Salt Fork State Park (Images of America: Ohio)

Salt Fork State Park is Ohio’s largest park, covering about 20,000 acres of rolling, forested terrain just eight miles northeast of Cambridge. Despite the park’s timeless wilderness feel, for almost 150 years farmers worked this land, many occupying the same property for five generations. In the 1960s when the park was created, evidence of that agrarian past quickly receded. Over time, new forest reclaimed fields and pastures, and wildlife returned in abundance. All but one of the region’s farms, mills, covered bridges, and schoolhouses were removed―the Kennedy Stone House Museum lives on as a reminder of the region’s past, dedicated to preserving the stories of the families who once made a life on these lands. Salt Fork State Park celebrates the heritage of the parklands, offers glimpses into the lives, labor, and leisure of its residents, and points the curious explorer toward some of the many remnants of the park’s agrarian past.