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.
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  • 117parks & forests
  • 64ancient mounds
  • 34waterfalls
  • 40historic sites
  • 33road trips

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

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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.

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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

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Parks, forests & wildlife areas

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117 parks in 7 regions

Carlisle Fort (Twin Creek MetroPark)

Germantown · Montgomery and Warren Counties · Southwest Ohio
Hopewell hilltop walls on a MetroPark trail
National Register of Historic PlacesHopewell hilltop enclosureFree trail
Directions →Official source →

A marked MetroPark trail passes through a 2,000-year-old Hopewell gateway on a hilltop above Twin Creek.

Walls
3,676 feet of earth and stone walls enclosing about 15 acres, in an eastern and a western section
Also called
Germantown Fort
Purpose
Once assumed to be a fort; Five Rivers MetroParks now presents it as a Hopewell ceremonial site
Damage
Stones hauled off around 1900, an orchard on the hilltop and ravine erosion
Saved
A 1990 lawsuit kept a gas pipeline at least 600 feet away
Listed
National Register of Historic Places, 1974

The story

Carlisle Fort is a Hopewell enclosure on a flat-topped hill above Twin Creek, between Germantown and Carlisle, on the Montgomery and Warren county line. Its walls run 3,676 feet in all and enclose about 15 acres in two sections. Early writers called it Carlisle Fort or Germantown Fort, assuming that walls on a hilltop must have been built for defense; Five Rivers MetroParks now presents it as a ceremonial site.

It has taken damage. Settlers carted off many of its stones in the late 1800s and early 1900s, an orchard was planted on the hilltop, and ravines have eaten into parts of the walls. In 1990 a natural gas pipeline was planned across the area, and after a lawsuit the company agreed to keep at least 600 feet away. Today the green trail from the park's Hopewell trailhead climbs to the hilltop and passes through a gateway in the walls beside a Hopewell Earthwork marker.

Related sites

Visiting information you can trust

Content last reviewed
November 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
Published coordinates
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 Fort That Wasn't

Walls on a hilltop, a steep drop on every side: to the first settlers it could only be a fort, and they named it for the nearest town.

The people who built it may have meant something else entirely, a place set apart for ceremony, open through its gateways to the sky.

Behind the legend

The fort names and their origin are documented, and Five Rivers MetroParks describes the site as ceremonial in its current interpretation. Wall length and acreage come from the National Register record. The 1990 pipeline settlement is reported in the site's history.

If you go

Park at the Hopewell trailhead on Chamberlain Road, take the green trail and look for the Hopewell Earthwork marker after post 6. Winter, with the leaves down, shows the walls best.

Visiting

Status
Free trails
Managed by
Five Rivers MetroParks
Hours
Trails are open year round; check Five Rivers MetroParks for park hours.
Admission
Free
Please note
Stay on the trail and off the walls. A seasonal water fountain and accessible portable toilets are at the Hopewell trailhead.
Official information →Directions

Parks nearby

Island MetroPark
About 15 miles · A downtown Dayton park where the Stillwater meets the Great Miami.
Open
Sycamore State Park
About 15 miles · Restored prairie, creek bottoms and an Adena mound.
Open

Details last checked 2026-11-05. Confirm hours and prices before you go.

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