Background and Instructions
Starting Point: Museum of Contemporary Art, 11400 Euclid Ave, Cleveland, OH
Home to Case Western Reserve University, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and Severance Music Center, as well as the main campuses of the world-renowned Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals, the University Circle neighborhood is where you’ll find many of northeast Ohio’s most treasured cultural resources. Adjacent to this area is Cleveland’s Little Italy neighborhood and Lakeview Cemetery (where James A. Garfield, Eliot Ness, John D. Rockefeller, Carl Stokes, and many other famous Clevelanders are buried). Both are well worth visiting, if time and weather permit you to do so. If you have your own transportation, consider driving north on MLK Blvd through the Cultural Gardens on your way back to the conference hotel.
As you explore this area, take note of what you see. Employ the intellectual tools of mapping (Note centers of activity, transportation routes, and points of interest), observing (What kinds of residences, businesses, etc. are here? How do people present themselves?), listening (Don’t be pushy, and do respect others’ privacy, but see if you can strike up a conversation with one or more people from the area; ask the kinds of questions you might have if you were thinking of moving to this part of town), and reflecting (What can you infer about this area from what you see? How might your own assumptions and biases influence your conclusions?).*
Take pictures of the scavenger hunt items/locations you find, and share them on social media with the hashtag #MEHA2022. Be sure to download the Cleveland Historical app for your Apple iPhone or visit their website to look up sites of interest.
Have fun!
Scavenger Hunt Items
- Your favorite architectural element
- Somewhere calm
- Somewhere chaotic
- Something educational, that is not a university building
- A stegosaurus statue
- An ethnic restaurant
- Something that defines University Circle
- Something ableist
- Something that makes you feel safe
- Something that makes you feel unsafe
- Something orange
- A quiet place
- Something you want to visit or see again
- A carousel
- Something related to health, that isn’t a hospital
Bonus Items
- This public art:
2. This building detail:
3. A French restaurant whose name evokes “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”
Getting There
By Bus
Healthline #6 Bus (Towards Stokes Windermere Station)
Departure Stop: Euclid Ave & E 6th Street
Arrival Stop: Euclid Ave & Cornell Rd Station (Approximately 25 minutes; 5 miles)
Or
Bus #9 (Mayfield-Hough to SOM Center)
Departure Stop: Superior Ave & E 6th St
Arrival Stop: Mayfield Rd & Circle Dr (Approximately 29 minutes; 6 miles)
By Train (recommended if you plan to visit Little Italy)
Red Line Rapid Transit (Subway towards Stokes / Windermere)
Enter Tower City Center from Public Square and head to the lower level
Departure Stop: Tower City Center
Arrival Stop: Little Italy – University Circle (Approximately 14 minutes; 6 miles)
Bus/Train Fare
$2.50 each way or $5 all-day pass
Uber/Lyft
7 mins travel, 2 miles, $12-$20
*The MEHA 2022 urban excursion scavenger hunts are inspired by and use techniques described in materials created by the Southern Regional Honors Council for its 2017 conference in Asheville, NC, which itself borrowed from Shatter the Glassy Stare, Peter Machonis, Ed., NCHC monograph series, and the original City as Text™ designed by Bernice Braid for NCHC. Much of the content for the Cleveland-area neighborhoods was created by Stephanie Ryberg-Webster, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Urban Studies at the Cleveland State University Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs, and is used with her permission. Additional content has been created by Dr. Adrienne Pounds of CSU and Dr. Matthew Carey Jordan of Cuyahoga Community College.