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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Mounds & Earthworks43 ancient sites, including the Great Serpent Mound and the Newark Earthworks.
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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

Hueston Woods State Park

College Corner / Oxford · Butler & Preble Counties
Ohio Department of Natural Resources
3,000acres
12trail miles
1941established

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
Hueston Woods State Park, 6301 Park Office Rd
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 with a valid Ohio license — but not in the state nature preserve, which is protected. Check with the park office for current boundaries.

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

Matthew Hueston came through this country in 1797 serving under General 'Mad' Anthony Wayne, noticed how good the soil was, and started buying land once the fighting subsided. That part is ordinary frontier history. What isn't ordinary is what he did next: he left a large block of his forest standing. His descendants kept doing the same, generation after generation, while nearly every other acre of Ohio's original woodland was cleared for farms.

That single stubborn decision is why you can walk through primeval Ohio today. Beeches make up nearly 44 percent of the forest here, many over 200 years old — one sampled tree came in near 300, older than the country. The National Park Service designated the 200-acre stand a National Natural Landmark in 1967. When the last Hueston died in the 1930s, a Hamilton conservationist named Morris Taylor bought the woods and held them in trust until the state could act. Cloyd Acton, a Preble County legislator, pushed the appropriation through, and the state bought the land in September 1941.

Under the trees is something far older. This corner of Ohio sits on Upper Ordovician limestone and shale — the floor of a shallow tropical sea some 450 million years ago — and the creeks that feed and drain Acton Lake cut straight down into it. The beds are scattered with brachiopods, bryozoans, trilobite fragments, and horn coral, which makes this one of the better-known fossil collecting sites in the world. Four Mile Creek was dammed in 1956 to create the lake, named for the legislator who saved the woods.

Things to do in the park

  • Fossil hunting in the creek beds — no permit needed, collect for personal use only. Ask a naturalist where the productive stretches are
  • Walk the old-growth nature preserve, a National Natural Landmark
  • Year-round nature center with live animal displays, guided hikes, bird walks, and organized fossil hunts
  • 18-hole golf course and a resort lodge
  • Hueston Woods Covered Bridge over Four Mile Creek
  • About 20 miles of mountain bike trail

Trails

Maps, reviews and recent trail reports for Hueston Woods State Park.

Find trails on AllTrails →

Things to do nearby

  • Oxford and Miami University — college-town restaurants and bookstores, 5 miles south
  • Oxford Area Trail Loop, a 5.5-mile connector route
  • Indiana state line minutes west at College Corner
  • Hueston Woods Sugar House, tapping maples in late winter

Hiking trails

Over 12 miles of hiking trails, including loops through the old-growth preserve, plus roughly 20 miles of mountain bike trail and 6 miles of bridle trail with a horsemen's staging area off SR 177.

Wildlife you might see

  • Old-growth beech and sugar maple over ferns and spring wildflowers
  • Rehabilitated raptors and live animals on display at the nature center
  • White-tailed deer, wild turkey
  • Strong spring warbler migration through the mature canopy

Fishing

  • Acton Lake (625 acres): largemouth bass, crappie, bluegill, channel catfish, and saugeye. Boat rentals available; horsepower limits apply.

Hunting

Permitted in designated areas of the park with a valid Ohio license — but not in the state nature preserve, which is protected. Check with the park office for current boundaries.

Getting on the water

Acton Lake is 625 acres formed by damming Four Mile Creek in 1956. It's a calm, family-scaled lake with rentals on site — and the creeks feeding it are the fossil grounds, so the water and the rock are the same attraction here.

Launches & facilities

Boat launch and rentals
Pontoons, kayaks, canoes and rowboats available seasonally.
Swimming beach
Sand beach on the lake, separate from the boating areas.
Four Mile Creek access
The picnic area and the ground near the dam are the classic fossil-collecting stretches.

Good to know

  • Work the loose material in and beside the creek — don't dig into the banks, which speeds erosion.
  • Collect a reasonable amount for personal use only; selling what you find isn't permitted.
  • Leave the old-growth preserve and any posted nature preserve ground entirely alone.

The Woods Nobody Cut

Ohio was once one enormous forest, and almost all of it is gone. The trees fell to farms, fences and firewood in the first century of settlement, and one 200-acre stand of towering beech and sugar maple is still here for one reason: a farmer decided not to cut it. Matthew Hueston served with General Anthony Wayne, saw the fertile soil of southwestern Ohio and started buying land in 1797. He left a patch of the woods standing, and his descendants did the same for generations.

