By visiting Blackhand Gorge Nature Preserve, you can trace Ohio's long history of transportation.
Native Americans navigated the Licking River for centuries before the arrival of European settlers. There is a cliff made of Blackhand sandstone rising on the north side of the Licking River. In prehistoric times, Native Americans inscribed a petroglyph on this cliff; it looked like a very large, black hand. Not only is the gorge named after this petroglyph, but the class of erosion-resistant sandstone Read more ➜ Blackhand Gorge: A Step Back in Time
By visiting Blackhand Gorge Nature Preserve, you can trace Ohio's long history of transportation.
Native Americans navigated the Licking River for centuries before the arrival of European settlers. There is a cliff made of Blackhand sandstone rising on the north side of the Licking River. In prehistoric times, Native Americans inscribed a petroglyph on this cliff; it looked like a very large, black hand. Not only is the gorge named after this petroglyph, but the class of erosion-resistant sandstone Read more ➜ 
Brandywine Falls is in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. The falls is named after the village of Brandywine that no longer exists.
The village of Brandywine boomed in the early 1800s because of the waterpower which the falls provided. Here's a vintage photo of the mill associated with the falls.
As transportation technology advanced, first with the Erie Canal, then later with railways, the village of Brandywine was bypassed and their economy gradually deteriorated. 
Above you see a little green hill rising above the surrounding plain. This is a man-made structure. The first time I came across anything like this was while reading Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy. There is a dramatic passage in the Fellowship of the Ring when the hobbit heroes are passing through the "Barrow-downs". Tolkien's barrows were mounds like the one above; they had been the final resting place of the ancient men of the first age. In the novel the barrow-downs had been a peaceful place 
Seymour Woods State Nature Preserve is a 115-acre preserve in Delaware County. It is named after James O. Seymour who donated the property to the state in 1972. His family's cabin, though boarded up, remains within the preserve. The preserve also contains the foundation of a settler's home that was built in 1830; it's known as the Avery Powers Homestead. While hiking the loop trail that winds around the property, I also noticed the remains of a concrete silo off in the distance.
When 
I wasn't sure what to expect when I went to Battelle Darby Creek Metro Park, but I had been hoping to see a herd of bison in a natural looking setting. Yeah... that's not exactly what happened. When I got to the area where the bison are, there was a sign informing me that the bison were being held in a temporary holding pen, so it was hard getting a photo of them without showing the fence which enclosed them. But perhaps the small enclosure meant that I got a closer look at them than