October brings one of America's more complicated federal holidays — and a chance to explore three U.S. cities, one Italian port city, and the layered legacy of a name that has shaped the map of the Western world.
A Brief History of Columbus Day
On October 12, 1492, Genoese explorer Christopher Columbus made landfall in the Bahamas, completing a westward voyage funded by the Spanish Crown. The date has been marked in the United States since the late 18th century, and Columbus Day became a federal holiday in 1937 — celebrated on the second Monday of October.
For much of its history, the holiday served as a point of pride for Italian-American communities, who claimed Columbus as a symbol of immigrant contribution to American life. Parades, civic ceremonies, and school curricula built a mythology around the explorer's daring and vision.
In recent decades, however, that mythology has faced serious scrutiny. Columbus never set foot on the North American mainland, and his voyages initiated a period of colonization that brought devastating consequences for Indigenous peoples across the Americas — displacement, enslavement, and the collapse of entire civilizations. In response, a growing number of U.S. states and cities have replaced Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples' Day, a reframing that centres the histories and cultures that were already here. South Dakota was the first state to make the switch, back in 1990. Today, more than a dozen states and hundreds of municipalities observe Indigenous Peoples' Day in its place or alongside it.
The holiday, in other words, means different things to different people — and that tension is worth holding as we look at the cities that still carry Columbus's name.
Columbus, Ohio — The Capital That Chose Its Name
Airport code: CMH (John Glenn Columbus International Airport)
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Ohio's capital city was purpose-built. In 1812, the Ohio General Assembly was searching for a permanent home for state government — somewhere central, accessible, and politically neutral. A small settlement on the east bank of the Scioto River was selected, and legislators named it Columbus in honour of Christopher Columbus, hoping the name would lend the new capital a sense of ambition and historical weight.
It worked. Columbus grew steadily through the 19th century, fuelled by the National Road, the Ohio and Erie Canal, and later the railroads. Today it is the largest city in Ohio, home to The Ohio State University, a thriving arts and food scene, and one of the Midwest's most dynamic economies.
The city's airport, John Glenn Columbus International (CMH), honours another kind of explorer entirely — Ohio-born astronaut and senator John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth. Two explorers, two eras, one city.
Columbus, Mississippi — A River Town with Deep Roots
Airport code: GTR (Golden Triangle Regional Airport)
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Columbus, Mississippi sits on the Tombigbee River in the northeastern corner of the state, and its history runs deep. The area was home to the Chickasaw Nation long before European settlement, and the land changed hands — often violently — through the early 19th century. The town of Columbus was formally incorporated in 1821 and, like its Ohio counterpart, took its name from Christopher Columbus as a nod to the spirit of discovery that defined the era's expansionist imagination.
Columbus, MS grew into a prosperous antebellum cotton town, and its well-preserved historic district — with more than 100 antebellum homes — reflects that complicated prosperity. The city is also the birthplace of playwright Tennessee Williams, born here in 1911, and is home to Mississippi University for Women, the first state-supported college for women in the United States.
The regional airport, GTR, serves the "Golden Triangle" — the three-city metro of Columbus, Starkville, and West Point — and is a practical hub for a region that punches well above its size in history and culture.
Columbus, Georgia — Where the Chattahoochee Meets History
Airport code: CSG (Columbus Metropolitan Airport)
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Columbus, Georgia was established by the Georgia General Assembly in 1828 on the eastern bank of the Chattahoochee River, at the fall line where the Piedmont plateau drops toward the coastal plain. The location was strategic — the falls powered mills, the river enabled trade, and the site marked the edge of Creek Nation territory that was being systematically seized through treaty and force.
The city was named Columbus in the same spirit as its northern namesakes: a young republic reaching westward, invoking the explorer's name as shorthand for ambition and expansion. Columbus, GA developed as a textile and manufacturing centre, and today it is Georgia's second-largest city, anchored by Fort Moore (formerly Fort Benning), one of the largest U.S. Army installations in the world.
The Chattahoochee Riverwalk, a 22-mile linear park along the river, is one of the city's most beloved features — and a reminder that the natural geography that drew settlers here is still the city's greatest asset.
Genoa, Italy — Where It All Began
Airport code: GOA (Genoa Cristoforo Colombo Airport)
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Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa around 1451, in what was then one of the most powerful maritime republics in the Mediterranean world. Genoese merchants and sailors were among the most experienced navigators of the era, and Columbus grew up steeped in seafaring culture before eventually making his way to Portugal and then Spain, where he secured royal backing for his westward voyage.
Genoa has never let the connection fade. The city's international airport carries his name — Aeroporto di Genova Cristoforo Colombo — and the port city remains proud of its most famous son, even as the world debates his legacy with increasing complexity.
If you're drawn to the idea of city-inspired gifts that connect places to their stories, Genoa is a natural addition to any Columbus Day conversation. The airport code GOA is as evocative as the history behind it.
A Holiday in Transition
Columbus Day is, at its core, a holiday about how we tell stories — about exploration, about ambition, and about who gets to be remembered and who gets written out. The cities named Columbus across the American South and Midwest carry that history in their names, whether they reckon with it or not.
As more communities choose to observe Indigenous Peoples' Day alongside or instead of Columbus Day, the holiday is becoming something more honest: an occasion to hold multiple truths at once. The voyages happened. The consequences were real. And the people who were here before Columbus arrived have stories worth telling too.
Whatever the day means to you, it's a good moment to think about the places that shaped us — and the names we give them.
Looking for a gift that celebrates a city's story? Browse our collections for Columbus, Ohio • Columbus, Mississippi • Columbus, Georgia • Genoa, Italy.
