Columbus Ohio real estate

Westerville Ohio's Field of Heroes many of the photos in the slide show are from this morning's Dedication Ceremony. There are 2000 flags on the corner of Cleveland Avenue and County Line Rd. "The Moving Wall", a half size replica of the Vietnam Veteran Memorial in Washington D.C. is in Westerville this Memorial Day Weekend. During the dedication ceremony, the mayor, named the five Westerville Ohio men, whose names appear on the wall.

You can still sponsor a flag in the Field of Heroes honor of your hero.

S.W. corner of Cleveland Ave. and County Line Rd. 

More about Westerville Ohio

Westerville Field of Heroes


Westerville is the BEST Place to Live in Ohio


Westerville's history

Walnut Bend in Westerville is a neighborhood I really, really like.  I believe all the homes in Walnut Bend were built by MI Homes but that is NOT why I like Walnut Bend.   I like the neighborhood because thare are some great lots. Great views.  Some of the odd numbered lots on Abbotsbury Dr. have a gorgeous view and the lots on the south side of Tree Bend Drive back to the woods or some do... but the view down the street on Tree Bend Dr. is what I love most.  One of the houses on Tree Bend Ct. with a gorgeous view of Walnut Creek, the park and the Westerville Community Center went "In Contract" really quickly earlier this year.

The majority of the homes in Walnut Bend seem to be built in 2000 to 2003.

Walnut Bend homes for sale  -  Search 

What is different abou the  Walnut Bend neighborhood than most City of Westerville neighborhoods?  Walnut Bend is in  Olentangy schools... Yes Walnut Bend is in the City of Westerville (not just a Westerville ZIP code but legally in the City of Westerville)  but the Olentangy Local School District.

Where is Walnut Bend?

Walnut Bend in Westerville is #16 of 365 Places to Live in Columbus' a page on Facebook.

Today's entry on "365 Places to Live in Columbus" on Facebook is Westerville Ohio a northeast suburb. 

From last summer on ColumbusBestBlog.com :

Westerville Ohio is the BEST Place to Live in all of Ohio.  The Columbus suburb made the list of  100 BEST Places to Live on  CNNMoney.com, a list of US cities.   Westerville at number 15  is the top city in Ohio in the list… None of the other Ohio cities that made the 100 BEST Places to Live list are in Central Ohio…

Congratulations to Westerville!

I see Delaware and Columbus in the list of Ohio cities but don’t see Gahanna, Grandview, Hilliard, New Albany Powell, Upper Arlington or Worthington….  Or Lewis Center, but Lewis Center is a place but not a city…

Search Westerville Ohio homes for sale

The Columbus Santa connection is in Westerville, a northeast suburb.

Merry Christmas from DiscoverColumbusOH.com and Maureen McCabe of Real Living HER.

Hope Santa stopped by your Columbus Ohio home… if you believe.

Westerville, a suburb north of Columbus  has a Santa connection.  Did you know that Benjamin Hanby, favorite son of Westerville Ohio (Hanby is featured on the signs when you enter Westerville,  that were put up in 2003 for Ohio’s bicentennial for another of his songs) had a Santa connection?  Hanby wrote “Up On The Housetop” or maybe it is it “Up On the  House  Top”?  Looks like the Hanby House in Westerville believes it is  “House Top.”  That's what the sign on the front lawn of Hanby House says.

That’s OK I think I grew up singing  “Up on a Roof  Top.”

Hanby lived in the house at 160 W. Main Street in Westerville while he attended Otterbein.  Hanby’s father, a minster was involved in the Underground Railroad so the house would be historical, even if son Benjamin was not a song writer.  He wrote the song  “My Darling Nellie Gray” while living in Westerville.  That is the song commemorated on the signs at the entrances to the City of Westerville.

I believe  Benjamin Hanby (or Ben Hanby as the cut out on the front lawn refers to Hanby ) was living elsewhere by the time he wrote  ” Up On The House Top.”

