Nina Bagley
The Ohio Statehouse bees have a nice ornate iron fence around them. The hives sit high on the hill, looking at the passer byers. They each have the Statehouse seal on them. The grounds around the Statehouse bees are rich with native trees and unique pollinator gardens. It’s a hidden secret; one can relax, have lunch on the benches and watch the bees come and go while taking in the Statehouse’s view and rich history and listening to the church bells across the way. In February 2015, Tamar Ansel, director of the grounds for the Statehouse, contacted me to advise her on getting started in keeping honey bees. I then reached out to OSBA and the Central Ohio Beekeepers Association for their help in getting bees donated. Rod Pritchard, president at the time, presented the bees from the club, and on April 17th, 2015, we installed two packages of bees at the Statehouse. Tamara and John Hunt were to oversee the bees with my help. I got a call from Tamara in 2019 that she was leaving her position as director and taking a job closer to home and that John Hunt, her assistant, was going to take over her role as a groundskeeper. Now, mind you, John didn’t mind helping with the bees, but if asked, he would rather be groundskeeper and not beekeeper.
As the seasons change, so do the bees and beekeepers, so my sister, beekeeper Teresa Parker, and myself are overseeing the Statehouse bees. The bees didn’t make it in 2020, so we put new bees in and new queens. We named them after the most powerful Ohio women of all time.
“Queen Victoria”
Victoria Clafin Woodhull was a strong influence and leader in the suffrage movement. She was the first lady to run for president in 1872. She was born in 1838 in Homer, Ohio.
“Queen Belle”
Belle Sherwin was born in 1869, in Cleveland, Ohio. She was the daughter of the founder of the Sherwin Williams Company. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa Wellesley College in 1890 with a bachelors degree. She was influential in the Cleveland suffragist movement and president of the league of women voters.
If you’re in Columbus, we invite you to stop by the Statehouse and enjoy the bees and pollinator gardens and the rich history of the Statehouse and bee apiary.
Ohio Queen Bee
Nina Bagley
Columbus, Ohio
