Posted in Hiking, Park review, Southeastern Ohio

Wayne National Forest (Ironton Unit): Lake Vesuvius

This past September we visited Lake Vesuvius in Wayne National Forest. We followed the Lakeshore Trail counter-clockwise around the lake. This trail is supposed to be 8 miles long. The first mile had us traveling past a number of cliffs and outcroppings; if you were to just go a mile and then turn around, you'd have a very scenic hike of moderate difficulty. You'd even get to see the cliff and watery slump block pictured above. The Lakeshore Trail Once you go up the steps that lie Read more ➜
Posted in Ohio Industrial History, Park review, Southeastern Ohio

Buckeye Furnace and Ohio’s Nineteenth Century Iron Industry

If you visit a number of parks and forests in Ohio, you will occasionally come across a structure built of sandstone blocks that resembles the bottom of a pyramid. A few of these are intact; many are just ruins overgrown with plants. These are the remnants of blast furnaces built in the early nineteenth century. But what are they doing out in the middle of the forest? In the above photo the topmost, wooden building is the bridge loft. Workers in the bridge loft dropped raw materials through Read more ➜