Here are the lyrics on a previous post:

Up On The Housetop

Hanby House has three chimneys, plenty of Santa access!  There is one on the back of the house which you can not see in this photo.

Hope Santa stopped by your house last night.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Westerville - 'Up On The Housetop'

Is it too early for Christmas songs?

Sunny 95 and some other radio stations don't think so.  

As the signs as you enter Westerville say Benjamin R. Handy wrote 'Darling Nelly Gray.'  Most people today are probably more  familiar with another song written by Hanby,  'Up On The Housetop' a Christmas song.  The Ohio Historical Society site for Hanby House in Westerville says the song was originally called 'Santa Claus.'

 Hanby House - 160 W. Main Street Westerville Ohio is owned by the Ohio Historical Society and operated by the Westerville Historical Society.

Hanby history - Westerville History on Ohio History Central

I think I always sang the song,  "Up on the Rooftop"

'Up On The Housetop'

"Up on the housetop, reindeer pause
Out jumps good ol' Santa Claus
Down through the chimney with lots of toys
All for the little ones, Christmas joys
Ho, Ho, Ho! Who wouldn't go?
Ho, Ho, Ho! Who wouldn't go?
Up on the housetop, click, click, click
Down through the chimney with good Saint Nick

First comes the stocking of little Nell
Oh, dear Santa, fill it well
Give her a dolly that laughs and cries
One that will open and shut her eyes
Ho, Ho, Ho! Who wouldn't go?
Ho, Ho, Ho! Who wouldn't go?
Up on the housetop, click, click, click
Down through the chimney with good Saint Nick

Next comes the stocking of little Will
Oh, just see what a glorious fill
Here is a hammer and lots of tacks
Also a ball and a whip that cracks
Ho, Ho, Ho! Who wouldn't go?
Ho, Ho, Ho! Who wouldn't go?
Up on the housetop, click, click, click
Down through the chimney with good Saint Nick"

Westerville - 'Up On The Housetop' - Benjamin R. Hanby

I believe Hanby left Westerville and moved to Chicago where he died in his early 30's. I think Hanby  was living in Chicago when he wrote 'Up On The  Housetop" but I could be wrong.   Hanby is obviously still Westerville's favorite son to have his name on the sign as you enter the city after all these years.

The underground railroad history is an important part of Westerville's history. The song 'Darling Nelly Gray' is about a runaway slave headed for freedom and his love, Nelly Gray, a slave who had been sold away the night before their wedding. 

Westerville - 'Up On The Housetop' -  today's Christmas decorations

If you hear the song on the radio, remember it was written by Benjamin R. Hanby.

If you see a sleigh on a Central Ohio roof or "housetop" or a Santa Claus strapped to the Chimney (have you read John Grisham's 'Skipping Christmas'...? I think they were strapping snowmen to their chimney... not Santa Claus) If you see Christmas decorations on Central Ohio 'housetops'  think of Benjamin Hanby who was a Westerville resident once upon a time.

More about Westerville Ohio

Westerville's history the underground railroad

Westerville is the BEST place to live in Ohio

Westerville and Gahanna are on 100 Top US Cities List

Westerville History - the Underground Railroad

Benjamin Hanby lived in Westerville as a teen and young man.  His father William Hanby was an abolitionist.  Hanby House was a station on the Underground Railroard.

The song "Darling Nelly Gray" was the story of an escaped slave Joe Selby on his way to Canada to earn money to free Nelly Gray.

Westerville history - the Underground Railroad  

Hanby House - 160 W. Main Street Westerville Ohio is owned by the Ohio Historical Society and operated by the Westerville Historical Society. 

The image is the sign as you enter Westerville on W. Main Street with Sharon Woods Metro Park on the south side of the road and the Annehurst subdivision all around.

Westerville History on Ohio History Central

Westerville's history

Westerville is the BEST place to live in Ohio

Westerville is the BEST Place to Live in all of Ohio. 

Not just the best place to live in Central Ohio.... all of Ohio, northeast Ohio, southwest Ohio...

