“Petroglyph is Southern Ohio”
Perched on a ridge in Southern Ohio on a large relatively flat sandstone rock are the remains of the most remarkable rock art in Ohio. The rock surface includes between 30 and 40 different figures. Some representing humans, birds, a fish and others. Leo Petroglyphs is owned by the Ohio Historical Society and is managed by the Jackson Historical Society.
Very pretty spot. Easy access to petroglyphs since they are right at parking lot under shelter. Quite a bit of contemporary graffiti in shelter, though, as well. We did not walk the trail but it looked promising.
Beautiful place! The petroglyphs are neat to see but some child has outlined them with chalk - a shame it is not better preserved. The nature trail was magnificent! An easy trail for most anyone. A film crew was there filming a short story the day we stopped. They had a smoke machine making smoke down in the gorge which have it an eerie, mysterious effect. Not far off the main road and well worth the stop to stretch your legs. Be aware there is NO restroom there!
The petroglyphs were easily found under a shelter in a small parking lot. The carvings themselves were amazing and we delighted in brainstorming just what the depictions were of, what they meant, and why they were carved by the natives so long ago. It's an excellent piece of history. HOWEVER, the stone that the petroglyphs was carved in was also covered in other carvings and spray painted junk graffiti by vandals. The rock was under a great deal of cigarette butts and other trash. This place needs to be better protected and maintained in order to preserve these ancient artifacts. Whoever thought a wooden railing would be adequate should not be in charge of historical relics.
This was cool to see so close to home. Petroglyphs over 700 years old, the nature trail was fun to explore as well. The trail isn't too difficult to hike either. The scenery around it is beautiful as well.
Rated 3.0
Weird beard the amenities show “No parking” when there actually is. But yeah, most of those question marked ones are a “no”.
No bathroom (not even a port-a-potty!) , no WiFi, no credit cards (nothing to buy anyway), not ADA friendly, nothing really…, a few picnic tables, trash cans and a small gravel parking lot -lots of trees so plenty of shade.
The glyphs themselves were cool- only the big bird guy with antlers (Jan 6 shaman was predicted a 1000 years ago?!) was really visible …the others were a lil’ harder to see. Sad was all the goons that scratched their own “Huck + Sally” type of lover graffiti alongside the ancient art…gosh, people are the worst.
The signs pointing to “Petroglyph trail” right from the overhang shading the glyphs and picnic tables were a nice touch (surprised no trash in the petroglyph “pit”) , but after crossing the lil’ bridge the trail was pretty much an overgrown mess. I’m not walking through that tick- infested weeds/ greenery!! Heavens no.
So…that was really the gist of this lil’ tour stop on our way back to Nevada.
Oh well- kinda neat to see, but I wouldn’t recommend going much out of your way to see it unless you’re by there anyway.
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Leo Petroglyph State Memorial
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