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.
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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

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

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117 parks in 7 regions

Lincoln Highway Historic Byway

Northern and western Ohio
Heritage drive · East Liverpool to Indiana line near Van Wert
241miles
1 to 2 daysto drive
12stops

Ohio's 241 miles of the first coast-to-coast automobile road, following the 1928 alignment along old US 30.

Length
241 miles on the 1928 route; U.S. Route 30 across Ohio measures 245.69 miles
Established
1913, as the first transcontinental automobile route, 3,389 miles from New York to San Francisco through twelve states
Byway
A state byway since 2004 that follows the final 1928 route
Cities
East Liverpool, Lisbon, Minerva, Canton, Massillon, Wooster, Mansfield, Bucyrus, Upper Sandusky, Delphos and Van Wert
Markers
In September 1928 the Lincoln Highway Association set 241 concrete posts along 242 miles in Ohio
Best for
A day of small-town Main Streets and old road culture
Route note
Primarily US 30, revised several times between 1913 and 1928 to run more directly to Chicago

The story

The Lincoln Highway was conceived by leaders of the automobile industry in 1913 to encourage 'good roads.' When the route was announced on September 14, 1913, it crossed Ohio by way of Canton, Mansfield, Marion, Kenton, Lima and Van Wert, along what was then called Main Market Route No. 3. Within weeks its planners changed it to run from Galion to Bucyrus, Upper Sandusky and Lima, and it was revised several times until 1928, when the Lincoln Highway Association marked its final route across the state with 241 concrete posts. The original route through Marion and Kenton became known as the Marion Way, then the Harding Highway.

By the 1930s much of the road had become part of the federal highway system as U.S. Route 30, and many miles have since been bypassed by four-lane highways. Today the byway follows the 1928 alignment; for every mile of it, about another mile of earlier alignment was bypassed. In Galion the Big Four Depot, dedicated in 1900 and listed on the National Register in 1974, is the starting point for the 1913 route tour.

Stops along the way

1 East Liverpool
The start of the charted course, at Fifth Street and Broadway.
2 Lisbon and Minerva
Small towns on the road between East Liverpool and Canton.
3 Canton and Massillon
Two of the old Ohio cities on the route. Fort Laurens and the Ohio & Erie Towpath are about 25 miles south.
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4 Canton: McKinley Presidential Library & Museum
The president's memorial and museum sit on a hill above the city. See the McKinley Museum entry.
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5 Wooster
A county seat on the route, between Massillon and Mansfield. Zoar Village is about an hour to the southeast.
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6 Mansfield
Where the 1913 and 1928 routes met. Malabar Farm State Park is about ten miles away.
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7 Ohio State Reformatory, Mansfield
The Shawshank Redemption prison, open for tours. See the Ohio State Reformatory entry.
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8 Crestline and Bucyrus
On the 1921 to 1928 route between Mansfield and Bucyrus.
9 Galion
The Big Four Depot, built in 1900, on the first 1913 route through Marion and Kenton.
10 Marion
On the 1913 route, later called the Harding Highway; Warren Harding's home and memorial. See the Harding Presidential Sites entry.
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11 Upper Sandusky
A 2001 historical marker tells the highway's story; the 1913 route went on to Lima. The Wyandot Mission Church, where the 1843 removal began, is here.
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12 Delphos and Van Wert
The last Ohio towns before the Indiana line. Delphos is also a Buckeye Trail Town on the Miami & Erie Canal.

Take the stops with you

Load the 12 stops into your maps app to drive between them.

Google Maps: stops 1 to 10Google Maps: stops 10 to 12

The file holds 12 waypoints and a stop-by-stop route line. Locations are approximate, often a town center, so use the stop notes to find the exact spot. Your maps app chooses the roads between stops, usually the fastest, so follow the byway signs where they differ. The GPX arrives in a zip file; unzip it and open the .gpx in a GPS or hiking app. The CSV imports into Google My Maps.

Where to camp nearby

Malabar Farm State Park
A working farm and Pulitzer-winning author's home near Mansfield.
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Mohican State Park
A gorge and canoe river about 25 miles south of the road.
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Quail Hollow Park
A Stark County park with a mansion near Canton.
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Tips

  • The road is mostly modern US 30 with old alignments in the towns; slow down to find the concrete posts.
  • Visit the Ohio Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor's website for road guides and strip maps.

Distances are the route lengths given by the sources. Confirm road conditions, closures and seasonal hours before you go.

Ohio Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor road guide →

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