Southern Ohio – The Heart of It All in October

by
Marilyn Roy

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Image painted by Dall-E 3 from the following prompt: Please paint a landscape with fall foliage in the background, an autumn cornfield mid ground, and harvested pumpkins gathered in the foreground in the style of American impressionism. The location should be southern Ohio in early October.

Table of Contents

​Southern Ohio – The Heart of It All in October
        Dent Schoolhouse in Cincinnati, Ohio
        Fairfield County Fair in Lancaster, Ohio
        Rising Park in Lancaster, Ohio
        Rock Mill in Lancaster, Ohio
        Circleville Pumpkin Show in Circleville, Ohio
        Ted Lewis Museum
        Hocking Hills

Visit southern Ohio in October for a full calendar of fall activities. Enjoy festivals, viewing fall foliage from hiking trails, and Halloween hauntings. Our Halloween Spooktacular- Enter If You Dare blog post featured the Halloween Haunt at Kings Island Amusement Park in Kings Island, Ohio, and the Dent Schoolhouse in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Now, we are sharing a fair and a festival that provide a fun ending to the 2024 fair season and opportunities to hike while viewing fall foliage.

Fairfield County Fair in Lancaster, Ohio

The Fairfield County Fair's history extends over 170 years. It provides all the favorite carnival rides, foods, games, arts and crafts, baked goods, agricultural displays, and the junior fair livestock show. In 2024, the fair runs from October 6th to October 12th.

You can sit in the grandstand and enjoy a high school band parade, horse pulls, rodeo bulls, barrel racing, harness racing, truck and tractor pulls, and demolition derbies. More unique entertainment includes mule races, a combine derby, and a human tractor pull. There is a power wheels class derby for kids aged four to eight, and for kids under 16, there is a donkey dash that allows kids to race donkeys, miniature horses, and ponies.

Rising Park in Lancaster, Ohio

Across the street from the fairgrounds is Rising Park, which is used for parking during the fair. Schedule time to explore Rising Park. It offers a lake, picnic tables, a playground, restrooms, and Mt Pleasant. You can climb the partially steep trail to the top of Mt Pleasant for a view above the 250-foot bluff. Brave souls may be allowed to climb up the bluff or 20 feet from the lookout to Devil's Kitchen. In Lancaster, fall foliage is expected to peak in late October 2024.

Rock Mill Park in Lancaster, Ohio

The current mill is the third version. The original Rock Mill was built in 1799. A general store, tannery, distillery, and Blue Bell Tavern were added. The original mill collapsed into the gorge in 1820. A second mill was built in 1820 but was destroyed by flooding in 1822. The current mill was built in 1824 and operated until 1905. It was vacant and falling into disrepair until 2003 when it was donated to the Fairfield County Parks, which started restoring it. The restoration was finished in 2017, and it was opened to the public.

Circleville Pumpkin Show in Circleville, Ohio

The Circleville Pumpkin Show is a free agricultural festival and street fair displaying fruits, vegetables, canned goods, baked goods, and crafts. The street fair includes food booths, carnival rides, entertainment, and seven parades with more than 40 floats and 50 bands. Activities include pumpkin pie eating, pumpkin tossing, Big Wheel racing, and hog calling. The original Circleville Pumpkin Show was in 1903 and has grown from one storefront to three city blocks to now eight city blocks. The 2024 Circleville Pumpkin Show runs from October 16th to October 19th.

Special features of the festival include the largest Pumpkin competition. In the past, the pumpkins have weighed between 1,300 and 1,600 pounds. In 2023, the largest pumpkin weighed a record-breaking 2,388.5 pounds. The pumpkins are displayed on a tier in the center of Circleville, which is laid out with streets radiating from the center of town.

Another major attraction is Lindsey's Bakery's large six-foot pumpkin pie, which weighs over 400 pounds and is baked annually. The ingredients include 100 pounds of cooked pumpkin, 15 dozen eggs, 26 gallons of milk, 40 pounds of sugar, and 42 pounds of pie dough. The pie takes six hours to bake and is fed to local hogs at the show's end.

The third attraction is the pumpkin-flavored foods. Over 23,000 pumpkin pies and 100,000 pumpkin donuts are sold annually. The more traditional items include cookies, taffy, fudge, brownies, and ice cream. Some unusual pumpkin items include hamburgers, bratwurst, pizza, chili, coneys, and corn dogs with cheese on a stick.

Ted Lewis Museum in Circleville, Ohio

Circleville also offers the Ted Lewis Museum. Born in 1890 in Circleville, Ted Lewis was an entertainer whose career spanned from Vaudeville to television. The museum displays include his top hat, clarinet, records, and movie and television clips.

Hocking Hills in Logan, Ohio

Hocking Hills has seven connected parks in southeastern Ohio – Old Man's Cave, Ash Cave, Cantwell Cliffs, Cedar Falls, Rock House, Lake Hope, and Lake Logan. The parks feature hiking trails, waterfalls, cliffs, and plenty of fall foliage. The hiking trails range from one-quarter mile to two miles with easy to difficult ratings. Longer trails, such as the Whispering Cave Trail, the Buckeye Trail, and the American Discovery Trail, connect the Hocking Hills to other trails in Ohio and across the U. S. Visitors can also enjoy horseback riding, mountain biking, disc golf, hunting, fishing, paddling, and kayaking. Accommodations include the Hocking Hills Lodge and Convention Center, campgrounds, and cabins.

The Three Must See Parks in Hocking Hills

Old Man's Cave

Old Man's Cave is named in honor of Richard Rowe, who lived there. His family moved to Ohio from Tennessee in 1796 and built a trading post. Richard and his two dogs discovered the Hocking Hills area while hunting. He is buried beneath the ledge. Before Richard's residency, brothers Nathaniel and Pat Rayon lived in the cave before they built a nearby cabin. They are also buried near the cave.
Old Man's Cave has five natural features: Upper Falls, Upper Gorge, Middle Falls, Lower Falls, and Lower Gorge. The one-half-mile trail along the gorge was carved into the sandstone by the creek, and the cave was created by erosion.

Ash Cave

You approach Ash Cave through a narrow one-quarter-mile-long trail surrounded by tall, stately trees. Then, suddenly, you are in an opening, where you view the large recess of Ash Cave and the overhanging ledge. The cave is 700 feet wide, 100 feet deep, and 90 feet high, with the eastern fork of the Queer Creek tumbling over a small portion of the ledge. Ash Cave was also formed by erosion.

The cave received its name because of the thousands of bushels of ashes the early settlers found there. One pile of ashes measured 100 feet long, 300 feet wide, and three feet deep. An examination of the ashes in 1877 revealed corn cobs, arrows, flint, animal bones, and pottery. The most accepted explanation for the ashes is Native American campfires. Other suggestions include that the Native Americans made saltpeter or smelted silver or lead.

The cave was a shelter and a resting place on the Native American trail. It was also used for religious meetings until a church was built. The rock at the front of the cave earned the name Pulpit Rock. The acoustics in the cave are very good, with two areas called whispering galleries.

Rock House

Rock House is the only actual cave in Hocking Hills. Located halfway up a 150-foot cliff, it opens into a 200-foot long, 25- to 30-foot wide tunnel-like corridor with a 25-foot high ceiling. It features windows and columns formed by nature. Native Americans created ovens in the walls, and troughs to catch and hold water were dug in the floor.