The gorges of Hocking Hills are 340 million years old. The human history layered on top of them — petroglyphs, iron furnaces, coal mines, the CCC, a legendary hiker, and an explosive tourism industry — is a story of a landscape that kept finding new uses for itself.
Before European Settlement
The name "Hocking" derives from the Lenape (Delaware) word Hockhocking, meaning "bottle-shaped" — a reference to the bottle-shaped falls at present-day Lancaster where the Hocking River narrows dramatically. Indigenous peoples occupied the region for thousands of years. The most famous artifact is the Black Hand petroglyph — a large hand painted in black iron oxide on sandstone walls at what is now Black Hand Gorge near Newark, Ohio. The petroglyph gave Black Hand sandstone its name. It was destroyed by canal and railroad construction in the 19th century, but the geological formation it named defines the entire Hocking Hills landscape.
Coal, Iron, and Industry
Hocking County's 19th-century economy ran on extraction. Coal mining brought waves of settlement to the region, creating communities like Moonville — a small mining town that peaked at roughly 100 residents before the mines closed and the town disappeared entirely. The Moonville Tunnel, built around 1856 for the Marietta & Cincinnati Railroad, is all that remains.
The Hope Furnace at Lake Hope State Park is a Civil War-era iron furnace — one of dozens that operated across southeastern Ohio during the iron boom. These furnaces consumed enormous quantities of charcoal made from local hardwood forests, stripping the landscape of old-growth timber. The charcoal iron industry declined in the late 1800s as coal-fired blast furnaces elsewhere became dominant.
The Doolittle Plantation in Zaleski State Forest represents a different legacy: Ohio's oldest professional forestry site, dating to 1906, where systematic reforestation began on land stripped by the charcoal iron and logging industries. The forests you walk through today in much of southeastern Ohio are second- and third-growth — the original forests were largely cut between 1800 and 1900.
The CCC and the Park's Creation
Hocking Hills State Park exists in its current form largely because of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), which operated in the region during the 1930s. CCC workers built many of the original trail staircases, stone bridges, shelters, and infrastructure that visitors still use today. The distinctive stonework visible at Old Man's Cave — hand-laid sandstone steps and walls — is CCC craftsmanship from the Depression era.
The park was established as a series of state parks and preserves that were eventually consolidated. The trails connected sites that had been informally visited by locals for generations — Old Man's Cave (named for hermit Richard Rowe, who lived in the cave in the late 1700s), Ash Cave (named for the massive ash heap found by early settlers, likely from centuries of Indigenous campfires), and Cedar Falls (misnamed — the surrounding trees are hemlocks, not cedars, but the name stuck).
Grandma Gatewood's Legacy
In 1967, Emma "Grandma" Gatewood — already famous as the first woman to solo-thru-hike the Appalachian Trail — started the annual Hocking Hills Winter Hike. A founding member of the Buckeye Trail Association, she spent her later years clearing and marking trails across southeastern Ohio. The 6-mile trail connecting Old Man's Cave to Cedar Falls to Ash Cave was officially designated the Grandma Gatewood Trail in January 1981, eight years after her death. It simultaneously carries the Buckeye Trail, the North Country National Scenic Trail, and the American Discovery Trail.
The Tourism Transformation
Tourism is now Hocking County's primary industry, replacing manufacturing and oil/gas extraction. The cabin rental market exploded during the COVID-19 pandemic and has not retreated. VRBO lists 1,900+ vacation rental properties in the region, with the true total likely between 1,000 and 2,000+ unique properties across all platforms.
The growth has reshaped the local economy and landscape. Real estate prices have doubled in a decade — homes that sold under $150,000 now cost approximately $300,000, driven largely by short-term rental conversions. Hocking County adopted zoning regulations in 2023 and has been developing a county-wide short-term rental ordinance to manage the impact.
The most significant recent infrastructure investment is the $40 million Lodge and Conference Center, which opened in October 2022 with 81 guest rooms, 40 two-bedroom cabins, and a full-service restaurant. National recognition has followed: 2024 Condé Nast Traveler listed Hocking Hills among the 50 Most Beautiful Places in America, and in 2025, Ohio State Parks won the National Gold Medal Award for excellence in park and recreation management.
Plan Your Trip
Walk through 340 million years of geology and 200 years of human history. Book your trip.