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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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

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Parks, forests & wildlife areas

Find a park

117 parks in 7 regions

Miami Fort (Shawnee Lookout)

North Bend · Hamilton County · Southwest Ohio
Hilltop walls above two rivers
National Register of Historic PlacesShawnee Lookout Archeological DistrictOn a marked trail
Directions →Official source →

A one-mile loop follows ancient earthen walls along a bluff where the Great Miami meets the Ohio, with Indiana and Kentucky in view.

Setting
A bluff where the Great Miami River meets the Ohio, with Indiana and Kentucky in view
Trail
The Miami Fort Trail, a 1-mile loop rated easy to moderate
Age
Great Parks says nearly 3,000 years; a University of Cincinnati study says about 2,000
A newer reading
University of Cincinnati archaeologist Ken Tankersley argued in 2008 that the walls managed water rather than defended anyone
The district
About 2,000 acres with 46 archaeological sites, 34 of them inside the park; listed on the National Register in 1974
Also in the park
Nearly 40 earthworks in all, and a Woodland burial mound on the Little Turtle Trail

The story

Miami Fort is a set of earthen walls along a high bluff in Shawnee Lookout Park, at the point where the Great Miami River runs into the Ohio. William Henry Harrison, who lived nearby at North Bend, described the walls as a military fort, and that is the name that stuck. Great Parks credits the Adena and Hopewell and puts the walls at nearly 3,000 years old; University of Cincinnati researchers date them to about 2,000 years.

In 2008 UC archaeologist Ken Tankersley reported that his field school's work pointed somewhere new: to a system of walls, ditches and ponds that held and moved water, built during a long cold and dry spell. That is one researcher's reading rather than settled fact, but it changed how the walls are explained. The fort is part of the Shawnee Lookout Archeological District, about 2,000 acres holding 46 known sites, and the park has nearly 40 earthworks in all.

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.

Fort or Waterworks?

For two centuries everyone agreed the walls on the bluff were a fort. Harrison said so, the maps said so, and the name said so.

Then a team from the University of Cincinnati looked at where the walls ran and how they held water, and suggested the builders were fighting drought, not enemies.

Behind the legend

Harrison's description and the fort name are well documented. The water-management idea comes from a 2008 University of Cincinnati report on Ken Tankersley's field work; other archaeologists have not all accepted it. The ages differ by source: Great Parks says nearly 3,000 years, UC says about 2,000.

If you go

Walk the Miami Fort Trail loop in the morning, read the signs at the walls, and stop at the overlook where three states meet. Bring a Great Parks vehicle permit.

Visiting

Status
Open dawn to dusk
Managed by
Great Parks of Hamilton County
Hours
Open daily, dawn to dusk.
Admission
A Great Parks Motor Vehicle Permit is required to enter. The annual permit for Hamilton County residents is $10; check Great Parks for daily and non-resident prices.
Phone
513-521-7275
Please note
Stay on the trail and off the walls and mounds. There are no restrooms at the trailhead.
Address
Shawnee Lookout Park, 2008 Lawrenceburg Road, North Bend, OH 45052
Official information →Directions

Parks nearby

Eden Park
About 16 miles · A hilltop city park above the Ohio River in Cincinnati.
Open
Hueston Woods State Park
About 32 miles · A lake park with a stand of old-growth beech-maple forest.
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.