A Walking Tour of Cincinnati, Ohio

There is no better way to see America than on foot. And there is no better way to appreciate what you are looking at than with a walking tour. Whether you are preparing for a road trip or just out to look at your own town in a new way, a downloadable walking tour is ready to explore when you are.Each walking tour describes historical and architectural landmarks and provides pictures to help out when those pesky street addresses are missing. Every tour also includes a quick primer on identifying architectural styles seen on American streets.Cincinnati was the first town in the American heartland with aspirations to equal the great cities of the East Coast. By the 1830 census Cincinnati, which had been settle din 1788, had already cracked the Top Ten of most populous United States cities and would remain there for the remainder of the century. Along the way Cincinnati picked up a host of nicknames. There was the "City of Seven Hills" for the progression of protrusions between the Miami River and the Little Miami River in which the early settlers nestled. There was "Porkopolis" which the town earned in the 1830s when pigs roamed the streets and Cincinnati was packing more hogs than anywhere on earth. Most of the pork was shipped south to New Orleans and, in the days before railroads, sold in markets back up North.The most enduring nickname was "Queen City" which arose in the mid-19th century as outsiders began to sing the praises of the Ohio River town. Even English author Charles Dickens who was miserly with his commendation of American cities on an 1840s tour wrote favorably of Cincinnati as "a place that commends itself...favorably and pleasantly to a stranger."Nothing remains 170 years later in downtown Cincinnati that Dickens would recognize but our walking tour will investigate if the spirt of his words live on and we will begin at the city's spiritual heart...