Lebanon & Waynesville — Ohio's Oldest Inn, a Steam Railroad & the Antiques Capital of the Midwest

A gentle day trip into the rolling farmland of Warren County, less than an hour northeast of Cincinnati, where two small towns preserve an unhurried slice of 19th-century Ohio. Lebanon is anchored by the Golden Lamb, the state's oldest continuously operating inn and tavern, which has served travelers since 1803 and hosted a dozen presidents, Charles Dickens, and Mark Twain. From there a vintage excursion train, the Lebanon Mason Monroe Railroad, rolls out across the countryside behind a diesel locomotive on the same route the town has used for well over a century. The day finishes in Waynesville, the self-styled Antiques Capital of the Midwest, whose historic Main Street packs some seventy antique dealers and specialty shops into a few walkable blocks. It is a slow, browsing kind of day built around good food, old buildings, and the pleasure of poking through other people's history.