Field NotesOhio
Upper Falls in the Old Man's Cave gorge, Hocking Hills, with visitors on the rocks

An independent field guide · 365 places

The field guide to outdoor Ohio

Parks and forests, ancient mounds, caves, waterfalls and back roads, with the story behind each place and where to eat and fuel up nearby.
Popular:
  • 117parks & forests
  • 64ancient mounds
  • 34waterfalls
  • 40historic sites
  • 33road trips

Old Man's Cave, Hocking Hills · Photo: Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0

Explore by type

What are you in the mood for?

See every place →
State parks & forests117 places, with cabins, campsites and trails117 places Waterfalls34 falls, with trail notes34 falls Mounds & earthworks64 ancient sites, from Serpent Mound to Newark64 ancient sites Caves & caverns12 show caverns, recess caves and rock shelters12 caves Lake Erie beaches20 public beaches, Conneaut to Toledo20 beaches Historic sites40 places, from the frontier to the Civil War40 places Road trips33 drives, from the Lincoln Highway to the Morgan Heritage Trail33 drives Oddities19 giants, ghosts and folk-art stops19 roadside stops The Buckeye TrailA 1,444-mile loop, all 26 sections1,444 miles

New to the guide?

Six places to start

One from every corner of the state, each with its full story inside.

01Old Man's CaveHocking Hills · SoutheastA gorge of waterfalls and recess caves where a hermit is said to have lived, with the park's visitor center. 02Great Serpent MoundAdams County · SouthwestA gigantic earthen snake on a hilltop over Ohio Brush Creek, built by a people whose name is still argued over. 03Brandywine FallsCuyahoga Valley · NortheastThe tallest waterfall in Cuyahoga Valley National Park, reached by an easy boardwalk with an accessible upper overlook. 04Marblehead LighthouseMarblehead · Lake ErieThe oldest continuously operating lighthouse on the Great Lakes, lit since 1821, on nine acres of limestone shoreline. 05Zoar VillageTuscarawas County · EasternA well-preserved communal village founded by German separatists in 1817, on the Ohio & Erie Canal. 06Longaberger Basket BuildingNewark · CentralA seven-story office building shaped like a picnic basket, with handles that are heated in winter.

Plan a trip

Open the mapAll 365 places on one map. Filter by cabins, campsites, hunting, beaches and more.Explore the map → Browse by countyPick any of Ohio's 88 counties and see its parks, mounds, waterfalls and historic sites.Find your county → Build a tripSave places as you browse, then line them up into a weekend. Kept in your browser, nothing to sign up for.Start a trip →

Explore Ohio

One map for every park, mound, historic site, beach, cave, waterfall and oddity in the app.

Lake ErieWest Virginia36 places368 places813 places135 places523 places2321 places2124 places2416 places1613 places134 places418 places182 places217 places1710 places1014 places142 places27 places76 places613 places133 places34 places414 places143 places3Harrison Lake State Park2 places22 places22 places26 places64 places4

Tap a symbol for a preview, or search for a place. Open the key to show or hide categories.

Parks, forests & wildlife areas

Find a park

117 parks in 7 regions

Historic Roscoe Village

Coshocton · Coshocton County · East-central Ohio
A restored 1830s canal port with a mule-and-horse canal boat
Ohio & Erie Canal portLiving history village
Visitor Center, 600 N Whitewoman St, Coshocton Directions →Official source →

A canal port of brick buildings and costumed interpreters, with a horse-drawn canal boat ride on a restored stretch of the Ohio & Erie Canal.

