Explore Historic Malabar Farm State Park
Malabar Farm State Park is a little hidden gem halfway between Cleveland and Columbus and is considered one of America’s most famous farms, yet somehow not widely known in Ohio. The landscape of Malabar Farm is filled with woodlands, lakes, streams, and bogs, along with rolling countryside and fertile farmlands. The park is located about 20 minutes from Mansfield and is connected to Mohican State Park, with the Pleasant Valley Dam between the two.
>> Related: The Ultimate Guide To Mohican State Park <<
Who is Louis Bromfield?
To understand why Malabar Farm is so historic, let me first tell you about Louis Bromfield, the man behind the park…
Louis Bromfield was a true Ohio author, born in Mansfield in 1896, he was a Pulitzer Prize winner, a farmer, and was a dedicated conservationist. All 30 of the books he wrote in his 32-year career became best sellers. He also wrote screenplays and a couple of his books were made into movies.
Bromfield attended the city schools before attending Cornell University for an agriculture degree in 1914 but ended up dropping out to help on his family’s farm. He later enrolled at Columbia University a couple of years later for journalism. Bored with college, he then enlisted in the United States Army Ambulance Service. Afterward, he finished his education and became a reporter in New York City reporting on the mental wards of Bellevue Hospital before working for the Associated Press. He went through a few different positions but a notable one is when he began working with the up-and-coming Time Magazine.
Whilst in NYC, he became a popular personality in the social scene. In 1921, he married Mary Appleton Wood, a New York socialite of old New England stock, and they had three daughters.
The family moved to France in 1925 and stayed there until 1938. They left due to the threat of war in Europe and Louis’ desire to return to the land of his youth. He purchased three farms in the Pleasant Valley in 1939, which would become the Malabar Farm you see today. He wanted to restore the land and set about soil and water conservation, which later became widely influential, and he hosted thousands of visitors here. He never cared about the fame from his conservation work, he simply wanted to test agricultural theories. Louis loved hosting family and friends at his home, as well as celebrities. If he wasn’t hosting a party, he was always working and hardly sleeping. He even hid his bone marrow cancer for a year, before dying in 1956, at 59 years old.
Unfortunately today, Louis Bromfield’s novels aren’t as popular as they once were, unlike Hemingway and other similar authors whose work continues to thrive. Although the farm is hoping to change that with the house tours and teaching others about Bromfield.
Malabar Farm State Park: The Complete Guide
While a farm might not be your typical travel destination, it’s still worth the trip once you get there, especially if you love history or agriculture stuff. Mansfield and Malabar Farm are both film sites of the Shawshank Redemption if you needed another reason to explore this park.
Know before you go
Getting There & Around
Whether you’re coming from the Cleveland or Columbus area, you’ll want to take I-71. The park is easy to drive through, with parking lots at all major sites and trailheads. The nearest airports are Cleveland-Hopkins International or Akron-Canton.
When to visit
In the Spring the park hosts the Maple Syrup Festival is held each March. In the Fall they have the Ohio Heritage days Festival in September. Farm House tours take place all year long (days and hours vary).
Where to stay
Camping & Cabins:
The state park offers 15 first come first served primitive campsites.
River Trail Crossing campsites
Other Stays:
Best Things to See at Malabar Farm
Like with any state or national park, checking out the visitor center is a must, especially in a park not widely known, such as this one. Located in the Malabar Farm visitor center you’ll find a gift shop, displays where you can learn about Louis Bromfield and green energy, and more. The Visitor Center is where you can purchase tickets for the house or farm tours.
Bromfield’s Big House
The Big House & Farm
Just a short walk from the visitor center you’ll see the farm and the home. Bromfield referred to his 32 room country mansion as the “Big House.” The home was finished being constructed in 1941 and named after the Malabar coast of India. It was later put on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. The home was designed by Louis Lamoreux and Bromfield and was the site of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall’s wedding in 1945.
The working farm consists of many structures, including the Presidential Smokehouse, which Louis built with bricks from Henry Wallace’s grandfather’s home in Mansfield; the Vice President under Franklin D. Roosevelt. Attached to the home is the 3-car garage, where you can see Bromfield’s jeep, restored by a volunteer when found in one of the barns. The barn actually burnt to the ground in 1993 but was rebuilt similar to the original.
Malabar Farm
Bromfield’s manager, George Hawkins, was a notable figure and had his own room in the house. The room was modeled after George’s room in New York since he hated country life. After his death, Louis moved into the room. Later, when Bromfield died in 1956, the farm passed out of family ownership, and later became a state park in 1976. Bromfield gave it to the State of Ohio to be used as an educational farm. Ohio left the home exactly as he gave it, leaving the papers in the drawer and all.
Today, you can get a naturalist-guided tour of the home and farm, where you’ll see almost all the original furniture and artwork, as well as learn about Bromfield’s life and career. The tour takes about an hour, and the naturalist will lead you through almost all of the rooms. Some rooms you can’t enter but are able to take a peek inside. Louis added new rooms onto the original home, so each room is different.
The home itself doesn’t seem very large on the outside, and considering there’s 32 rooms, you’d think it would be stuffy, but in fact, it’s actually quite spacious on the inside. There’s even Night Haunts of the home during the summer months, learn more here.
View from Mt. Jeez with Malabar Farm in the distance
Ferguson Meadow & Mt. Jeez
Ferguson Meadow is frequently mentioned in Bromfield’s books, and the only way to get there is by taking the hiking trails; I’d recommend the bridle trail there. Ferguson is your typical meadow; an open area with brush and trees. If you’re lucky, you’ll find the rock shelter and falls.
On the opposite side of the valley is Mt. Jeez, which overlooks the Malabar Farm. The drive up there is a bit weird, you drive up a winding hill on a thin dirt road, and the parking lot is small at the top, but the view is amazing. Although it’s closed during the winter months. Mt. Jeez was originally called Poverty’s Knob, but renamed by Bromfield; when he first visited it and could see his farm, he mumbled “jeezl.”
Pugh Cabin
Butternut Cave & Pugh Cabin
Located along the Butternut trail, the cave is a little hidden gem in the park. I personally didn’t hike to it due to lack of time, but I’ve heard it’s pretty cool. You can walk through it, but you’ll want a light source, like a headlamp, and probably want someone with you for safety since it’s a thin, dark cave.
As for Pugh Cabin, the home was built by Jim Pugh in the 1940s for his family but is now a day rental location in the park and located down the road from the Visitor Center on a back road. Simply stop at the Visitor Center and ask about visiting this cabin; parking is limited and the day cabin tends to be in use so you might not get to check it out depending on when you visit. It’s best known for being the cabin from the opening scene of The Shawshank Redemption.
Hiking at Malabar Farm State Park
Doris Duke Woods Trail:1 Mile
Jungle Brook Trail: 0.7 Mile
Butternut Trail: 0.8 Mile
Pleasant Valley Bridle: 7 miles
View the trail maps here.