The Columbus suburb made the list of  100 BEST Places to Live on  CNNMoney.com, a list of US cities.   Westerville at number 15  is the top city in Ohio in the list… None of the other Ohio cities that made the 100 BEST Places to Live list are in Central Ohio

Congratulations to Westerville!

I see Delaware and Columbus in the list of Ohio cities but don’t see Gahanna, Grandview, Hilliard, New Albany Powell, Upper Arlington or Worthington.  Or Lewis Center, but Lewis Center is a place but not a city.

This "Westerville is the BEST Place to Live"  was originally published on another blog I write, ColumbusBestBlog.com it seemed like a natural fit.

A Video from Real Living HER about Westerville:

More about Westerville:

Westerville  Field of Heroes

Westerville homes for sale

Maureen McCabe Real Living HER Worthington…

I’ll work in Westerville… really, discover Westerville a wonderful  Columbus suburb.

 Field of Heroes

Big Bugs...  is at Inniswoods Metro Gardens through October 14, 2007.

The bugs are the work of artist David Rogers.

Inniswood Metro Gardens is part of the Metroparks. 

There's a slideshow with some of the other bug sculptures and lots of flowers on my other blog, ColumbusBestBlog.com.  There are not photos of all Rogers'  bugs there you need to go see them yourselves at Innsiwood Metro Gardens, the photos don't do the sculptures or the flowers justice. 

Above is one of three large ants.  There's ladybugs (which are not bugs and aren't all ladies either... 'Big Bugs' is educational even if you are older) a great spider, an assasin bug, a butterfly, an 11' grass hopper, a dragon fly.... and more.  

Sunday's Commit To Be Fit Walk is at Inniswood Metro Gardens  kill two birds with one stone.  Figuratively.  They have children's programs on Saturdays throughout the exhibit of the BIG BUGS.

It's FREE!

More about Westerville on ColumbusBestBlog.com

Westerville and Gahanna - Top 100 US Cities (Small Cities)

Westerville is a great place

Westerville Median Home Price 2006

Not Nirvana as in not paradise.

I guess Nirvana is a state not a place. Nirvana is happiness, peace, lots of great things. It's a Budhist concept. It's way over my head.

Nirvana was also the name of a rock group. Grunge rock

The Nirvana song from the early 90's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" went through my brain at church in Westerville Ohio Sunday morning.  Some of the lyrics to the song are:

"Load up on guns
Bring your friends
Its fun to lose
And to pretend
Shes overboard
Myself assured
I know I know
A dirty word"

I'm too old to have songs like that running through my brain. The song "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is from the early 90's.   In the early 90's I was already waaaaaay too old for personal teen angst but the song is caught in my brain never the less.

Recently two of Columbus suburbs made the CNNMoney.com list of 100 Top US Cities this year, Westerville and Gahanna.  Both Westerville and Gahanna are smaller cities.  Both communities are very family oriented.  Face it Greater Columbus is a great place to raise a family, over all, but it is not "Nirvana" no community is.

A friend who is a parishioner of a Westerville church that was the alledged target of a "Columbine style attack" according to articlees in the Columbus Dispatch blurted out something about the boy's parents not being responsible parents when we first talked about it last Wednesday night when I read about "the plot" online and sought the Columbus Dispatch for more information. Two unidentified local restaurants were also alleged targets.

Westerville is not Nirvana is an entry on my other blog, Columbus Best Blog about the local story of troubled teens in that Central Ohio community.  I want to believe the plot that was "uncovered" was just a plea for attention and not something that they could or would implement. Two other local teens who read about 'the plot' on MySpace.com brought it to the attention of local authorities.

The Westerville boys would have been born around the time the song "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was recorded by Nirvana. Here (link broken)  is a YouTube Video of "Smells Like Teen Spirit.' It's hard to hear the lyrics. It's a song about teenage rebellion and anarchy, the A in a circle means Anarchy.  To me Westerville is more soccer league and cheerleader, less anarchy.