Field Notes Ohio

Ohio's parks, forests and wildlife areas with camping, the ancient mounds beside them, and the Buckeye Trail that links them. Stories, trails, wildlife, and where to eat and fuel up nearby. Book campsites on ReserveOhio.
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The Buckeye TrailA 1,444-mile blue-blazed loop around Ohio, with all 26 sections.
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Mounds & Earthworks43 ancient sites, including the Great Serpent Mound and the Newark Earthworks.
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Historic Sites39 places, from Fort Steuben and Zoar to Camp Chase and the Rankin House, from the frontier to the Civil War.
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Road Trips33 drives, from the Lincoln Highway to the Morgan Heritage Trail.
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Lake Erie Beaches20 public beaches from Conneaut to Toledo and the islands, with a map.
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Oddities & Roadside Attractions19 giants, ghosts and folk-art stops, plus a Mothman just over the line.
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Caves & Caverns12 show caverns, recess caves and rock shelters, with a map.
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Waterfalls34 falls from the Cuyahoga Valley to the Hocking Hills, with trail notes and a map.
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Explore Ohio

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Lake ErieWest Virginia27 places277 places77 places73 places35 places519 places1913 places1319 places1916 places168 places810 places1010 places109 places98 places820 places204 places43 places3Barkcamp State Park4 places47 places77 places76 places69 places917 places173 places3Harrison Lake State Park2 places2Forked Run State Park3 places32 places26 places610 places103 places32 places2

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117 parks in 7 regions

Dillon State Park

Nashport · Muskingum County
Ohio Department of Natural Resources
2,285acres
—trail miles
1961established

Visiting information you can trust

Content last reviewed
September 2026 — this is when Field Notes Ohio's content was last checked, not a live status.
Primary official source
ODNR park finder (search this park)
Location confidence
Verified property location
Dillon State Park, 5265 Dillon Hills Dr, Nashport
Check current conditions
Official conditions or closures
Reservations or tickets
ReserveOhio — camping and cabin bookings
Hunting or permits
Permitted in designated areas of the park and in the surrounding 3,612-acre Dillon Wildlife Area, which includes a shotgun range. Note the park hunting map marks separate zones — open to hunting, waterfowl only, and a special deer management area with youth hunting by permit only. No hunting within 400 feet of any camping area, picnic area, shelter, latrine, parking lot or structure. Valid Ohio license required.

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 story of this land

Everything about this place is about moving through it. The Licking River was the road Native peoples took to Flint Ridge, where outcroppings of extraordinary flint were quarried. That flint traveled: specimens from Flint Ridge have been found as far east as the Atlantic seaboard, as far south as Louisiana, and as far west as Kansas City. This was a corridor in a trade network spanning half a continent.

Downstream in Blackhand Gorge, carved by the same river, a sandstone cliff once bore a soot-blackened engraving of a human hand. Nobody knows for certain what it meant, but the widely held reading is that it was a guide marker — a sign pointing travelers toward Flint Ridge. The gorge still carries the name. The park itself has exposures of the same Blackhand sandstone.

Moses Dillon, a well-known bridge designer, bought land around here in 1803, and the lake built in 1961 carries his name. The Old National Road passing just south was largely responsible for the growth of nearby Zanesville. Layer on layer, the same story: this is ground people crossed on their way somewhere, for about three thousand years running.

Things to do in the park

  • Woodchuck Ridge disc golf — an 18-hole, par-61 course starting behind the camp store
  • Archery range at the Sled Hill parking lot with 10-, 20-, 30- and 40-yard targets plus a broadhead target
  • State park marina with 95 seasonal docks and four overnight rental docks
  • Canoe, kayak and paddleboard rentals at the Campground Store
  • Sledding hill in winter
  • Blackhand sandstone formations along the trails

Trails

Maps, reviews and recent trail reports for Dillon State Park.

Find trails on AllTrails →

Things to do nearby

  • Blackhand Gorge State Nature Preserve — the petroglyph site, a short drive west
  • Flint Ridge State Memorial, the ancient quarry itself
  • Zanesville's Y-Bridge and pottery history, 3 miles south
  • The Wilds safari park, about 40 minutes

Hiking trails

Several hiking trails through wooded hills and along the lake, including routes past Blackhand sandstone outcrops. The park also has an 18-hole disc golf course (Woodchuck Ridge) and a sledding hill.

Wildlife you might see

  • White-tailed deer and wild turkey
  • Blackhand sandstone outcrops and the plant communities they support
  • Waterfowl across the lake's coves and inlets
  • Woodland songbirds

Fishing

  • Dillon Lake (1,560 acres): largemouth bass, bluegill, crappie, saugeye, hybrid striped bass and catfish — all described as plentiful. Unlimited horsepower boating.

Hunting

Permitted in designated areas of the park and in the surrounding 3,612-acre Dillon Wildlife Area, which includes a shotgun range. Note the park hunting map marks separate zones — open to hunting, waterfowl only, and a special deer management area with youth hunting by permit only. No hunting within 400 feet of any camping area, picnic area, shelter, latrine, parking lot or structure. Valid Ohio license required.

