Shawnee State Park is a public recreation area surrounded by the

Shawnee State Forest Shawnee State Forest, also known as "Ohio's Little Smokies", is a state forest in the U.S. state of Ohio. It is located in western Scioto County and eastern Adams County and encompasses of woodland. It is the largest state forest in Ohio. As wi ...

Scioto County Scioto County is a county located along the Ohio River in the south central region of the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 74,008. Its county seat is Portsmouth. The county was founded March 24, 1804, from Adams ...

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 ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The park is in the foothills of the

Appalachian Mountains The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, (french: Appalaches), are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. They ...

near the

Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...

Southern Ohio Appalachian Ohio is a bioregion and political unit in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Ohio, characterized by the western foothills of the Appalachian Mountains and the Appalachian Plateau. The Appalachian Regional Commission defines th ...

on State Route 125, just north of

Friendship Friendship is a relationship of mutual affection between people. It is a stronger form of interpersonal bond than an "acquaintance" or an "association", such as a classmate, neighbor, coworker, or colleague. In some cultures, the concept o ...

History

The area was once a hunting ground for the

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 ...

Indians. The park was first opened in 1922 as

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

State Game Preserve. The game preserve saw further development and improvements by the

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was a major part of ...

in the 1930s. The area became a state park and forest following creation of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and the Division of Parks and Recreation in 1949.

Activities and amenities

The park's recreational activities include golf, fishing, swimming, hiking, and boating on Roosevelt Lake and Turkey Creek Lake. The state park marina on the Ohio River is located on

US 52 U.S. Route 52 (US 52) is a major United States highway in the central United States that extends from the northern to southeastern region of the United States. Contrary to most other even-numbered U.S. Highways, US 52 primarily follows ...

just west of Friendship. The park's golf course was closed in 2019.

Gallery

Image:ShawneeStateParkGolfMarinaEntranceJuly2007.JPG, Marina Entrance Sign (with U.S. 52 in the background) Image:ShawneeStateParkMarinaJuly2007.JPG, A view of the marina and the

from the park's parking lot Image:2009 shawnee state park lodge back porch rockers.jpg, Back porch rockers at the park lodge Image:Shawnee State Park Trail.jpg, View of second growth forest from a hiking trail in the park

References

External links

Shawnee State Park
Ohio Department of Natural Resources
Shawnee State Park Map
Ohio Department of Natural Resources {{authority control State parks of Ohio Protected areas of Scioto County, Ohio Protected areas established in 1922 1922 establishments in Ohio Civilian Conservation Corps in Ohio Nature centers in Ohio