In the middle of the S-shaped Dublin Link Pedestrian Bridge connecting Historic Dublin and Bridge Park, the four of us stopped and turned. Evening had deepened into night. Above the buildings and to the right of the bridge’s central spire, the moon hung, as if aware that it was turning a typical nighttime Dublin scene into a work of art that our family could savor in story and memory.
The art of Dublin extends far beyond moments like these. Sculptures dot virtually every public space, just as National Register of Historic Places plaques adorn many downtown buildings. Combined with decades of proactive, purposeful urban planning, Dublin has grown exponentially, yet continues to feel calm, safe, and beautiful. Or as we found it, a joyous surprise of relaxation, serendipity, and inspiration during our Dublin, Ohio, family vacation.
We want to thank Visit Dublin, Ohio for sponsoring our visit. However, this article reflects our own personal opinions and experiences.
Dublin, Ohio, is where you go when you want to recharge your soul and your love of a tight community.
Family and Accessible Travel: A quick note about our little family
Anthony, Jodie, Connor, and Aster St. Clair: We are the Learners and Makers, and we empower families and the mobility disability community to travel confidently, their way. Our kids are 12 and 9 at the time of this trip. Jodie is an above-knee amputee who uses a prosthetic leg. We love showing our kids as much of the world as we can, while we all can travel together as a family. And this was our first family vacation in Dublin, Ohio!
Accessibility and mobility disability considerations
Historic Dublin has maintained its 1800s character while modernizing to better accommodate a range of mobilities:
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- Ample free parking makes it easier to reach attractions.
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- Sidewalks are typically broad and even.
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- Some areas have slopes or small hills, but many core areas are pretty flat.
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- For most things we visited, we could easily find parking close by, though for popular events or areas, such as along Riverside Drive during a market evening, parking may be harder to come by.
For many individual attractions, we’ll note mobility tips from Jodie’s experience as an amputee using a prosthetic leg for her walking accessibility.
Art, History & Food: The 3 Core Joys of Visiting Dublin
On the outskirts of Columbus, Dublin hums along in the background. People get on with the fun and business of life. It’s the sort of city you visit when you not only want some quiet fun (not to mention a full belly) from your vacation. Dublin, Ohio, is where you go when you want to recharge your soul and your love of a tight community.
From our time in Dublin, we’d suggest that you’ll get the most fun out of your vacation here when you focus on the city’s 3 core joys of art, history, and food. Here’s how each came to life during our trip.
Art
Our family has enjoyed public art in many spaces around the country, but never as much in one place as in Dublin.
Darree Fields: Sculpture scavenger hunts, trails, and an accessible playground
A 151-acre park is a place our family can never wait to check out. In fact, Darree Fields was our very first stop when we got into town. Along with multiple soccer and baseball fields, not to mention a loop trail (and sculpture path) through a patch of woods, we stopped by the fully accessible Miracle League Playground.
Multiple zones provided activities for a range of ages and mobilities, and the central play area was set up for wheelchair access. Aster romped all over the playground (including the nearby fitness equipment and musical instruments), while Connor cozied up with a novel on a park bench.
But our main purpose at Darree Fields? Find the sculptures.
From the baseball diamonds to the large grassy fields, sculptures dot the park like birds on a pond. Our family favorite? “Going, going…Gone!” evoked excitement and flight, with multiple tall structures rising to the sky and leading us to a gateway that entered onto the forest trail.
Mobility tip
Each of the main areas at Darree Fields has ample parking close to entrances and trailheads. At Miracle League Playground, an entire parking lot is for use only by visitors who have disability parking passes. The overall Darree Fields space has been designed and updated for accessibility, especially for athletes and outdoor recreation enthusiasts who have mental and/or mobility impairments or disabilities.
Dublin Arts Council, Art museum and of course, Large Orange Snails
With over 60 parks and over 70 pieces of public art, Dublin’s public art scene is a core part of the city’s urban planning. We found the beating heart of Dublin’s art initiatives and community at the Dublin Arts Center, a little outside of downtown (and near more parks dotted with sculptures).
Built in 1941, the French-Eclectic former upscale residence is on the National Register of Historic Places. As an elegant home for the Dublin Arts Council, the space includes large orange snail sculptures, planning offices, a downstairs clay and pottery space (complete with workshop and kiln room), and a rotunda entrance that introduces guests to the art. A main level gallery is open to the public, with permanent and temporary exhibitions.
The kids are now old enough to find more engagement with art. However, the folks at the Dublin Arts Center knew they could offer more to families if they turned a back room into a comfy space for calm and creation. After wandering the gallery space, we all spent time on comfy couches and at a table with plenty of art supplies. The kids flipped through books, and a kettle was at the ready for a relaxing cup of tea.
Back to those snails.
Our art experience began on the grounds. From Cracking Art in Milan, Italy, the snails are made of recycled plastic, in varying sizes, and took up residence around Dublin (look for another outside the downtown library) in May 2024.
Mobility tip
Inside the gallery, ramps ease access between different gallery spaces. Overall spacing in rooms and between exhibits has ample space for maneuvering. An elevator travels between the basement and the main level. Paths are in the works to ease access from the building to the river at the back of the property.