Founded
1816 as Caldersburgh by James Calder; renamed Roscoe in 1831
Canal
The first boat, the original Monticello, arrived on August 21, 1830
Trade
The fourth-largest wheat port on the canal system
End of the canal
The great flood of 1913 washed out the canal at Roscoe, and it was never rebuilt
Restoration
Began in 1968 when Edward and Frances Montgomery bought the 1840 Toll House
Canal boat
The Monticello III, launched in 1990, carries up to 125 passengers on a 45-minute horse-drawn ride

The story

James Calder founded the village in 1816 as Caldersburgh, and it was renamed Roscoe in 1831. When the Ohio & Erie Canal reached it in 1830, the first boat to arrive was the original Monticello, on August 21, named for Thomas Jefferson's home. The canal, hand-dug and finished in 1832, ran 308 miles with 146 locks, and Roscoe became the fourth-largest wheat port along it, a prosperous town of Greek Revival buildings until the 1860s. The railroads took the traffic, though the canal kept running until the flood of 1913 washed out the section at Roscoe. The port then declined and the buildings deteriorated.

The village's revival began in 1960, when the painter Dean Cornwell's mural of a canal scene in Roscoe was shown at Coshocton's sesquicentennial. It inspired the retired industrialist Edward Montgomery and his wife Frances, who bought the 1840 Toll House in 1968 and set out to make Roscoe a living museum. More than 35 years of work followed. Today the village has costumed interpreters, working craftspeople, the Johnson-Humrickhouse Museum and the Monticello III, a 74-foot boat that has carried more than 300,000 passengers since 1990. Coshocton also lies along the Wally Road byway, on the route of the old Walhonding Valley railroad.

Related sites

Visiting information you can trust

Check before driving — this site is seasonal, approximate, privately run, or otherwise uncertain. Confirm hours and access with the official source above.
Content last reviewed
September 2026 — this is when Field Notes Ohio's content was last checked, not a live status.
Primary official source
Official page
Location confidence
Verified entrance or visitor center
Historic Roscoe Village Visitor Center, 600 N Whitewoman St, Coshocton
Seasonal access
The village is open Tuesday to Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and closed Monday. The Monticello III runs on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from Memorial Day through Labor Day, then weekends through mid-October, with departures at 1, 2, 3 and 4 p.m. from the Canal Boat Landing at Lake Park. Confirm before you go.
Check current conditions
Official conditions or closures
Reservations or tickets
Tickets or admission info

Prices, hours, closures, campsite availability and trail conditions shown elsewhere on this page are not live — always confirm with the official source before you go.

The Town the Canal Made and the Flood Ended

Roscoe was a boomtown on a ditch. For thirty years farmers hauled wheat to its warehouses, packet boats pulled in from Cleveland and Portsmouth, and the town built itself brick storefronts and Greek Revival houses.

The railroads killed the business, and in 1913 a great flood killed the canal. The empty village might have been torn down. A painting saved it.

Behind the legend

The dates for the first boat, the 1913 flood, Cornwell's mural and the Montgomerys' 1968 purchase are in Wikipedia's article and the village's own pages. Ohio's canal is given as 308 miles with 146 locks and as 350 miles of the wider system in different sources. The wheat-port ranking is from a travel account, and the number of passengers is the village's.

If you go

Walk the village, see Triple Locks Park, ride the Monticello III and stop at the Johnson-Humrickhouse Museum.

Visiting

Status
Open Tuesday to Sunday; canal boat seasonal
Managed by
Roscoe Village Foundation
Hours
The village is open Tuesday to Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and closed Monday. The Monticello III runs on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from Memorial Day through Labor Day, then weekends through mid-October, with departures at 1, 2, 3 and 4 p.m. from the Canal Boat Landing at Lake Park. Confirm before you go.
Admission
Self-guided touring is available; tickets are needed for tours and the canal boat ride (one guide gives $8 for adults). See the village's website.
Phone
740-622-7644
Please note
Arrive at the boat landing 15 to 20 minutes early; weekend rides fill quickly. A major boat restoration is scheduled for fall 2026.
Address
600 N Whitewoman St, Coshocton, OH 43812
Official information →DirectionsFind trails nearby on AllTrails →

Hours and prices change. Confirm with the site before you go.

Parks nearby

Mohican State Park
About 35 miles · A gorge and canoe river near Loudonville.
Open
Salt Fork State Park
About 45 miles · Ohio's largest state park.
Open

Details last checked 2026-09-22. Confirm hours and prices before you go.

Know a place that belongs here, or spotted something out of date? Email hello@fieldnotesohio.com.