Malabar Farm State Park

Husband and I came here for the Maple Syrup Festival. Very interesting. Great learning activity for parents and kids.

This review is from the perspective of a dude with a kid or kids who needs some free outdoorsy-​type stuff to do. This place is wonderful; the barn was a particular highlight for my animal-​loving toddler. We paid exactly zero dollars during our time here, had a nice picnic lunch at the entirely empty picnic area, saw some animals and just enjoyed being outside. Worth a trip.

Beautiful starting point for hiking the trails. Though the map proportions are a little strange, trees have been marked to guide the way.
I also recommend the drive up Mount Jeez for the view. After all, a change in altitude can change attitude.

This is a cool little working farm. There are several really good short hikes and if you go in the fall you are sure to see plenty of deer.

We were staying in Mansfield as part of a cross country trip and just looking for somewhere to walk the dog that was open and found this place.
This place is pretty awesome. Sadly, we did not have as much time to explore as we would have liked, but the few little paths we made it down were impressive. The fact that it was a working farm and filled with fields of all sorts was neat. We saw deer coming out at night and even a chance to look across the street to the tree from Shawshank Redemption. The paths seem to wind through woods and fields and all sorts of different places. The houses on the property were quite interesting. Beware when you walk on the horse approved paths for poo though!

A wonderful, relaxing meander through the rolling Ohio countryside — Malabar Farms. Where else can you see a piece of Hollywood history, the library collection of a Pulitzer Prize winner, and see a true conservationist at work?
This beautiful property belonged to author Louis Bromfield, contemporary of Ernest Hemingway, CS Lewis, Pablo Picasso and JRR Tolkein. While Bromfield won the top award in his field, his true love was farming, which his mother prohibitted.
This land is a must-​see for anyone who loves Hollywood memorabilia, wants to take a hike, indulge in local folklore and help preserve a gem. Louis Bromfield was a brilliant writer, friends to the rich-​and-​famous and a true green farmer. He entertained as many as 20,000 people in a year, had James Cagney selling produce at a roadside stand and took care of his overbearing mother until she died.
After living in France for 13 years he came back to the US determined to save the land from overfarming. He was a true pioneer in agricultural techniques. He was also a screenwriter for MGM after he won the Pulitzer, earning $ 2500 a week for a year. His high-​profile friends often came to visit and Humphrey Bogart even married his 3^rd wife, Lauren Bacall, in the hallway.
Malabar Farms is only state park that is still a working farm. After you take a tour of the «big house» you can take a tractor ride through the property, both for only $ 5. We also got to see the tree where Andy Dufrane buried money for his friend Red. We also heard about the resident ghost on a nearby property of a mentally challenged girl who poisoned and killed her entire family.
Once a month they hold a barn dance and in September they have heritage days. Members of the Bromfield family will return and the visitor’s bureau is trying to organize the 25 year anniversary of Shawshank Redemption. This property is definitely worth a visit.

If you are in the mood for a short roadtrip through rolling Ohio countryside, aim yourself north up I-​71 toward Mansfield to visit the serene and historical Malibar Farms. This 1930’s home-​turn-​museum is situated on a 900-​acre working farm owned and operated by the State as Malibar Farm State Park.
The main attraction is the 32-​room house, which was the former mansion of Pulitzer prize winning author and conservationist, Louis Bromfield. Guided tours of the «Big House» go off every half hour or so and additional wagon tours of the property can be added on for a nominal fee. This is such a serene an peaceful place that draws visitors from around the country.
Bromfield, who was born and raised near Mansfield, made it big as a novelist and screenwriter and lived all over the world, but after the depression he returned to Ohio to build his beloved Malibar Farm and implemented conservation techniques in hopes of preserving the central Ohio landscape.
Bromfield is not the most popular name around, but Malibar is well-​known for being the country escape for many of the 1940s and 50s New York and Hollywood jetsetters. It is most famous as the wedding site of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. A shrine to their nuptials resides on the dining room table and remains a pilgrimage site for fans of old Hollywood.
At the bottom of the farm, a small log house known as Pugh Cabin served as the filming site for the opening scene of Shawshank Redemption. It is also is locally famous for its maple syrup. The extended Malibar wagon tours take visitors to the center where the syrup is made. In the winter, the farm opens 12 miles of trails to cross country skiers.
If a day trip isn’t enough, Malabar Farm offers 15 campsites, a 19-​bed hostel, and a rustic cabin for rent.