Field NotesOhio
Upper Falls in the Old Man's Cave gorge, Hocking Hills, with visitors on the rocks

An independent field guide · 365 places

The field guide to outdoor Ohio

Parks and forests, ancient mounds, caves, waterfalls and back roads, with the story behind each place and where to eat and fuel up nearby.
Popular:
  • 117parks & forests
  • 64ancient mounds
  • 34waterfalls
  • 40historic sites
  • 33road trips

Old Man's Cave, Hocking Hills · Photo: Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0

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State parks & forests117 places, with cabins, campsites and trails117 places Waterfalls34 falls, with trail notes34 falls Mounds & earthworks64 ancient sites, from Serpent Mound to Newark64 ancient sites Caves & caverns12 show caverns, recess caves and rock shelters12 caves Lake Erie beaches20 public beaches, Conneaut to Toledo20 beaches Historic sites40 places, from the frontier to the Civil War40 places Road trips33 drives, from the Lincoln Highway to the Morgan Heritage Trail33 drives Oddities19 giants, ghosts and folk-art stops19 roadside stops The Buckeye TrailA 1,444-mile loop, all 26 sections1,444 miles

New to the guide?

Six places to start

One from every corner of the state, each with its full story inside.

01Old Man's CaveHocking Hills · SoutheastA gorge of waterfalls and recess caves where a hermit is said to have lived, with the park's visitor center. 02Great Serpent MoundAdams County · SouthwestA gigantic earthen snake on a hilltop over Ohio Brush Creek, built by a people whose name is still argued over. 03Brandywine FallsCuyahoga Valley · NortheastThe tallest waterfall in Cuyahoga Valley National Park, reached by an easy boardwalk with an accessible upper overlook. 04Marblehead LighthouseMarblehead · Lake ErieThe oldest continuously operating lighthouse on the Great Lakes, lit since 1821, on nine acres of limestone shoreline. 05Zoar VillageTuscarawas County · EasternA well-preserved communal village founded by German separatists in 1817, on the Ohio & Erie Canal. 06Longaberger Basket BuildingNewark · CentralA seven-story office building shaped like a picnic basket, with handles that are heated in winter.

Plan a trip

Open the mapAll 365 places on one map. Filter by cabins, campsites, hunting, beaches and more.Explore the map → Browse by countyPick any of Ohio's 88 counties and see its parks, mounds, waterfalls and historic sites.Find your county → Build a tripSave places as you browse, then line them up into a weekend. Kept in your browser, nothing to sign up for.Start a trip →

Explore Ohio

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

Lake ErieWest Virginia36 places368 places813 places135 places523 places2321 places2124 places2416 places1613 places134 places418 places182 places217 places1710 places1014 places142 places27 places76 places613 places133 places34 places414 places143 places3Harrison Lake State Park2 places22 places22 places26 places64 places4

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Parks, forests & wildlife areas

Find a park

117 parks in 7 regions

Ohio Underground Railroad Sites

Statewide
Heritage drive · Cincinnati to Ashtabula
Varieslength
6stops

A drive to the museums and stations that sheltered and guided people escaping slavery, from the Ohio River to Lake Erie.

Sites
John Rankin House (Ripley), Nelson T. Gant House (Zanesville), Kelton House (Columbus), Follett House (Sandusky), Hubbard House (Ashtabula), and the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (Cincinnati)
Route
North from the Ohio River to Lake Erie, the way many travelers went
Best for
Hearing the story from the places where it happened

The story

Ohio was a free state bordering slavery, and thousands of people crossed the Ohio River to reach it. Many went north through stations run by Black and white abolitionists and on to Lake Erie and Canada. The sites here span the state: the Rankin House above Ripley, the Nelson T. Gant House in Zanesville, home of one of that city's most prominent African American citizens, the Kelton House in Columbus, the Follett House in Sandusky and the Hubbard House in Ashtabula, a port where fugitives boarded lake boats. The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati tells the wider story. Ohio's own Black Laws limited the rights of Black residents, even in a free state.

Stops along the way

1 National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, Cincinnati
A museum on the Ohio River waterfront.
2 John Rankin House, Ripley
A station on Liberty Hill above the river. See the John Rankin House entry.
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3 Nelson T. Gant House, Zanesville
The home of one of Zanesville's prominent African American citizens.
4 Kelton House, Columbus
A Columbus house museum tied to the Underground Railroad.
5 Follett House, Sandusky
A house museum in Sandusky, on the way to the lake.
6 Hubbard House, Ashtabula
An Underground Railroad museum at the lake port.

Take the stops with you

Load the 6 stops into your maps app to drive between them.

Google Maps: stops 1 to 6

The file holds 6 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

East Fork State Park
A camping park east of Cincinnati.
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Buckeye Lake State Park
A camping park near Columbus.
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Geneva State Park
A lakeshore park near Ashtabula.
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Tips

  • Check each museum's hours before you plan the days.

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

Dusty Tires: Ohio routes →

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

Know a place that belongs here, or spotted something out of date? Email hello@fieldnotesohio.com.