog, Defiance, Ohio: "Where friends, families and the rivers meet".
You might also want to check out The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio: How My Mother Raised 10 Kids on 25 Words or Less by Terry Ryan (the story of Evelyn Ryan, who gained fame for her contest winning prowess during the 1950s and 1960s) and the 2005 movie based on the book starring Julianne Moore and Woody Harrelson.
© Dominique King 2014 All rights reserved
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