Newark, OH
Just east of Columbus, KVTA is the closest GA airport to the Newark Earthworks — one of the largest sets of Hopewell culture geometric earthworks in the world (built 100 BC - 500 AD), a UNESCO World Heritage Site as of 2023. The Octagon Earthwork and the Great Circle are visible from above as enormous geometric patterns in the landscape — astonishing precision built 2,000 years ago. This is one of the most underappreciated archaeological sites in North America.
One of the largest sets of geometric earthworks in the world — built by the Hopewell culture between 100 BC and 500 AD. The Octagon Earthwork and Great Circle are extraordinary: a perfect octagon enclosing 50 acres connected to a circle 1,054 feet in diameter, all built without metal tools. The earthworks align precisely with the 18.6-year lunar standstill cycle — astronomical engineering 2,000 years ahead of European equivalents. Designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2023 as part of the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks. From the air, the geometric perfection is staggering.
Few towns hand a pilot a better landmark than Zanesville. Where the Licking River meets the Muskingum, the road doesn't cross on one bridge — it crosses on a Y. The Y-Bridge is a three-legged span that meets midstream, so you can drive onto it and come off on the same bank you started from. There has been a Y-bridge here since 1814; the current one, the fifth, dates to 1902 and is on the National Register. Aviator Amelia Earhart is said to have called Zanesville the most recognizable city in the country because of it. The town sits on Zane's Trace, the pioneer road that ran from Wheeling all the way to Maysville, Kentucky.
Columbus is the state capital and Ohio's largest city, and from the John Glenn Columbus airport its center is a short hop southwest. The Ohio Statehouse, finished in 1861, is one of the purest Greek Revival capitols in the country — squared-off and severe, capped not by a soaring dome but by a low drum cupola, so it reads differently than most statehouses. Just south of downtown sits German Village, platted in 1814 and built up by German immigrants into one of the largest privately funded historic districts in the United States — all red brick and cobblestone. The Scioto Mile lines the riverfront, and a statue of John Glenn — Ohio's astronaut-senator, whose name is on the field you departed — stands inside the Statehouse.
You're landing at Ohio State's own airport. Don Scott Field has been the university's airfield since 1943 — named for a two-time All-American quarterback who became a WWII pilot and died in training — and aviation at Ohio State reaches back to 1917, when cadets first flew from what is now the heart of campus. Southeast of the field sits the campus and Ohio Stadium, "the Horseshoe": opened in 1922, the first concrete double-deck stadium in America and once the largest poured-concrete structure in the world, its south end left open in the signature U that gives it the name. It holds over 102,000, and at every home game the marching band spells out Script Ohio — a tradition since 1936 whose i has been dotted by honored guests including astronaut and Ohio son John Glenn.