Free in The Land: Historic Hidden Gems
Expiration: Jan 31st 2025
If you’re looking for a day filled with history and culture, you can’t do much better than Cleveland. Sure, we’ve got the Cleveland Museum of Art and one of the finest permanent collections of art in the world, the many prehistoric wonders on display at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and the Cleveland History Center explores our city’s vibrant past.
But we also have a wealth of hidden gems throughout The Land that tell the story of our city on a more local scale. These museums offer unique perspectives and niche areas of interest that are a perfect addition to a day of art and culture, or a jumping off point for exploring our diverse and historic neighborhoods.
With our Free in The Land: Historic Hidden Gems Passport, you can check out these fascinating, surprising stops and earn points for exclusive Cleveland-branded prizes. With the re-launch of Destination Cleveland’s Experience Passports program, participants can accumulate points across all the passports* for a variety of Cleveland-branded prizes available for redemption within the Rewards tab of the passport.
Explore the hidden history of The Land and start filling up your passport today. Prizes will be picked up at the Cleveland Visitors Center at 334 Euclid Ave. All passport check-ins must be completed and all prizes must be picked up by January 31, 2025.
*Excludes points earned for the Cleveland Brewery Passport
Included Venues
See locations on an interactive map.
Baseball Heritage Museum at League Park
Housed in the former ticket office of League Park – the original home of Major League Baseball in Cleveland – the Baseball Heritage Museum is a living time capsule of America’s Pastime. In addition to a wealth of artifacts from Cleveland baseball history and a legit Babe Ruth home run ball, the museum’s collection proudly includes items from the Negro Leagues (the park was also home to the Cleveland Buckeyes), Women’s Professional Baseball and the Caribbean Leagues just to name a few. League Park itself has been restored to its historic dimensions and hosts high school and little league games in season. The Museum is served by the #9 bus at the Lexington Avenue and East 66th Street stop.
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CanalWay Center
One of five nature centers operated by the Cleveland Metroparks, CanalWay Center invites you to explore the natural and cultural history and beauty of Cleveland’s Industrial Valley. Perched above the river valley with steel mills to the north and Cuyahoga Valley National Park to the south, the center is home to a canal boat play area, wildlife exhibits and a bird viewing room for the ornithologist in all of us.
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Cleveland Hungarian Museum
Since the late 1800s, Cleveland has been a center of the Hungarian diaspora. The Hungarian Museum’s permanent exhibits of traditional ethnic costumes, folk art, musical instruments and historic photographs tell the story of Hungarian immigration to America, and Cleveland in particular. Rotating exhibits often include art leant to the museum by private collectors, features on Hungarian history and programs about travel to Hungary. Located in the Galleria, at the corner of East 9th Street and St. Clair Avenue, it’s a quick trip from Public Square on the #1 bus.
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Cleveland Police Museum
With collections featuring the motorcycle unit, mounted unit and a 1926 jail cell that visitors can enter, the museum is housed Downtown on the ground floor of the Justice Center. Historical displays depict policing in the 19th century, during prohibition and during the civil unrest of the 1960s. In perhaps its most famous display, the museum’s exhibit on the Kingsbury Run Torso Murders contains the plaster death masks cast from the killer’s victims, in hopes of a positive identification. The museum is located one block north of Public Square, which is the hub of Cleveland’s public transit system.
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Cleveland Public Library - Special Collections
Designed by the famous Cleveland architectural firm Walker & Weeks, Cleveland’s main library moved to this Beaux Arts-style building on 325 Superior Avenue in 1925. The third floor of the Main Library building is home to the Special Collections Department, home to the world’s largest chess library, a collection of miniature books and a wealth of other rare and wonderful curiosities. The Main Library is located one block east of Public Square, which is the hub of Cleveland’s public transit system.
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Cozad Bates House
This unique Italianate-style home is the only pre-Civil War structure remaining in University Circle. The Cozad-Bates House is located in an area that was actively involved in the abolitionist movement and whose community members supported the work of the Underground Railroad. In 2021, the house opened as an interpretive center, sharing the story of the area’s anti-slavery past after a 15-year restoration effort. It is located two blocks west of the Little Italy / University Circle Station on the Rapid Red Line.
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Dunham Tavern Museum & Gardens
Originally a stop on the stagecoach route between Buffalo and Detroit, the Dunham family’s tavern on Euclid Avenue is now Cleveland’s longest-standing structure. Dunham Tavern became a center for turkey shoots and parties both social (they could rage back then) and political (the Whigs met here often). Prominent landscape architect Donald Grey and the Society of Collectors preserved the site, and the Tavern now serves as a museum and event venue, with its spacious gardens open to the public from dawn to dusk. Dunham Tavern is served by the Healthline BRT at the Euclid and East 66th Street Station.
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International Women’s Air & Space Museum
Founded in 1976, the International Women's Air & Space Museum shares the stories of women in all areas of air and space through inspiring programs, exhibits, and outreach. The Museum has called Burke Lakefront Airport home since 1998. Ohio has long been a center of innovation in flight and space exploration and the museum highlights women’s many stories and contributions to that legacy.
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Italian American Museum of Cleveland
The “new kid” on the Cleveland museum scene, the Italian-American Museum opened in 2021 with a mission to highlight the many contributions of Italian-Americans to Cleveland’s history and culture. The museum offers permanent exhibits as well as walking tours of Little Italy (bring an appetite, trust us). It is located three blocks east of the Little Italy / University Circle Station on the Rapid Red Line.
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Lake View Cemetery
More than just a final resting place for famous Clevelanders, with stunning architecture and natural beauty all around, Lakeview Cemetery has long been a quiet retreat for locals. At the highest point of the cemetery, you’ll find a 180-foot-tall monument where President James A. Garfield lies interred. From there, visit Jeptha Wade Chapel with its exquisite Tiffany & Co. stained glass, the Haserot Angel or the Rockefeller Obelisk. Pay your respects at the jukebox-shaped grave of Alan Freed (who coined the term “Rock & Roll”) or the resting place of Ray Chapman, the only player to ever pass away during a major league baseball game. Go in early spring, and beloved Daffodil Hill offers an explosion of yellow blooms. You’ll find the check-in code posted near the Garfield Monument. The Euclid Avenue and East 123rd Street Station on the Healthline BRT serves the main Euclid Avenue Gate.
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Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument
Having anchored the southeast corner of Cleveland’s Public Square since 1894, the 125-foot column topped by a Liberty statue honors the more than 9,000 Cuyahoga County residents who served in the Civil War. Nestled beneath the column is a room containing memorial tablets and four large bronze sculptures with massive 1,800-pound bronze doors on the monument’s north and south sides. The Monument is located on Public Square, the hub of Cleveland’s public transit system.
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Ukrainian Museum-Archives
In 1952, a group of displaced scholars began collecting and preserving items from Ukrainian history and culture during an era when this kind of material was being deliberately destroyed by the Soviet Union. A collection of over 4,000 paintings, lithographs, sculptures, ceramics, textiles, pysanky (Easter Eggs) and folk instruments depict scenes from Ukraine and the Ukrainian diaspora. Genealogists and researchers often visit to review the detailed religious records from Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant churches dating back to the 17th century. The #25 bus runs to Tremont. The archives are located one block south of the stop at West 11th Street and Fairfield Avenue.
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