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

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

117 parks in 7 regions

Ohio Underground Railroad Sites

Statewide
Heritage drive · Cincinnati to Ashtabula
Varieslength
2 to 3 daysto drive
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.