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.
Try:
The Buckeye TrailA 1,444-mile blue-blazed loop around Ohio, with all 26 sections.
›
Mounds & Earthworks43 ancient sites, including the Great Serpent Mound and the Newark Earthworks.
›
Historic Sites39 places, from Fort Steuben and Zoar to Camp Chase and the Rankin House, from the frontier to the Civil War.
›
Road Trips33 drives, from the Lincoln Highway to the Morgan Heritage Trail.
›
Lake Erie Beaches20 public beaches from Conneaut to Toledo and the islands, with a map.
›
Oddities & Roadside Attractions19 giants, ghosts and folk-art stops, plus a Mothman just over the line.
›
Caves & Caverns12 show caverns, recess caves and rock shelters, with a map.
›
Waterfalls34 falls from the Cuyahoga Valley to the Hocking Hills, with trail notes and a map.
›

Explore Ohio

One map for every park, mound, historic site, beach, cave, waterfall and oddity in the app.

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

Tap a symbol for a preview, or search for a place. Open the key to show or hide categories.

117 parks in 7 regions

Lake Loramie State Park

Minster / Fort Loramie · Shelby & Auglaize Counties
Ohio Department of Natural Resources
407acres
—trail miles
1844established

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
Lake Loramie State Park, 4401 Fort Loramie-Swanders Rd, Minster
Check current conditions
Official conditions or closures
Reservations or tickets
ReserveOhio — camping and cabin bookings
Hunting or permits
Permitted in designated areas with a valid Ohio license, with waterfowl the main opportunity.

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

Before the French and Indian War, the Miami village of Pickawillany stood in this area and became the principal headquarters of the Miami Confederacy — more than four hundred Native families lived there. Because the Miami had sided with the British, the French destroyed it in 1752.

The lake carries the name of a man whose life took a peculiar turn. Older park materials say Peter Loramie came to this country as a Jesuit priest, sent to minister to the Wyandot and Shawnee, though historians describe him instead as a French-Canadian fur trader (see the Legends tab). In 1769 he established a trading post at the mouth of Loramie Creek, near the west end of what is now the reservoir. The post became a center of organized resistance against American settlers, and Loramie himself became, in the language of the period, a bitter enemy of the Americans. In 1782, General George Rogers Clark destroyed the post and a nearby Native village during an expedition through the Miami valley. Loramie left with a band of Shawnee and went west. In 1794, 'Mad' Anthony Wayne built a fort on the site of his old store.

The reservoir itself came in 1844–45, built to store water for the Miami and Erie Canal — a short feeder canal connected it to the main line running from Cincinnati north to Lake Erie. The canal system peaked economically in the mid-1800s, then the railroads came, and the catastrophic floods of 1913 finished it off; the canals were abandoned that year. Lake Loramie became one of Ohio's first state parks in 1949. You can still hike the old canal towpath. A new welcome center opened in 2025, tracing the area's history from the Ice Age forward.

Things to do in the park

  • Hike the old canal towpath
  • Sandy swimming beach
  • New welcome center with displays tracing the area from the Ice Age to 1949
  • Boating the lazy, shallow waters of the 843-acre lake
  • Shaded campsites near the water

Trails

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

Find trails on AllTrails →

Things to do nearby

  • Fort Loramie's historic village
  • Minster and the German-Catholic settlement country of west-central Ohio
  • Grand Lake St. Marys, about 25 minutes northwest
  • Miami and Erie Canal remnants throughout the region

Hiking trails

Several miles of easy trail, most notably along the old Miami and Erie Canal towpath — flat, historic walking rather than rugged hiking.

Wildlife you might see

  • Waterfowl in large numbers on the shallow lake
  • Herons and wading birds in the quiet arms
  • White-tailed deer in the surrounding farmland edges
  • Migratory birds using the canal corridor

Fishing

  • Lake Loramie (843 acres): largemouth bass, crappie, bluegill, channel catfish and saugeye. Shallow, weedy water that fishes well from a small boat.

Hunting

Permitted in designated areas with a valid Ohio license, with waterfowl the main opportunity.

Getting on the water

843 acres of shallow, slow canal-reservoir water. It's a lazy lake in the best sense — good for pontoons, kayaks and fishing rather than speed.

Launches & facilities

Boat ramps
Access points around the lake.
Sandy beach
Swimming area separate from the boating water.
Canal towpath
Walkable shoreline access along the historic feeder canal.

