Malabar Farm State Park preserves the 878-acre working farm of Louis Bromfield, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author who turned this Richland County property into a showcase for sustainable agriculture in the 1940s. It’s one of the few state parks in Ohio where you can tour a celebrity farmhouse, watch draft horses work the fields, and hike wooded ravines all in the same afternoon.

The Big House, Bromfield’s 32-room country home, is the park’s centerpiece. Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall married here in 1945, and the home remains furnished much as Bromfield left it. Guided tours run regularly from spring through fall. The working farm still operates with heritage livestock, seasonal maple syrup production, and garden plots that demonstrate the conservation farming techniques Bromfield championed.

Hikers will find roughly 15 miles of trails winding through hardwood forests, open meadows, and past Pleasant Valley’s scenic vistas. The Jungle Trail and Pleasant Valley Trail are standouts for wildflower displays in spring. Birding is rewarding year-round, with warblers flooding the canopy during May migration.

The park offers a rustic youth group camp, though individual campsite availability is limited — nearby Pleasant Hill Lake has fuller camping facilities if you need hookups or family sites.

Visit in late September or October when the rolling hills blaze with fall color and the farm hosts its annual Heritage Days festival. Spring maple syrup weekends are equally worth the trip. Malabar Farm rewards visitors who appreciate where agriculture, literary history, and Appalachian foothills converge.

Explore Nearby

• Wally Road Scenic Byway — Scenic Byway in Ohio
• Johnny Appleseed Historic Byway — Scenic Byway in Ohio
• Huron Harbor Light — Lighthouse in Ohio
• Vermilion Light — Lighthouse in Ohio
• Fry Family Park — Dark Sky Site in Ohio