Info:

  • Has a Manor House for tours (on specific dates…look at website)
  • Is considered a Stark Park
  • 700 acres (meadows, marshes, woods)
  • Has a pond, picnic benches, and camping site

Where is this located? Stark County (part of Stark Parks) near Hartville

This is the second OH state park I’m posting about!

The Way There

From the McKinley Memorial (which is where I was coming from) it was about a 30 minutes drive. It wasn’t a bad drive but the drive to the parking lot was interesting lol. I didn’t realize there were many speed bumps so I cruised over them and after the third I was like “I got to slow wayyy down.” Then I missed the entrance into the parking lot so I entered another way and went up a pathway which I THOUGHT was the just another driveway to the parking lot. NOPE! It was a walkway. I got a lot of looks from people haha. Let’s just say I didn’t get out of the car for a few moments.

When I got out of the car, it was steaming hot with no clouds in the sky. I didn’t know where my hike was going to take me-it could be completely in the open, in the woods, a mix of both, etc. The trail I went on was the purple.

The Trail

I started heading down near the Manor House which is where the trail was supposed to start, moreover, the Manor House is big and white consisting of 40 rooms or so. There are tours once in a while. I kept going and saw the start of the trail. Behind the house, there are some tables, a garden, and a historic arch. I would check that all out when I’m done with my walk.

I decided not to go to the bathroom that was right there (even though I just had a big coffee from Tremont) and ventured on. There was no one in front of me or behind me. It started off going in the woods for awhile then the trees to my right disappeared and I was next to a corn field. At this point, the coffee was getting to me and I was questioning whether to go in the woods (I didn’t haha but just a thought). There were still some downed trees that I went under and that was fun.

Near the end was when it got more open. I was walking along yellow flowers for a bit and later a pond. That part was nice. I did catch up to people in front of me.

SIDE RANT: One of the things I dislike about hiking is catching up to people in front of you and you’re trying to figure out if you want to pass them or not so you’re pace is speeding up or slowing down and you just end up staying behind them. Then you have to calculate the distance in between you and them so it makes you look like you’re not following them and being creepy (especially if you’re by yourself…which I was). Either what I said was relatable or it’s just my anxiety haha.

Continuing, the trail led me back to my car so I took a swig of water and headed to the garden.

The Garden

I got to the garden (with the arch and gazebo) and it was pleasant. It was the fall so there weren’t many flowers or plants about but it was still nice to look at with the trees and house around it.

As I was going up the stairway away from the garden to my car there was a group of beekeepers walking to the Manor House. My head played ‘Imperial March’ as they marched on to get honey from the bees.

Thoughts

As I headed back to my car, there was a big orange cone where I drove up…whoops!

The whole time I was there I probably only saw about 20 or so people. I passed a guy walking his dog twice. The weather wasn’t too bad but the sun was beaming the whole time because there were no clouds in the sky.

There was more to see here than West Branch but I did like the West Branch trail I did better. I’m sure I’ll come back to explore more! There’s also mountain biking trails, equestrian trails, a pond where you can fish, among other things.