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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117 parks in 7 regions

Jefferson Lake State Park

Richmond · Jefferson County · Eastern Ohio

Ohio Department of Natural Resources

962acres

18trail miles

1928established

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
Jefferson Lake State Park, 501 Township Rd 261A, Richmond
Check current conditions: Official conditions or closures
Reservations or tickets: ReserveOhio — camping and cabin bookings
Hunting or permits: Hunting is permitted in designated areas, and many of them do not open until October 15. Contact the park for details. A valid Ohio hunting license is 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

This corner of Jefferson County has a hard, important story. It was the home of Logan, a celebrated Mingo chief. In 1774 his family was massacred near here, on the Ohio River at the mouth of Yellow Creek, and the killings helped set off Lord Dunmore's War. Logan's response to the killings became one of the best-known speeches of the frontier era.

A century and a half later the same valley was doing very different work. The coal seams under the sandstone hills and the river access made the region a center of Ohio's steel industry. The state started buying land for a park in 1928 in the valley of the Town Fork of Yellow Creek, and during the Depression the National Park Service and the old Ohio Division of Conservation put Civilian Conservation Corps crews to work on it. They built the dam in 1934 and the lake, all 17 acres of it, finally filled in 1946.

In 1950 the property was handed to the newly created Division of Parks and Recreation. Since then it has stayed small, remote and quiet, which is the reason to come. The forest is second-growth oak and hickory with beech, maple, tulip trees, walnut and ash, and the hillsides are full of wildflowers in spring.

In their own words

Depositions gathered for Jefferson's Appendix

1797 to 1800

When Luther Martin accused Jefferson of slandering Michael Cresap, Jefferson asked people who took part in or saw the events to give sworn statements. Historians read them as pointing to Daniel Greathouse's party, not Cresap, as the killers at Yellow Creek. Among the dead, according to later accounts, was Logan's sister, the wife of the trader John Gibson.

Jefferson, Appendix to the Notes on Virginia Relative to the Murder of Logan's Family (1800); ExplorePAhistory marker text

Logan's own words

1774

Logan named the loss himself: 'not sparing even my women and children.' The words come to us secondhand and were printed years later, but they are the closest thing to Logan's voice we have.

Logan's Lament, in Jefferson's Notes on the State of Virginia; see the Tar Hollow entry for the full story

Things to do in the park

Ride, hike or mountain bike the six multi-use trails
Camp with a horse on the equestrian-friendly campground and use the 3-mile campground horse trail
Paddle or fish the quiet lake (non-motorized boats and electric motors up to 4 hp only)
Picnic at scenic spots around the lake; two shelterhouses are first-come, first-served
Ice skating, cross-country skiing and ice fishing in winter when conditions allow

Trails

Maps, reviews and recent trail reports for Jefferson Lake State Park.

Find trails on AllTrails →

Things to do nearby

Fernwood State Forest and Yellow Creek State Forest, both nearby, with more trails
Steubenville and Historic Fort Steuben on the Ohio River, about 25 minutes east
Yellow Creek and the Ohio River, the setting of the 1774 events behind Lord Dunmore's War
Guilford Lake State Park, which houses this park's office

Hiking trails

Nearly 18 miles of rugged multi-use trail: Fernview (2 mi, easy), Oak Grove (1 mi), Beaver Dam (2 mi), Lakeside Loop (2.5 mi), Trillium (1.25 mi, difficult) and Logan (4.5 mi, difficult) are open to hikers, horses and bikes. The Campground Hikers Trail (2 mi) is hiking only, and the Campground Horse Trail (3 mi) is bridle only.

Wildlife you might see

Wild turkey and ruffed grouse in the hills and forest
Songbirds filling the leafy canopy
Wildflowers in spring: wild geranium, hepatica and bloodroot
Second-growth oak-hickory forest with white oak, shagbark hickory, beech and tulip tree

Fishing

Jefferson Lake (17 acres): largemouth bass, catfish, bluegill and redear sunfish. Ohio fishing license required for ages 16 and up.

Hunting

Hunting is permitted in designated areas, and many of them do not open until October 15. Contact the park for details. A valid Ohio hunting license is required.

Getting on the water

At 17 acres, Jefferson Lake is a pond by Ohio standards, and that is the charm. It is quiet, easy to paddle in an hour, and open only to non-motorized boats and electric motors up to 4 hp.

Launches & facilities

Boat launch

One ramp for small craft, canoes and kayaks.

Shoreline fishing

Picnic areas ring the lake and give bank access.

Good to know

Bring a canoe or kayak; there are no motors to compete with.
In winter the lake is used for ice skating and ice fishing when it freezes solid.

The Valley Where Logan Lost His Family

This quiet valley sits in the heart of the Logan story. The region was the home of Logan, a celebrated Mingo chief, and his family was killed near here, on the Ohio River at the mouth of Yellow Creek, in 1774. The killings helped set off Lord Dunmore's War that same year. Logan's response to what happened became one of the best-known speeches of the frontier era, and Logan's name is still on the map in this part of Ohio.

The park's own trail system carries the name: the Logan Trail, 4.5 miles and rated difficult, is the longest of Jefferson Lake's multi-use trails.

Behind the legend

The park's history is stranger for being quieter. The lake was made by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the Depression, the dam was built in 1934 and the water finally filled in 1946. Long before that, the ground under the state park was coal, and later this stretch of the Ohio Valley became a center of Ohio's steel industry, both of which drew the workers that filled these towns. Details of the 1774 killings, including who was in the party and who gave the orders, are still disputed by historians, and the account tied to the Tar Hollow Logan Trail, further south, tells the same story from the other end.

If you go

Ride or hike the Logan Trail, the toughest of the park's six multi-use trails, and think about what the valley looked like before the lake. The Ohio River and Historic Fort Steuben in Steubenville are about half an hour east.

Oddities near Jefferson Lake State Park

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

World's Largest Teapot

Chester · Hancock County, West Virginia

A 14-foot teapot on the West Virginia bank of the Ohio River, built from a root-beer barrel that once belonged to the inventor of the banana split.

Giant objectJust over the line

About 17 miles from this park

Campsites

Electric site (family or equestrian)

Tents and trailers · picnic table and fire ring · pets allowed on all sites · reservations required

$29–33/night

Non-electric site (family or equestrian)

Same shared campground · picnic table and fire ring

$19–23/night

On site

Two shelterhouses (first-come, first-served)
Volleyball and basketball courts in the campground
Picnic tables and grills around the lake
Boat launch for non-motorized and small electric boats
Hiking, bridle and mountain bike trailheads

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 "Jefferson Lake State Park" there to finish reserving.

Prefer the phone?330-222-1712

Jefferson Lake's office is at Guilford Lake State Park, so the phone number is the Guilford office. The campground is a shared family and equestrian camp, and reservations are required. Most trails are shared by hikers, riders and bikers, so give horses the right of way.

Restaurants nearby

Jax Pizza

Local pizza favorite in Richmond; closed Mondays

Directions

Jeffro's Pizza

Square Ohio Valley-style pizza, open evenings daily

Directions

Richmond Country Market

Grocery with a deli counter; known for fried chicken and jojos

Directions

Gas stations nearby

Sunoco

Closest station to the park, with a deli

Directions

Supermart

Family-owned station with a deli in Bergholz

Directions

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