When the last of the Huestons died in the 1930s, the woods were in danger. A conservationist from Hamilton, Morris Taylor, bought them and held them in trust until the state could act. A Preble County legislator, Cloyd Acton, talked the legislature into buying the land, and in September 1941 the state took it over as a state forest.

Behind the legend

The outline is consistent, and the small details wobble. ODNR's own page puts Hueston's big purchase in 1800 (2,600 acres in Butler County) while other park histories say 1797, and the lake is named for Cloyd Acton in ODNR's account and Clyde Acton on Wikipedia. What is firm: the state bought the land in 1941, the Oxford Honor Camp housed honor-status inmates here for 12 years from 1952, and the dam on Four Mile Creek was completed in 1956, so Acton Lake was filled the next year. The park opened in 1957.

The forest itself has the credentials. It was named a National Natural Landmark in 1967 as a noteworthy example of beech-maple forest that has never been cut, and it became a state nature preserve in 1973. The area was also a route for the Underground Railroad, since many local settlers were Quakers and Presbyterians who opposed slavery. And an Adena mound in the park dates from between 800 BCE and 100 CE.

If you go

Walk into the 200 acres of old-growth beech and maple in spring, when the wildflowers are out. Then look for the former honor camp buildings, which are now the park office and nature center.

Mounds & earthworks near Hueston Woods State Park

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

Great Mound (Butler County)

Madison Township · Butler County · Southwest Ohio
A huge Adena mound on a ridge west of Middletown that may have been a signal tower.
National Register of Historic Places
About 15 miles from this park · About 800 BCE to 700 CE (Adena period)

Conrad Mound Archeological Site

Cleves · Hamilton County · Southwest Ohio
A mound site near the Ohio River in far southwest Ohio, known mostly from its listing.
Listed among Adena sites
About 29 miles from this park · Adena period

Story Mound (Cincinnati)

Sayler Park · Cincinnati · Southwest Ohio
A small burial mound in a Cincinnati neighborhood that has never been touched by a shovel.
National Register of Historic Places
About 33 miles from this park · Assumed Adena

Road trips through Hueston Woods State Park

Scenic byways and heritage drives that pass this park or run close to it.

Presidential Pathways Scenic Byway

Southwest Ohio (Hamilton and Butler counties)
A lodge and lake park in nearby Butler and Preble counties.
Scenic byway52 miles
1.5 hours to drive, or a day to visit · North Bend to Butler County

Oddities near Hueston Woods State Park

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

Futuro House

Carlisle · Warren County
A 1960s flying-saucer-shaped house designed by a Finnish architect, one of about 100 built.
Odd building
About 20 miles from this park

Lux Mundi ("Hug Me Jesus")

Monroe · Warren County
A 52-foot fiberglass Christ with open arms beside I-75, built after lightning burned down its 62-foot predecessor, nicknamed Touchdown Jesus, in 2010.
Giant statue
About 24 miles from this park

Waterfalls near Hueston Woods State Park

Falls inside or within reach of this park. Stay behind railings and on marked trails; wet rock is slick in every season.

Cedar Falls

College Corner · Preble County
A short, quiet trail past small limestone cascades in Hueston Woods State Park, next to one of Ohio's last stands of uncut beech maple forest.
Low fallsModerate hike
Inside this park

Campsites

Electric site
Large campground with 50-amp options
$33–37/night
Non-electric site
Wooded and tent-friendly
$23–27/night

Cabins

Standard cabin
2 bedrooms, near the lake
$140–180/night
Lodge room
Resort lodge with indoor pool and restaurant
$130–200/night

On site

  • Heated showers, flush toilets
  • Nature center with naturalist programs
  • Golf course
  • Swimming beach on Acton Lake
  • Boat rentals
  • Disc golf
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 "Hueston Woods State Park" there to finish reserving.
Prefer the phone?513-523-6347

Restaurants nearby

Mac & Joe's
Oxford institution down an alley — burgers and huge portions
Directions
Habibi Fusion Grill & Cafe
Mediterranean, exceptionally well reviewed
Directions
The Pickle & Pig
Speakeasy-styled bar and restaurant, dinner only
Directions
The Smokehouse at Hueston Woods Lodge
In the lodge, open for all three meals — the convenient option
Directions

Gas stations nearby

Circle K
24 hours in Oxford
Directions
Speedway
24 hours, south side of town
Directions

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