Tar Hollow State Park

On the ground

Sandstone ridges here formed from sediment washed westward as ancient seas retreated, and the hills now carry oak and hickory on the dry ridge tops with sycamore, black willow, buckeye and silver maple along the stream valleys. Bloodroot, wild geranium, cardinal flower and Solomon's seal grow in the understory. The Homestead Trail, blazed blue, begins at the spillway at Pine Lake and runs as a family-friendly loop. The Ross Hollow Hiking Trail, blazed yellow, starts in the Ross Hollow camp area and climbs into the hills of Tar Hollow over moderate terrain. Backpackers can follow the Logan Backpack Trail, a red-blazed route laid out as a figure eight through the park's more difficult terrain. A Primitive Camp Area along the Logan Backpacking Trail offers tent-only, hike-in sites, with registration at the General Store in season or at the park office.

Three historic features noted in the park are the Dam/Spillway, the Fire Tower, and the Spillway. Native Americans occupied this land long before European settlement, with the Hopewell present from about 200 B.C. to 500 A.D. and leaving burial mounds that can still be seen, followed later by the Shawnee and Mingo, who used the area as hunting grounds. In 1796 Nathaniel Massie platted the town of Chillicothe on the Scioto River near the mouth of Paint Creek, offering the first hundred lots free to settlers and selling farm tracts of 100 to 200 acres for one or two dollars an acre, drawing many Kentuckians and Virginians; Chillicothe became the state capital in 1803.