Lake White State Park

On the ground

The lake is the park's organizing feature. A launch ramp at the intersection of State Routes 551 and 104 provides public access, and a private marina offers additional access for boaters. Fishing focuses on bluegill, largemouth bass, crappie, saugeye and catfish, with the lake's Spotted Bass record giving it a specific claim to fame among Ohio anglers. The park's one listed historic feature is its Dam/Spillway, the structure that holds the lake in place.

Away from the water, the surrounding hills are forested in a style the Ohio Department of Natural Resources compares to the southern Appalachians, with oak, hickory, tulip, ash, maple and other hardwoods. In spring, forest trails are lined with flowering dogwood and redbud trees and woodland wildflowers, and sandstone outcroppings carry ferns, mosses, lichens and fungi including morel mushrooms. Two shelterhouses overlook the lake and can be reserved in advance or used first come, first served; the Lower Shelterhouse sits near a playground, and the same area draws sledders when snow allows. The broader Scioto Valley carries a much older layer of history — Adena and Hopewell mound builders settled here around 800 B.C., leaving earthworks such as Seip Mound, Spruce Hill, Fort Hill and Serpent Mound in the region, and the Scioto River itself served as a Shawnee travel route and later brought European settlers into the area in the 1790s.