Getting on the water

1,560 acres with unlimited horsepower, and a shoreline full of quiet coves and inlets — the park's own description, and an accurate one. Two ramps, a real marina, and overnight rental docks, which are rare in the Ohio system.

Launches & facilities

Two boat ramps
Providing access to Dillon Lake.
State park marina
95 docks for seasonal lease plus four overnight rental docks.
Campground Store rentals
Canoes, kayaks and stand-up paddleboards available.

Good to know

  • The four overnight rental docks are worth asking about — you can tie up and sleep aboard.
  • Coves and inlets are where the fishing is; the open water is for the ski boats.
  • Saugeye and hybrid striped bass both run well here.

The Hand That Pointed the Way

Down the Licking River from Dillon, in the gorge that now bears its name, there was once a black hand on the cliff. Early settlers described it as a huge handprint with the fingers spread and part of a wrist, about ten feet above the water, and one elongated finger seemed to point east. Natives passing through the gorge were said to read it as a message: all who travel here do so in peace. The path led to Flint Ridge, the great flint quarry, where tribes from across the continent gathered, and where no hand was to be raised against another.

One legend gives it a human story. Two suitors held a contest for a woman's hand, and the loser cut off his own hand in shame and hurled it against the cliff, leaving its mark.

Behind the legend

The hand was real, and it is gone. It was carved into the sandstone and blackened over time, and it was destroyed in 1828 when canal builders dynamited the cliff face while they built a slackwater section of the Ohio and Erie Canal. The suitors' story is a legend with no known source, and the 'message of peace' reading is the most widely accepted of several theories. Other petroglyphs in the gorge survived until about 1890, and two Newark men, Dr. James Salisbury and his brother Charles, recorded many of them.

Even the name traveled. The gorge is named for the hand, and the rock itself, Black Hand Sandstone, is named for the gorge and forms the backbone of the Hocking Hills. Flint Ridge, where the trail led, is still a state memorial.

If you go

Blackhand Gorge State Nature Preserve is a separate ODNR property about 15 minutes from Dillon's campground, and it is where the marked spot of the lost hand is. Walk or ride the old towpath and railroad grade and read the signs. Dillon State Park has its own exposures of Black Hand Sandstone.

Mounds & earthworks near Dillon State Park

Ancient earthworks within easy reach of this park. Tap one for its history, legends and visiting details.

Flint Ridge Ancient Quarries

Glenford · Licking County · Central Ohio
The quarry that supplied flint to peoples across eastern North America, and the goal of the Black Hand's path.
Can visitNational Register of Historic Places
About 8 miles from this park · Quarried for more than 12,000 years

Glenford Fort

Glenford · Perry County · Central Ohio
A one-mile stone wall around a forested hilltop, now open by permit after two centuries in private hands.
Can visitNational Register of Historic Places
About 15 miles from this park · The mound dated to about 280 BCE; the walls are classic Hopewell

Newark Earthworks

Newark & Heath · Licking County · Central Ohio
Enormous circles, an octagon and a square built about 2,000 years ago, and part of a golf course until 2025.
Can visitUNESCO World Heritage Site (2023)
About 20 miles from this park · 100 BCE to 400 CE

Alligator Effigy Mound

Granville · Licking County · Central Ohio
A mystery animal on a hill above Granville, one of only two effigy mounds in Ohio.
Can visitNational Register of Historic Places
About 22 miles from this park · About AD 800 to 1270 (excavation dates AD 1170 to 1270)

Oddities near Dillon State Park

Roadside curiosities, legends and giant things within reach of this park.

Longaberger Basket Building

Newark · Licking County
A seven-story office building shaped like a picnic basket, with handles that are heated in winter.
Odd building
About 15 miles from this park

World's Largest Apple Basket

Frazeysburg · Muskingum County
A 20-foot basket of bright red apples in the abandoned Longaberger Village.
Giant object
About 15 miles from this park

The Y-Bridge

Zanesville · Muskingum County
A Y-shaped bridge over the meeting of the Muskingum and Licking rivers, famous for the joke that you can cross it and end up on the same side you started.
Bridge
About 7 miles from this park

Campsites

Electric site
Modern campground with lake access
$33–37/night
Non-electric site
Wooded loops
$25–29/night

Cabins

Cottage
Park cottages near the lake
$130–175/night

On site

  • Showers and flush toilets
  • Campground store with boat rentals
  • Marina with 95 seasonal docks
  • Archery range
  • Disc golf
  • Sledding hill
Continue to ReserveOhio →
Field Notes Ohio isn't connected to ReserveOhio, so it can't hold a site or take payment. Tapping through opens it in a new tab — search "Dillon State Park" there to finish reserving.
Prefer the phone?740-453-4377

Restaurants nearby

The Clover Key
Right outside the park and campers' top pick. Order at the counter. Closed Mon & Sun
Directions
Bogey's Tavern
Breaded bone-in wings with a serious local following; big patio
Directions
Muddy Misers
River deck in Zanesville, about 15 minutes. Closed Sundays
Directions

Gas stations nearby

Sunoco
Open to 1 a.m., closest to the park. Deli, pizza, and fishing supplies
Directions
Marathon
Opens 5 a.m.; good breakfast sandwiches
Directions

Details last checked 2026-09-22. Confirm hours and prices before you go.