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

Circleville Works (lost)

Circleville · Pickaway County · Central Ohio
The earthwork a town was named for
Ohio Historical MarkerDestroyed
Directions →

Circleville was laid out in rings inside a Hopewell circle in 1810, then squared street by street until nothing was left but the name.

What it was
A large Hopewell circle joined to a square
The town
Laid out inside the circle in 1810, with an octagonal courthouse at the center
Squared
The Circleville Squaring Company, chartered in 1837 to 1838, redrew the town as a grid between 1838 and 1856
Today
Nothing of the earthwork can be seen; only the name and a state marker remain
Marker
Ohio Historical Marker 3-65, "The Squaring of Circleville"

The story

When Pickaway County was formed in 1810, its new county seat was placed inside a great Hopewell earthwork: a circle about 1,100 feet across joined to a square. Town director Daniel Dresbach put an octagonal courthouse at the center of the circle, apparently on a mound, and laid out the streets and lots in rings around it. The town was named for the circle.

The people who lived there came to dislike it. In 1837 to 1838 the legislature chartered the Circleville Squaring Company, and the town was converted to a grid one quarter at a time: the southeast and northwest quarters in 1838, the northeast in 1849 and the southwest in 1856. The state historical marker calls it the earliest known example of urban redevelopment in the United States. Nothing of the earthwork can be seen today.

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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.
Location confidence
Verified entrance or visitor center
Coordinates confirmed against an official or mapping source.

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 Squaring of Circleville

The founders built their town in a circle because the circle was already there, a wall of earth older than anyone could say.

A generation later the townspeople wanted straight streets like everyone else's, and they got them, a quarter at a time, until the circle was gone.

Behind the legend

The 1810 plan, the octagonal courthouse, the Squaring Company and the dates of each quarter come from the Ohio Historical Marker and local histories. Some sources mention a raised bit of ground at Pickaway and Franklin streets as a possible remnant; that is not confirmed.

If you go

Read the marker on East Franklin Street, then walk to Court and Main, where the courthouse once stood at the circle's center. Come in October for the Pumpkin Show.

Visiting

Status
Not visitable; marker only
Managed by
City of Circleville (marker)
Hours
The earthwork is gone. The state marker stands beside the municipal court and police building.
Directions

Parks nearby

A.W. Marion State Park
About 4 miles · Hargus Lake, ringed by a five-mile trail.
Open
Great Seal State Park
About 14 miles · The hills on the Ohio state seal, with rugged trails.
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.