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

Cross Mound

Tarlton · Fairfield County · Central Ohio
An earthen plus sign above Salt Creek
National Register of Historic PlacesCross-shaped earthworkCounty park
Directions →Official source →

Cross a 1930s WPA suspension bridge over Salt Creek and climb a short, steep trail to an ancient earthen cross whose arms point almost exactly north, south, east and west.

Shape
A plus sign with four equal arms, pointing almost exactly north, south, east and west
Size
Each arm about 45 feet long, 12 feet wide and 3 feet high; arm ends about 90 feet apart
Center
A round depression about 20 feet across and 12 inches deep
Nearby
A stone mound and smaller mounds, three of which survive
Getting there
Over a 1930s WPA suspension bridge across Salt Creek, restored in 2017
Listed
National Register of Historic Places, 1970; transferred from the Ohio History Connection to the county in 1994

The story

Cross Mound is an earthwork shaped like a plus sign on a hill above Salt Creek, near Tarlton, just inside Fairfield County. Each of its four arms is about 45 feet long, 12 feet wide and 3 feet high, and they meet at a shallow round hollow about 20 feet across. Squier and Davis surveyed it in the 1840s and published it in 1848, describing a small ditch around it, a stone-and-earth altar mound behind it and other mounds nearby, three of which survive. Archaeologists think the western arm may have been carved out of the slope rather than built up.

No one knows who built it or why. It is often credited to the Hopewell, but there has been no dating, and archaeologist Jarrod Burks has said the evidence for that is thin. Fairfield County Parks raises the idea that it was tied to the Great Hopewell Road. The site came to the county from the Ohio History Connection in 1994, and visitors reach it over a cable suspension bridge built by the WPA in the 1930s and restored in 2017.

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 property location
Located from the site's street address
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.

A Cross Before There Were Crosses

To 19th-century visitors, an earthen cross on a hilltop looked like it could only be Christian. It is far older than that, and its four arms point to the four directions.

Some think it marked a stop on a long ceremonial road from Newark.

Behind the legend

The measurements, the 1848 survey and the 1994 transfer are from Fairfield County Parks and the National Register. The Hopewell attribution is uncertain and the age is unknown. The link to the Great Hopewell Road is a suggestion from the park, not something that has been shown.

If you go

Cross the swinging WPA bridge, take the short steep trail up and walk around the cross without stepping on it. Combine it with Old Maid's Orchard and Horn Mound nearby.

Visiting

Status
Open dawn to dusk
Managed by
Fairfield County Parks
Hours
Open year round, dawn to dusk.
Admission
Free
Please note
The half-mile trail is rated moderate with sharp inclines. No restrooms. Dogs allowed. Stay off the earthwork.
Address
Cross Mound Park, 11615 16th Road SW, Stoutsville, OH 43154
Official information →Directions

Parks nearby

A.W. Marion State Park
About 7 miles · Hargus Lake, ringed by a five-mile trail.
Open
Tar Hollow State Park
About 13 miles · Ridges, pine and a small lake in the hills south of Circleville.
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.