Your public art checklist
When visiting Dublin, you can easily make your own public art scavenger hunt. Here are some pieces and experiences to include in your Dublin public art checklist:
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Field of Corn: Easy access via street-side pullouts at Sam and Eulalia Frantz Park, or a parking lot is just past a stand of trees. Field of Corn is your ultimate spot for a Dublin family selfie with public art.
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Irish Fairy Door Trail: Many downtown businesses are also home to whimsical fairy doors, adorned with the name of the fairy who lives inside. Hint: Look for one at Visit Dublin’s visitor center!
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Coffman Park is home to Watch House and Injection, not to mention the city’s annual Dublin Irish Festival.
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Leatherlips: This hillside art in Scioto Park isn’t just something you can engage with, but be a part of, all the while looking at the river and countryside beyond. It was also one of the first public art works installed by the city.
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Boat in the Field: A key part of the ML "Red" Trabue Nature Reserve, and one of the city’s newest additions.
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Featherpoint: Poignant, and so simple it can be easy to miss at first glance, amidst the many trails and trees of Thaddeus Kosciuszko Park. But when you encounter Featherpoint, don’t be surprised if you want to stay and consider it a while, like we did.
To plan the art you want to see, download these 2 helpful resources:
Mobility tip
Most public art works have nearby parking and can be reached via trails or paths. To check access for a specific piece, contact Visit Dublin.
History
The walls had faces. But we’ll come back to that.
While Dublin honors its past, it is not stuck there. It’s the rare community that can strike such a balance of feeling clean, modern, and easy to get around, yet keeps its historic buildings and evokes a sense of times past.
It also helps when it’s easy for families to stroll through time, with stories to keep even the kids engaged along the way.
Historic Dublin Walking Tour
The simple, unadorned barber shop has continuously operated since the 1930s. Our guide got his first haircut there. The building that houses the veterinary clinic used to be a blacksmith.
These are intriguing facts, yet historic buildings and history tours can present a perilous moment for parents. Personally, we enjoy insights into culture and history. At the same time, we know that if there’s too much minutiae or too little context, our kids won’t be engaged and will quickly lose interest.
So it was with no small amount of courage that we stepped into the renovated century-old building that is the new home of the Dublin History Museum. Over the next hour, we would wander downtown Dublin on a historic walking tour with our guide, Clayton “Clay” Rose III.
Clay fitted our small group with personal headsets, which made it much easier to hear and stay engaged with his stories and insights about a town that has deep roots for Clay and his family. He also talked over the route with us, to make sure that the slopes and steps at one segment would be okay for Jodie.
During a mile walk and about an hour and a half, our route quickly took us back into the early 1800s, when American settlers identified a sweet spot of access to fresh water but no flood risk. We followed the slope down toward the Scioto River and its historic bridge (under which you can now rent kayaks just feet from the water’s edge).
The Ornery Stoneworker
As we wandered, Clay brought the past to life for each of us, including the kids. The Dublin Community Church was the only church of three to survive a tornado. An unassuming red brick two-story house from the 1840s was part of the Underground Railroad, complete with a speaking tube so the owner could tell people the coast was clear. A frog statue commemorated the Dublin Kiwanis Frog Jump, which began in 1967.
Along a historic community street, horizontal limestone slabs from the area’s ubiquitous limestone deposits lined the front of just about every property. However, the top row always had the limestone turned vertical, like books on a shelf. Some of these fences had their own distinct stories, such as a challenge set by one resident that each person had to bring a stone to his housewarming, but it couldn’t be limestone.
Or there was the “ornery stoneworker.” Whenever he had leftover concrete, he molded faces on pillars and walls, often with a mouth that could fit a corncob pipe.
While Aster said they looked “kind of creepy,” she helped us keep an eye out for more.
Irish Name but not Irish Roots
Over the past 60 years, Clay explained, Dublin’s population has grown from 500 to over 50,000. Despite the city’s growth, it has kept its small town kindness, along with a clean and delightful downtown, where on a fine September evening, people relaxed at outdoor tables at restaurants and a wine bar. Kids and adults came in and out of the new, contemporary public library.
Clay also addressed the elephant in the city’s name: The folks who settled Dublin were of Germanic origin, not Irish. Yet when working with a surveyor to develop plats for defining and selling lots, it was agreed that the mapper could name the town.
He said it reminded him of his hometown in Ireland—so they named it Dublin.
Mobility tip
The walking tour includes some slopes and areas with steps, but the route has flexibility. Contact the Dublin History Museum to discuss the route and your mobility considerations to see what could work for you. The tour usually has enough flexibility for a few breaks.
Columbus Zoo & Aquarium
When visiting Dublin with kids, it’s a big bonus that one of the country’s premier animal experiences, the Columbus Zoo & Aquarium, is only about 15 minutes from downtown Dublin. Plus, it’s home to over 10,000 animals, with species from every continent—including Antarctica.
