Zanesville sits on the Muskingum River about 55 miles east of Columbus, and it has a legitimate claim to something no other city in the world can match: a Y-shaped bridge where you can start on one side and end up back on the same side without turning around. The Y-Bridge has been a curiosity since 1819, and locals have been watching tourists puzzle over it ever since.
Beyond the bridge, Zanesville was once a center of American art pottery — McCoy and Roseville both operated here, and the region's clay-rich soil made it a natural hub for the industry. The Zanesville Museum of Art holds a strong collection of American ceramics and regional painting, and Vasehenge — a circle of oversized painted vases near the museum — celebrates that pottery heritage with some dry humour. The historic Muskingum River Locks, some of the oldest hand-operated canal locks still functioning in the US, are worth a look along the riverbank.
The biggest draw in the wider area is the Wilds, a 10,000-acre open-range wildlife conservation center about 30 miles south, where you can take safari tours past rhinos, giraffes, and African wild dogs. It's one of the largest private wildlife reserves in North America and worth the drive.