Good to know

  • Shallow and weedy — bring tackle suited to that rather than deep-water gear.
  • The towpath walk is the thing that makes this park different from other small lakes.
  • The welcome center is new as of 2025 and worth ten minutes before you set up.

Who Was the Frenchman?

For years the local story about the lake's namesake has been a good one: Peter Loramie came out as a Jesuit priest to the Wyandot and Shawnee, set up a trading post, and turned into a bitter enemy of the settlers. His store, called the Frenchman's Store or Loramie's Station, stood at the mouth of Loramie Creek from 1769. In 1782 it was burned to the ground by General George Rogers Clark's forces, led by Colonel Benjamin Logan, and Loramie left with a band of Shawnee. About a dozen years later, after the Battle of Fallen Timbers, General Wayne built a fort on the same spot.

Behind the legend

Historians tell a different story about the man. Pierre-Louis de Lorimier, as he is usually named, was a French-Canadian fur trader, a British Indian agent and an agitator among the Shawnee, and there is no sign he was a priest. The 'Jesuit priest' line appears in older park materials and some tourist websites, and it does not appear in the historical record. He died in 1812 in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and was buried beside his Native wife. One website gives him a birth year of 1778 and a death in 1852, which cannot be right for a man trading here in 1769.

Other details wobble as well. The fort is dated 1794 in some accounts and 1795 in others. The lake is said to have been built in 1824 by one ODNR page and in 1844 to 1845 by another. Nothing is left of the trading post or the fort. The site is a farm.

If you go

Walk the canal towpath and read the welcome center's timeline from the Ice Age to the canal. Then drive to the village of Fort Loramie and visit the historical association to see what is known about the trading post.

Historic sites near Lake Loramie State Park

Forts, villages, furnaces and lighthouses within reach of this park. Tap one for its story and visiting details.

Lockington Locks

Lockington · Shelby County · Western Ohio
A group of stone canal locks in a small canal village, restored and open free from dawn to dusk.
National Register of Historic Places
About 15 miles from this park · 1833–1913

Johnston Farm and Indian Agency

Piqua · Miami County · Western Ohio
A restored farm, a museum of Ohio's Native peoples and a mule-drawn canal boat ride, all on the site of the old Piqua Indian agency.
Canal boat rides
About 25 miles from this park · 2,000 years; the 1811 agency to the canal era

Armstrong Air & Space Museum

Wapakoneta · Auglaize County · West-central Ohio
A domed museum in Neil Armstrong's hometown, home to the Gemini 8 spacecraft, his space suits and a moon rock.
Ohio History Connection
About 25 miles from this park · Opened 1972

Fort Recovery Museum and Monument

Fort Recovery · Mercer County · Western Ohio
The site of the worst defeat the U.S. Army ever suffered at Native hands, and of the fort built on its bones.
Site of two 1790s battles
About 30 miles from this park · 1791–1795

Road trips through Lake Loramie State Park

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

Land of the Cross-Tipped Churches

West-central Ohio (Mercer and Auglaize counties)
A canal reservoir and camping park to the east.
Scenic byway38.4 miles
Half a day · McCartyville to SR 29 west of Wabash

Miami and Erie Canal Scenic Byway

Western Ohio
A canal reservoir and camping park.
Scenic byway50 miles
Half a day · Miami County to Allen County

The Buckeye Trail at Lake Loramie State Park

Ohio's 1,444-mile blue-blazed loop passes through or beside this park. Tap a section for its route, camping, water and resupply.

19 St. Marys Section

48 miles · Miami, Shelby, Auglaize
Fee-based walk-in sites are available year-round
3 parksTrail towns

Campsites

Electric site
Shaded campground near the lake
$33–37/night
Non-electric site
Quieter loops
$27–31/night

On site

  • Showers and flush toilets
  • New welcome center at the front of the campground
  • Sandy swimming beach
  • Boat ramps
  • Dump station
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 "Lake Loramie State Park" there to finish reserving.
Prefer the phone?937-295-2011

Restaurants nearby

Morrie's Landing
Right by the park and easy to drive past — breakfast, fried chicken, outdoor patio
Directions
The Farmer's Daughter
A longer drive, but worth it for homestyle cooking. Closed Sundays
Directions

Gas stations nearby

Marathon
Opens 5 a.m.; card readers at the pump are unreliable — be ready to go inside
Directions
Marathon
Second Minster option; slow pumps reported
Directions

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