Among the things we learned and saw? The deserts of the Sahara, Arabia, and Central Asia are home to sand cats, which protect their feet from the hot sand by a wiry black fur on the bottoms of their paws. Gibbons demonstrated their acrobatics, and river otters inspired Aster to seek out an otter cozy friend in the gift shop. We marveled at the speedy form of a Tasmanian devil, and counted emperor penguins.
But our biggest fave was actually one of the smallest creatures. In one of the aquarium areas, we kept coming back to the sea dragons. These small aquatic beings float through the water, but their sinuous, wispy appearance indeed suits their name, evoking dragons from out of Chinese paintings and mythologies.
Mobility tips
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- When we arrived, we dropped Jodie off near the entrance while we parked.
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- The zoo’s ADA Ride and Attraction guide helps visitors understand mobility, sensory, and other aspects of attractions throughout the property.
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- We appreciated that overall flat terrain made it much easier for Jodie to walk.
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- Watch for brown accessible route signs throughout the grounds: They can guide you to more accessible pathways.
Bridge Park, Historic Dublin, and The Bridge Between the Two
As much as we appreciated Historic Dublin, we spent our last night in Dublin all the more amazed at how well the area balances old and new. Dublin figured out how to expand in a way that preserves downtown’s history, space, and character, while accommodating a growing population and its needs for schools, roads, businesses, and infrastructure.
Connected to downtown by the Dublin Link pedestrian bridge, the eastern side of the Scioto River, known as Bridge Park, has come alive with new residential and commercial developments. Apartments and condos surround a sleek grid of restaurants, bars, cafes, services, and above all, a riverside park that’s at the heart of an American city, but feels like it could have been transported there from Europe.
Our own evening visit focused on dinner at the global tastes inside North Market Bridge Park’s expansive food hall. We then wandered the outdoor Night Market, with vendors, live music, and games. Under bright lights, families wandered along the vibrant yet calm street.
Mobility tip
Expect slopes when going toward or away from the river. Parking is ample, but can be limited when the market or other events are underway.
Attractions on either side of the river
Along with the attractions we enjoyed, here are other options to keep in mind for your Dublin family vacation:
The Dublin Visitor & Information Center
Learn about Dublin’s attractions, get tourism info, and play Dublin-themed activities. You never know when there may be something special to do. On the night we visited it happened to be Visit Dublin Week, we won gift certificates and redeemed them at Johnson’s Real Ice Cream, we not only got a special Visit Dublin Week-exclusive treat. We also found the fairy door hiding near the ice cream shop’s entrance.
Extra parking
If downtown’s street-side spaces or parking lots are full, here’s a tip: There’s often parking at Indian Run Elementary School, up a hill by the activity fields. From there it’s a short walk to the library, shops, restaurants, and even the Dublin Link.
Indian Run Falls Waterfall Hike
We love easy-access waterfall hikes, and it’s hard to get easier than a waterfall hike that’s right in town and less than a mile there and back. Sadly, we didn’t make it to the falls, as they were pretty dried up from seasonal low rainfall. But Indian Run Falls is much loved locally, and can be an easy way to get in some outdoor time (and lovely waterfall family selfies) when there with your family.
Food
The moment Aster picked up her toasted Parisian ham sandwich on a baguette at downtown’s La Chatelaine French Bistro, she said, “My hunger has awakened.”
Diversity is the name of the food game in Dublin. North Market Bridge Park alone was home to Vietnamese, Moroccan, and Korean dishes. Here are a few notable spots to add to your Dublin dining list:
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North Market Bridge Park: Home to 17 eateries, including Lan Viet (try the chicken pho and Thai-style iced tea), Hai Poke (California Bowl and pork steamed buns), Tajine House (chicken tagine with a range of Moroccan sides, such as couscous, beets, and carrot salads)
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Johnson’s Real Ice Cream (also look for Toffee’s fairy door near the entrance)
Our dining experiences throughout Dublin were delicious and approachable, with the right mix of high quality and low stuffiness that we find the most enjoyable when dining out with our kids. Yet we could have stayed months in Dublin and still not have checked out all the amazing local restaurants.
Where to stay in Dublin: Home2 Suites by Hilton
It’s not always easy to strike a balance of a comfy, quiet hotel that welcomes kids and has a delicious, hot, complimentary breakfast. Yet the Home2 Suites by Hilton kept us comfy with its homey lobby, plus our spacious room’s kitchenette made it easy to have a bite in our rooms when we wanted some time to recharge. The entry to the patio also has free-to-borrow lawn games, including oversized jenga, cornhole, and connect four.
Check availability at Home2 Suites by Hilton
Other places to stay in Dublin, Ohio
You’ll get the most fun out of your vacation here when you focus on the city’s 3 core joys of art, history, and food.
Dublin, Ohio, is Historic, Modern, Delicious, Inspiring and Puts the Art in Heart
When you visit a community that is safe, welcoming, and well planned, you can feel it. The air is light with the simple joys of residents and visitors simply out and about, enjoying the day.
On our last night in town, we made our way to the bridge to cross back to downtown, but kept stopping to appreciate the views of each side of the river. We watched the moon rise over Dublin, where old and new are a bridge apart, yet woven into a seamless combination of yesterday and today that puts the art in heart.
