Bellefontaine, OH Outdoor Activities

Sprawled across Ed Martinek's 63-acre family farm, Adventure Acres cultivates a wholesome harvest of activities for pintsize and full-size visitors alike. Five corn mazes snake across a combined 11-plus miles of land, challenging navigators with twists and turns as onlookers and overly concerned scarecrows shout directions from an elevated watchtower. Scenic 30-minute hayrides explore the winding creeks and wildlife that meander peacefully across the grounds, and air-powered corn cannons equip trigger fingers with the power to launch ears up to 500 feet. After scouting the farm's outlying features, guests wrap back around to the petting zoo, where they can play with or try to elicit stock advice from tightlipped goats, horses, and cows.

Racket-wielding instructors at Schroeder Tennis Center help elevate players' tennis acumen with clinics and leagues for athletes of all ages and experience levels. Children's classes acclimate younger players to the game with smaller-sized racquets and courts, and this helps develop basic, size-appropriate skills at an earlier age. Adult classes range from beginner basic courses to high-level clinics, which teach players to smash tennis balls and small planets into orbit. The facilities include climate-controlled indoor courts—five in the summer and seven in the winter—as well as six outdoor courts.

Start Skydiving owes its ranking as the number-one skydiving location on dropzone.com to its staff of master skydivers, pilots, and instructors. The team navigates its aircraft thousands of feet in the air for tandem or AFF solo skydives, and the jumpers help novices in obtaining their own USPA B, C, or D licenses. Newly inducted divers can gear up with Start Skydiving’s online store, which carries everything from altimeters and flight-specific shirts to tickets for rides on hot-air balloons or twin-engine pterodactyls.

The Westcott House Foundation celebrates its charge’s history through continuing preservation efforts, safeguarding the house as both a museum and shrine to Frank Lloyd Wright’s vision for Prairie-style homes. One of 260 of Wright’s remaining houses in the world, the pristinely restored structure entices visitors from far and wide with its architectural allure and unparalleled hide-and-seek spots. The grounds embody Wright’s love of melding a building with its site, boasting a terrace, a pool, and period-inspired gardens. An intricately latticed pergola connects the carriage house to the main building, a rare and interesting gem among Wright’s normally trellis-free Prairie homes.

A collection of adrenaline-pumping ziplines whoosh through the forest on Markin Farms Zipline Adventures' 80-acre farm. The multilevel platforms, built high in the trees, connect the course's ziplines, which pass above bubbling creeks, over ponds, and through time. The scenic course includes challenge areas and ends with a double-zip setup, where two riders race to the finish directly above or below one another, overlooking the sparkling water. The farm also offers specialty zips that glide through the forest after twilight or just as the sun sets.