Hello, New Albany.
Stay curious.

Welcome to New Albany Local, a free community guide from Smart Ride Central Ohio. Explore local history, find places to visit, and check upcoming events with links to their organizers. This is an independent guide, not an official city service. Choose any story, or listen to the collection in order. You can replay it whenever you like, with no account, payment or time limit. If you are driving, set up before moving and leave the controls to a passenger. Let your next outing begin with a little curiosity.

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New Albany was laid out in 1837 by Noble Landon and William Yantis. The Ealy House connects visitors with the area’s nineteenth-century life. The New Albany Plain Township Historical Society restored this house on Dublin-Granville Road as a place to explore that earlier community. Its story is a useful counterpoint to the large projects and newer neighborhoods that often dominate today’s headlines. Before visiting inside, check the society’s published tour arrangements. The past is easier to understand when the buildings are paired with the people and records behind them.

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Rose Run Park provides a local gathering place near the library on Market Street. Its location makes it a useful starting point for exploring New Albany’s village center. Parks are not only scenery between destinations; they can be destinations themselves, with space to pause before the next stop. Check city notices for current access and activities. Separate expansion announcements describe work in progress, so a drawing or proposed addition should not be mistaken for a facility already open to visitors.

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Some community traditions feel much older than they really are. New Albany’s Founders Day has its roots in nineteen seventy-six, when the country celebrated the two hundredth anniversary of American independence. The New Albany–Plain Township Historical Society started the celebration as part of that national Bicentennial. The society itself had formed just a year earlier, in nineteen seventy-five, to collect and preserve local artifacts, documents, and oral accounts. That timing tells an interesting story: residents were looking backward together while their own community continued to change. The society’s projects also included a Heritage Quilt depicting nineteenth-century Plain Township through folk art applique. A quilt, a remembered family story, and a public celebration can each preserve something that a list of dates cannot. For residents, Founders Day offers a reason to ask older neighbors what they remember. For visitors, it offers a way into the community’s shared memory. Check the current organizer’s information for celebration dates and activities.

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Taylor Farm Park offers a chance to look at the same land in two different ways. The city traces farming on the property back to the eighteen hundreds. Today, walking routes and boardwalks invite visitors to explore a landscape shaped partly by wetland restoration. The first phase opened in twenty twenty-three, followed by additional trails, boardwalks, and a community garden in twenty twenty-four. The seasonal character of the wetlands is part of the story. The restoration plan describes wetter conditions in winter and spring, with areas likely to become drier in late summer and early autumn, depending on rainfall. A different water level on your next visit may be part of that intended cycle. The original barn was removed after a structural assessment; the city distinguishes that decision from plans for the farmhouse and possible future features. Follow current signs and stay on designated routes. This is a place to notice change, both across the years and across the seasons.

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A walk at Rocky Fork Metro Park begins with something easy to overlook: several communities had to work together before these trails could exist. Metro Parks traces the project to the Rocky Fork–Blacklick Accord, adopted in nineteen ninety-seven by Columbus, New Albany, and Plain Township to guide development in a growing area. The first park parcel reached Metro Parks in two thousand eight, after a donation passed through the City of New Albany. More land purchases and a revised funding agreement followed. Rocky Fork finally opened in August twenty fifteen. That long path from agreement to opening makes the woods and fields a reminder that public green space takes planning and persistence. Today, the park offers walking routes, a bridle trail, and designated places for dogs. Choose the appropriate route from the current park map, since permitted uses vary by trail. Looking across the open ground, imagine the years of cooperation behind a place where a visitor can simply take a walk.

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A performing arts center can tell a story even before the curtain rises. Founded in two thousand eight, New Albany’s McCoy Center grew from a partnership among the city, Plain Township, the local school district, and the New Albany Community Foundation. The result connected arts education with performances and cultural experiences for the wider community. The center serves students while also welcoming visiting artists and audiences from beyond New Albany. Its programming includes performances, lectures, and educational activities, and the New Albany Symphony Orchestra is among the organizations that call it home. Think about the different experiences a single stage can hold: a student learning to perform, a musician sharing years of practice, or an audience encountering an unfamiliar idea. That mix is part of the building’s purpose. If you are planning an evening here, check the venue’s current calendar, ticket details, and accessibility information. The story is as much about who gathers as it is about what happens onstage.

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Phelps House carries a quieter story alongside New Albany’s larger public buildings. According to the McCoy Center’s history, Rollin and Nancy Clouse Phelps bought this lot and neighboring lots in eighteen fifty-five, three days before their wedding. Rollin was a currier, a worker who prepared and finished leather, and established a tannery nearby. The couple built their home between eighteen fifty-six and eighteen sixty-eight. Over the following generations, the house passed through several owners and uses, including a period when it was divided into apartments. Its connection to the arts came much later. In two thousand nine, the village restored it for McCoy Center staff offices, with substantial financial help from David and Ellen Ryan. The story offers another way to read the village center: older homes can take on useful new roles alongside newer institutions. Appreciate the exterior from permitted public areas and respect its working use; a historic house is not automatically a museum open for drop-in tours.

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