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

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

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Inscription Rock (Kelleys Island)

Kelleys Island · Erie County · Lake Erie Islands
Lake Erie's carved limestone shelf
National Register of Historic PlacesState memorialPetroglyphs

A flat limestone shelf at the edge of Lake Erie, carved with more than 100 figures and now under a roof, though waves and weather have worn many nearly smooth.

Carvings
More than 100 human, animal and abstract figures
Age
About 1200 to 1600 CE
Found
Half buried in beach sand until 1833
Drawn
In detail by Army officer Seth Eastman in 1851; his drawings now show more than the rock does
Lost twin
A second carved rock on the north shore was quarried away
Listed
National Register of Historic Places, 1973

The story

Inscription Rock is a flat slab of limestone on the south shore of Kelleys Island, about 32 by 21 feet, carved with more than 100 figures of people, animals and shapes no one has confidently identified. The Ohio History Connection dates the carvings to about 1200 to 1600 CE, when Native people lived on and visited the islands.

The rock lay half buried in shoreline sand until 1833. In 1851 Army officer Seth Eastman drew it in detail, and because the lake has worn the stone ever since, his drawings now record more than the rock itself. A second carved rock on the island's north shore was blasted away by quarrymen. Inscription Rock became a tourist stop by 1915, and today it sits under a roof with a viewing platform, a short walk or bike ride from the ferry and the island's Glacial Grooves.

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
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
Seasonal access
Open daily during daylight hours in season, weather permitting. The ferry from Marblehead runs from early April to the Sunday before Thanksgiving.
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.

Read by an Ojibwe Interpreter

When Seth Eastman's drawings were published, they were shown to an Ojibwe interpreter, who offered a reading of the figures as a story of people, war and the seasons.

The carvers themselves left no key.

Behind the legend

Eastman's 1851 drawings and the 19th-century reading by an Ojibwe interpreter recorded as Shingvauk are documented; that reading is one interpretation, not a settled translation. The Kelleys Island State Park entry tells the rock's story of loss in more detail.

If you go

Bike from the ferry dock along the south shore, see the rock from the platform and continue to the Glacial Grooves on the north side.

Visiting

Status
Open daily in season
Managed by
Ohio History Connection
Hours
Open daily during daylight hours in season, weather permitting. The ferry from Marblehead runs from early April to the Sunday before Thanksgiving.
Admission
Free
Please note
View from the platform and stay off the rock.
Official information →Directions

Parks nearby

Kelleys Island State Park
About 1 miles · The island's state park, by the famous Glacial Grooves.
Open
Marblehead Lighthouse State Park
About 4 miles · The oldest continuously operating lighthouse on the Great Lakes.
Open

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

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