The Oliver House

When I traveled with my sister Deni to China in November 2008 for the adoption of her youngest son, we wanted to fly Northwest since it was the airlines both of us preferred to use. Because of flight schedules, however, we ended up going on United. I haven’t flown with them since.

Fast forward to May 2010. Evidently, if there is no activity on your Mileage Plus account for 18 months, you run the risk of losing all the miles you’ve accumulated to date. I hate when that happens. While not quite enough for a free ticket, I had plenty to score a money-and-miles fare. Unfortunately, I had no time in which to make an impromptu trip. Since I didn’t want my miles to expire, I did some quick research to see what alternatives I could come up with. I wasn’t interested in subscribing to any newspapers or magazines, nor did I want to donate or transfer my miles. For a mere 1,000, though, I could purchase a $25 gift certificate through restaurant.com to be used at one of 15,000 participating eateries nationwide. Perfect! The Oliver House in Toledo ended up being the place.

Overlooking the Middlegrounds, a railroad hub, immigration center and marketplace, the Oliver House opened in 1859 as Toledo’s premier hotel. It was designed by renowned architect Isaiah Rogers in the Greek Revival style and built by the family of William Oliver for whom the hotel was named. Owner of the land upon which it was built, Oliver was one of Toledo’s earliest real estate investors. Rogers is known as the “father of the modern hotel,” who revolutionized hotel design with such advances as water closets and mechanical call buttons. Each of the 171 rooms in the Oliver House had its own fireplace, running water and gas lighting. It is the last of his hotels in the United States and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places; an unconfirmed legend says that Abraham Lincoln slept there.

The Oliver House also served as a medical center for the wounded during the Spanish-American War and this historic building has a haunted reputation. Paranormal investigations and strange sightings are evidently common there.  Numerous apparitions have appeared to guests and diners over the years, the most common of which is that of a soldier come to be known as “The Captain.” He is said to show up most frequently dressed in full uniform.

After changing hands several times, the pre-Civil War brick building which stands at 27 Broadway Street housed manufacturers of lighting fixtures and axels, as well as various small businesses. Today it is home to restaurants, bars and townhouses. The Maumee Bay Brew Pub was our destination.

I’m not a huge beer drinker, but nothing goes down better on a hot summer day than a cold one. Since the temps were still hovering in the 90s and Buckeye Beer, a hometown brew dating back to 1838, could be had for a buck a bottle, how could we not indulge? We had to spend $35 to use my $25 gift certificate, but I suppose that by tossing back 17.5 Buckeyes each we would likely have seen a few things besides ghosts. So I instead decided upon a big, fat, juicy steak and Mark a lake perch dinner. Though our tummies were full, we still had room to play with on our $35 tab; chocolate cake (German chocolate for Mark) ended up going home with us. Good food and great service made it an excellent venue in which to cash in my gift certificate.