Sycamore State Park is a protected woodlands and public recreation park at 4675 N. Diamond Mill Road, in

Trotwood, Ohio Trotwood is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States and is a suburb of Dayton. The population was 24,431 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city is served by the Trotwood-Madison City Scho ...

, United States. It is the only state park in

Montgomery County, Ohio Montgomery County is located in the southwestern portion of the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 537,309, making it the fifth-most populous county in Ohio. The county seat is Dayton. The county was named in honor ...

along Wolf Creek, a tributary of the Miami River, immediately west of Trotwood, east of

Brookville, Ohio Brookville is a small city in northwestern Montgomery County, Ohio, United States. It is a suburb of Dayton, Ohio, Dayton. The population was 5,884 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, an increase from 5,289 in 2000 United States Census, ...

, and south of Clayton. The nearest city is

Dayton Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Da ...

, Ohio.

History

The first inhabitants of the area were the Adena Native Americans who resided in Ohio around 800 B.C. to 700 A.D. Evidence of their presence can be seen at the ceremonial mound found in the park. In the mid to late 1700s, the area became a stronghold of the

Miami (tribe) The Miami (Miami-Illinois: ''Myaamiaki'') are a Native American nation originally speaking one of the Algonquian languages. Among the peoples known as the Great Lakes tribes, they occupied territory that is now identified as North-central India ...

and

Shawnee The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...

tribes. After

General Anthony Wayne Anthony Wayne (January 1, 1745 – December 15, 1796) was an American soldier, officer, statesman, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He adopted a military career at the outset of the American Revolutionary War, where his mil ...

’s defeat of the tribes at the

Battle of Fallen Timbers The Battle of Fallen Timbers (20 August 1794) was the final battle of the Northwest Indian War, a struggle between Native American tribes affiliated with the Northwestern Confederacy and their British allies, against the nascent United States ...

, the Greenville Treaty of 1795 stripped the Native Americans of their lands. In less than a year following the signing of the treaty, the first settlers arrived.

Settlers A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established a permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. A settler who migrates to an area previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited may be described as a pioneer. Settle ...

were attracted to this area because of the fertile soil. When the

Miami-Erie Canal The Miami and Erie Canal was a canal that ran from Cincinnati to Toledo, Ohio, creating a water route between the Ohio River and Lake Erie. Construction on the canal began in 1825 and was completed in 1845 at a cost to the state government of $ ...

was completed in 1829, the area became quite prosperous. Underlying the rich fertile soils were vast beds of gravel and sand providing excellent materials for road making. Hundreds of miles of roads were built in the county with these materials making it one of the most accessible during the state's infancy. At one time, the land comprising Sycamore State Park was purchased by a development corporation to build a housing project. When the corporation was unable to complete the construction, the lands were offered to the state of Ohio. Sycamore was dedicated as a state park in November 1979.

Activities and amenities

The park offers horseback riding, hiking, hunting, and group camping along with picnic shelters. It also states winter activities sledding, cross-country skiing, snowmobiling, ice skating, and ice fishing.

References

External links

Official Website
{{authority control State parks of Ohio Protected areas of Montgomery County, Ohio Nature centers in Ohio Protected areas established in 1979 Culture of Dayton, Ohio