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

Warther Museum and Gardens

Dover · Tuscarawas County · East-central Ohio
A self-taught carver's locomotives and a wife's 73,000 buttons
Self-taught master carverFamily museum
Ernest Warther Museum & Gardens, 331 Karl Ave, Dover Directions →Official source →

A museum of a self-taught carver's masterworks, with a button collection and gardens in a Tuscarawas County town.

Carver
Ernest 'Mooney' Warther, born in Dover in 1885, who left school after the second grade
Work
Scale models of steam locomotives with working internal mechanisms, carved from walnut, ebony and ivory
Pliers
Articulated pliers carved from a single block of wood
Museum
Opened in 1936 behind the family home; New York Central offered to buy the collection and he refused
Buttons
Frieda Warther's collection of more than 73,000 buttons, and her Swiss-style gardens
Grounds
An arboretum, a B&O caboose and a steam switcher engine

The story

Ernest 'Mooney' Warther was born in Dover in 1885 and lived there for most of his 87 years. His father died when he was three, and he left school after the second grade. He had no formal training in sculpture, engineering or drafting, but he taught himself to carve scale models of steam engines and locomotives, with the internal mechanisms of the real ones, out of walnut, ebony and ivory, working from railroad repair manuals. He also carved pliers in a single piece that move.

New York Central offered a handsome price for his collection and he turned it down. As word of his skill spread, the Warthers opened a small museum behind their home in 1936. It also holds his wife Frieda's button collection, in patterns, of more than 73,000 buttons, and her Swiss-style gardens, and the family made their living from a cutlery business, so the museum also displays knives. Today the museum and gardens cover an arboretum and a small railroad park, and guided tours run through the day.

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
Ernest Warther Museum & Gardens, 331 Karl Ave, Dover
Seasonal access
March through December, daily, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (last admission 4:30); January and February, daily, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Closed New Year's Day, Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Guided tours run through Labor Day at 9:30, 11, 12:30, 2 and 3:30.
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 Man Who Carved a Train You Could Run Your Finger Through

Mooney Warther never finished second grade, and he studied steam engines the way other men studied scripture. Every night after work he carved, an hour or two at a time, taking years over a single locomotive.

New York Central wanted to buy the collection. He said no, went back to Dover and opened a museum in the yard.

Behind the legend

Warther's birth, schooling and the 1936 museum are on the museum's pages, Roadside America and Ohio-First. The daily carving time is given as five hours in one account; the number of years per model varies by source. His work from repair manuals is a tour-guide account. Admission prices are current museum prices.

If you go

Take the guided tour, ask to see the plier tree, and combine it with Schoenbrunn Village and Zoar, both within a few miles.

Visiting

Status
Open daily
Managed by
The Warther family
Hours
March through December, daily, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (last admission 4:30); January and February, daily, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Closed New Year's Day, Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Guided tours run through Labor Day at 9:30, 11, 12:30, 2 and 3:30.
Admission
Adults $20, seniors 65 and over $19, students 12 to 17 $9, youth 4 to 11 $8.
Phone
330-505-6003
Please note
Allow about two hours.
Address
331 Karl Ave, Dover, OH 44622
Official information →DirectionsFind trails nearby on AllTrails →

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

Parks nearby

Leesville Lake
About 20 miles · A muskie lake with marina camping.
Open
Tappan Lake Park
About 25 miles · A big lake park with camping and cabins.
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.