The Hole Story of Butler County

Southwestern Ohio has glazed our expectations with their hot Donut Trail.

Naturally, with a name like Weird South, I stick to a specific region of the United States.

As in the South.

But sometimes you need to stretch outside the box.

Like the donut box!

I’m a fan of those sugary treats, especially when a tourism organization thinks so much of their donut companies they must create a Donut Trail. Such is the case with Travel Butler County in southwestern Ohio (hey, there’s a “south” in that explanation). Their

Donut Trail is comprised of 14 donut shops and some of these have become so popular and delicious people travel to Ohio just to sample their goodness. For instance, one couple from Texas returns every year to celebrate their anniversary, because their first time on the trail was during their honeymoon. (There’s that southern connection again!)

Visitors can obtain a trail passport and gets stamps from participating donut shops and win a Donut Trail T-shirt if you collect a dozen.

Want to get really hungry? Watch this video.

But first, let’s have a quick geography lesson since we’re venturing outside our regular comfort zone: Butler County is in southwestern Ohio, about 20 minutes north of Cincinnati. It’s located near interstates 75 and 275 and is a popular road trip destination for people from Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis, Lexington and Louisville.

If you go… 

• Jungle Jim’s International Market is a 6.5-acre international grocery store that sells products from more than 75 countries. That’s not bad for a place that began as a roadside fruit stand back in 1971.

• In the 1850s, a man named Lorenzo Langstroth, now called The Father of American Beekeeping, developed a type of beehive that’s still being used by keepers around the world. He worked for Miami University, and today researchers in the college town of Oxford continue his quest to preserve and protect honeybees. The town hosts the Oxford Bee Festival each April, and there’s a two-sided mural downtown that allows humans to experience what “bee space” is like. A local nonagenarian named Don Popps operates 1,900 hives and sells his honey to visitors at a Honey Hut, but the sticky stuff can also be found in major grocery store chains like Whole Foods.

• There’s a nod to nostalgia at every turn, which ties in nicely with one of the travel trends that’s been widely identified for 2026. There’s a handful of diners with car-hop service, an old-fashioned drive-in movie theater, two classic candy shops, a record store, a pinball arcade, and a colossal toy store that specializes in sourcing things you remember from childhood.

• Pyramid Hill Sculpture Park displays 75 monumental sculptures on 470 acres. You can rent an “art cart” to explore the property, drive your own vehicle or wind through on foot using a series of hiking trails. The entire property was designed to be accessible to every type of traveler, ensuring that art is something everyone gets to experience.

• The Voice of America Museum honors the history of broadcasting and Voice of America radio programming and is housed in the old Bethany Relay Station, which dates to 1944 and from where entertainment and news was transmitted throughout the world. Modern-day visitors can listen to radio broadcasts of big moments in history, including the 1969 moon landing. This site is one of 45 stops on the county’s America25o Time Travel Trail. 

• The USS Cincinnati Memorial Peace Pavilion is currently under construction near the Voice of America museum. The site is a replica of the nuclear submarine that was decommissioned 30 years ago. It will measure 362 feet—the length of the actual sub—and incorporate elements of the original vessel. It will serve as a veterans memorial and is expected to open this summer.

This blog post was assisted by Mindy Bianca Public Relations. For more information on Butler County, Ohio, check out www.TravelButlerCounty.com.