Hillsboro (pop. 6,368), 60 miles east of Cincinnati and 40 miles west of Chillicothe, is the biggest and busiest town along the way. Besides the Greek Revival landmark Highland County Courthouse, second-oldest in Ohio, Hillsboro has a unique, alcohol-related history: During Christmas in 1873, the town’s 13 saloons were closed down by one of the country’s earliest temperance movements, and more recently, late great country singer Johnny “Take This Job and Shove It” Paycheck did time in prison for shooting a man in Hillsboro’s North High Saloon. (Even more recently, that saloon was torn down to make way for a new city office building.)
