How it all began: The gritty, reddish stone you see all over the park is a type of sandstone called Blackhand Sandstone. It was left behind more than 200 million years ago when Ohio's ancient ocean drained from the land. But long after the sea disappeared, the land around Old Man's Cave was still being changed  by millions of years of subtle movements and shifts deep beneath the earth.   

Actually, along with the movement of the earth, it's really nothing more than water and erosion that made this place we call Hocking Hills. In fact, your own back yard might be able to take on this same effect with a hose, a shovel and some earthmoving equipment. Oh and you'll also need a few million years of patience too. That's about how long it took just for the water to erode away at the surface to form the deep pockets, cracks and grooves. And of course, you can see the erosion at work when the spring rains fill up Queer Creek near Old Man's Cave and she pours her excess into what we call Cedar Falls.     

 

But you might want the strength of a glacier to help you out too. Although the glaciers didn't quite make it to the park, the kind of plants that existed during the glacial period are still found in the deep gorges. The huge hemlocks, black birch and Canada yew are all signs of the gorge's cool past.  

 

 

Okay, so you don't want to wait around a few million years to see some more changes in the land? No big deal. Neither did Richard Rowe.  

 

But then the People Came: If you're wondering who Richard Roe is, he's the hermit who local folk say used to live in Old Man's Cave more than a hundred years ago. Legend tells that he accidentally shot himself with his own gun and is buried in one of the caves.

 

 

 

 

Before Settlers, there were American Indians in the Hocking Hils: But before him, there were lots more folks who visited the Hocking Hills Region. More than 7000 years ago, the Adena Culture left evidence of their sojourns to the park. In the 1700's Indian tribes like the Wyandot, Delaware and Shawnee traveled through or lived in this area. In the 1830's a powder mill was built near Rock House and there was a grist mill at Cedar Falls.