06/04/2026
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Three hundred and fifty million years ago southern Ohio sat beneath a warm shallow sea. When the ocean receded, the sand and sediment it left behind compressed into Blackhand Sandstone, named for a black hand print petroglyph left by Indigenous people on a cliff near Newark. Millions of years of erosion cut through the soft middle layers, carving the gorges, recess caves, and towering cliffs that define Hocking Hills today. The Wyandot, Shawnee, and Delaware tribes traveled through and lived in these hills long before European settlers arrived, calling the river Hockhocking, meaning "bottle river."
Ohio purchased the first 146 acres containing Old Man's Cave in 1924. The Civilian Conservation Corps built the trails, bridges, and stonework throughout the 1930s using two separate camps including Company 526, one of the Corps' Black worker companies, who improved Cantwell Cliffs and Rock House.
Today Hocking Hills State Park spans 2,356 acres near Logan in Hocking County with over 25 miles of trails connecting six distinct natural areas. Old Man's Cave is the most visited, featuring a mile-long gorge with multiple waterfalls, Devil's Bathtub, Sphinx Head, and Eagle Rock formations. Ash Cave is the largest recess cave in Ohio at 700 feet end to end. Cedar Falls, Rock House, Conkle's Hollow, and Cantwell Cliffs round out the system. Free to enter.
Have you visited Hocking Hills State Park? Share your experience in the comments!
⭐ Hocking Hills State Park
📍 19852 State Route 664 S, Logan, OH 43138 (Hocking County, approx. 60 miles southeast of Columbus)
