Dakota and I took a walk in Smithville the other day and came upon this church: It's the Smithville Historic Church of God, and it was built in 1867. Isn't it beautiful? I tried to go inside but it wasn't open.

You can get married here for $200. The chapel holds about 100 people.

This got me thinking about other historic churches in Ohio, which led me to try and do a search... They are HARD to find information about! I think that it is hard enough (if you don't already have a home church) to find a church to have your wedding at, but if you're looking for a historic church, it can be almost impossible to find a site with complete information.

Here are some resources I found to be helpful:

1. Remarkable Ohio: Lists all of the historic markers in Ohio. You can browse by keyword (churches, obviously), or by city or county (or any other number of things).

2. Cleveland Area history blog: Has posts related to historic churches to give you an idea of different ones in the area. Has a lot of great information about history, too.

3. Flickr: Flickr is a great place to search for images, since a lot of local people are uploading pictures of local places. Some photographers are more specific than others (they actually list the name of the place they took the picture). This can help you find pretty churches which can aid in your own search. I did a search for "small churches" and then searched for Ohio in that group. Lots of great stuff.

4. Sacred Landmarks: Has a pretty nice list, by county, of historic churches in Northeast Ohio.

5. And of course, one of the best places to look is on the blogs and websites of local photographers. Many of them have very organized sites, which can be helpful in finding cool venues or photo spots...