What is a buckeye? Why is Ohio called the Buckeye state?

Answer 1

A buckeye is the nut from the Aesculus globra*, commonly known as the "Buckeye" tree.


Ohio got its nickname from the fact that the natural range of the horse chestnut tree known as the buckeye was restricted largely to the Ohio River watershed. In his History of American Forest Trees (1810), Francis Andre Michaux names this species "Ohio Buckeye" because of its relative abundance in that region.

Buckeye was suggested by the fact that the dark-brown nut with its pale scar was fancied to resemble the eye of a deer. Hetuck, "buck's eye," is said to have been an Indian name for the nut.

Ohio became nationally known as the Buckeye State during the Log-Cabin and Hard-Cider presidential campaign of 1840, when cabins, cider kegs, walking sticks and all sorts of articles were made from buckeye wood as a tribute to General William Henry Harrison, who was Ohio's first citizen to become President and lived near Cincinnati. In the election versus Martin Van Buren, one stanza of a Whig campaign song ran:


Let Van from his coolers of silver drink wine,
And lounge on his cushioned settee!
Our man on his buckeye bench can relax,
Content with hard cider is he!

Answer 2

A buckeye is non-edible nut that has a smooth surface and a dark, cherry wood color. There is a lighter circular color in the middle of a buckeye. Since Ohio is the buckeye state and home of the Ohio State Buckeyes, many people from Ohio call themselves buckeyes. I am originally from Ohio and call myself a buckeye. So basically, I am a worthless nut!

Answer 3

In Ohio it is a tree. Also the Ohio State Buckeyes (football). But there are other answers. Check the link.

Answer 4

A buckeye is a nut type thing off of a buckeye tree, it is brown and smooth and has a dark spot which makes it resemble a dark animal type eye. I imagine Ohio has alot of these trees , or that they are of some significance there. I live in IN and we have several of these trees in our woods. They are very pretty.

Answer 5

www.50states.com explains it all. To that there were buckeye trees everywhere....

Ohio
Ohio, the “Buckeye State”, received its nickname because of the many buckeye trees that once covered its hills and plains.
But that's only partly the reason. We have to go back to the feverish presidential campaign of 1840 for the rest of it.
William Henry Harrison, a Virginia-born Ohioan and military hero, was a candidate for the White House, but his opponents commented that he was better suited to sit in a log cabin and drink hard cider.
Some of Harrison's leading supporters, who were experts in promotional know-how, decided to turn into a positive reference what was supposed to be a negative one.
They dubbed him "the log cabin candidate," and chose as his campaign emblem a log cabin made of buckeye timbers, with a long string of buckeyes decorating its walls. Furthermore, in parades, his backers walked with buckeye canes and rolled whisky barrels.
The campaign gimmicks were successful. "Old Tippecanoe," as Harrison was often called, beat President Martin Van Buren in the latter's bid for re-election, and thereafter the buckeye was closely associated with the state of Ohio.
The name itself is of native origin. Because the markings on the nut resembled the eye of a buck, the Indians called it "hetuck" or "buckeye."
© 1997 Dan Chabek
source: http://www.lkwdpl.org/buckeye/index.html

Answer 6

a buckeye is a tree buckeye ohio got its name because it used to have an abundunt amount of this tree covering its hills and valleys

Answer 7

It's a small, not quite round nut about 1" across which is dark brown with a light brown spot near the center. I'm not sure if they are edible, but they are considered lucky. I had an uncle who carried his lucky buckeye in his pocket until the day he died.

Answer 8

no idea