Hocking Hills State Park
| Hocking Hills State Park | |
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IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape)
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Ash Cave
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| Location | Hocking County, Ohio, USA |
| Nearest city | Logan, Ohio |
| Coordinates | 39°25′50″N 82°32′20″W / 39.43056°N 82.53889°WCoordinates: 39°25′50″N 82°32′20″W / 39.43056°N 82.53889°W |
| Area | 2,356 acres (9.53 km2) Water: 17 acres (6.9 ha) |
| Established | 1924 |
| Governing body | Ohio Department of Natural Resources |
Hocking Hills State Park is a non-contiguous state park in the Hocking Hills region of Hocking County, Ohio, United States; it is contiguous with the Hocking State Forest. Within the park are several spectacular rock formations, including Old Man's Cave, a narrow, deep gorge featuring waterfalls; Rock House, a cliffed area with a rock shelter; Cantwell Cliffs, a broad gorge at the head of a hollow with a unique stone stairway; and Ash Cave, a large rock shelter with a small waterfall, and Cedar Falls, a larger waterfall south of Old Man's Cave.
The park is in five separate sections: Old Man's Cave, Cedar Falls, Ash Cave, Cantwell Cliffs, and Rock House.
The name, Hocking Hills
Hocking County was named after the Hockhocking River. Hockhocking, in the Delaware tongue, signifies a bottle. In Shawnee, Wea-tha-Kagh-Qua-sepe, meant bottle river. The Hockhocking River had a waterfall of nearly 20 feet located about 6 or 7 miles northwest of Lancaster. Above the falls, the creek was very narrow and straight, forming the "bottle" neck.
The Hockhocking enters the county from Good Hope Township in the northwest and then flows southwest, touches Marion Township, continues through Falls and Green Townships, and exits the county through northwestern Starr Township. The river is then in Athens County.
History: The Adena culture is believed to be one of the first inhabitants of the area of Hocking Hills 1700s - Native American Tribes of Delaware, Wyandot, and Shawnee travelled through and lived in the area 1818 - Hocking County created in Ohio 1830s - Powder mill was built 1840 - Hocking Canal was completed allowing for more settlers to travel there 1924 - After local popular hiking areas were threatened by the accessibility of more traffic, the State Forest Law was passed in 1915 allowing the state to purchase the first parcel of land in Hocking Hills around Old Man's Cave.
History of the Park
More than 330 million years ago, the Hocking Hills State Park area was relatively level and was covered by the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. For millions of years, the ocean’s currents deposited immense amounts of sand and gravel. After millions of years, the ocean receded, and the sandy layers bonded with silica to form the Black Hand Sandstone that underlies the area. It formed like a sandwich, with a hard top and bottom and a soft middle layer. When the Appalachian Mountains arose, form and feature were cast upon the area and created Hocking Hills State Park.
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