Lake Hope State Park is a public recreation area encompassing within

Zaleski State Forest Zaleski State Forest is a state forest in the U.S. state of Ohio, located primarily in Vinton County, with areas in Athens County as well. The 28,000 acre (110 km²) forest surrounds Lake Hope State Park in Vinton County, and borders the ...

, located northeast of Zaleski in Vinton County,

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. The

state park State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural ...

is centered on Lake Hope, a impoundment on Big Sandy Run.

History

The park and lake are named after the former mining village of

Hope, Ohio Hope is an unincorporated community in Brown Township, Vinton County, Ohio. History Hope once contained an iron blast furnace. A post office called Hope Furnace was established in 1865, and remained in operation until 1890. Lake Hope State Par ...

. The original town of Hope still stands under the waters of Lake Hope. The town was flooded up to the side of a cliff, which is now used as the swimming area. There is still one original building standing, The old one-room Hope School still stands nearby, in the state forest, and has been renovated for use as a community meeting place. The

Moonville Rail-Trail King Switch Tunnel The Moonville Rail-Trail is a sixteen-mile (25 kilometer) rail-trail in southeast Ohio, located in Vinton and Athens Counties. It is largely embedded in the Zaleski State Forest and passes close to Lake Hope State Park. The tra ...

passes close by. Within the park is the old Hope Furnace, which once smelted iron ore mined out of the area's hills. Established as Lake Hope Forest Park in 1937, it earned its state park appellation with the creation of the Division of Parks and Recreation in 1949. A new park lodge opened in 2013, seven years after the destruction of the original lodge by fire in 2006.

Activities and amenities

The park features boating, fishing, swimming, hiking and mountain biking trails, lodge, cottages, and campground.

References

External links

Lake Hope State Park
Ohio Department of Natural Resources
Lake Hope State Park Map
Ohio Department of Natural Resources {{authority control State parks of Ohio Protected areas established in 1937 1937 establishments in Ohio Protected areas of Vinton County, Ohio Nature centers in Ohio

Hope Hope is an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes with respect to events and circumstances in one's life or the world at large. As a verb, its definitions include: "expect with confidence" and "to cherish ...