Goll Woods State Nature Preserve is a

nature preserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or o ...

in western

Fulton County Fulton County is the name of eight counties in the United States of America. Most are named for Robert Fulton, inventor of the first practical steamboat: *Fulton County, Arkansas, named after Governor William Savin Fulton *Fulton County, Georgia *F ...

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 ...

, near Archbold. It has been designated a

National Natural Landmark The National Natural Landmarks (NNL) Program recognizes and encourages the conservation of outstanding examples of the natural history of the United States. It is the only national natural areas program that identifies and recognizes the best ...

for its

oak–hickory forest Oak–hickory forest is a type of North American forest ecosystem, and an ecoregion of the Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests Biome. Geography It has a range extending from Rhode Island and southern New York, west to Iowa, and south to Northern ...

History

It is named after Peter and Catherine Goll, who moved to America from Grand Charmont,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in 1836. The Goll family descendants loved the big trees and guarded the woods against of timber operators for several generations. The State of Ohio established the nature preserve in 1969.

Features

Natural

The nature preserve features gigantic 200-400 year

old-growth An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance, and thereby exhibits unique ecological featur ...

trees that often measure 4 feet in diameter, reminiscent of the

Great Black Swamp The Great Black Swamp (also known simply as the Black Swamp) was a glacially fed wetland in northwest Ohio, sections of lower Michigan, and extreme northeast Indiana, United States, that existed from the end of the Wisconsin glaciation until th ...

. There is a small area that preserves the rare ecosystem of Oak Openings, which consists very large specimens of white and bur oaks, but without any of the small under story trees. The Indians of the area created an open

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...

to facilitate their hunting by keeping the brush and small trees down, by

burning Combustion, or burning, is a high-temperature exothermic redox chemical reaction between a fuel (the reductant) and an oxidant, usually atmospheric oxygen, that produces oxidized, often gaseous products, in a mixture termed as smoke. Combusti ...

in the fall. The first settlers could easily drive their wagons in any direction through the sparsely spaced trees.

Trees

The preserve is composed of

Elm Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the flowering plant genus ''Ulmus'' in the plant family Ulmaceae. They are distributed over most of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting the temperate and tropical-montane regions of North ...

Ash Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non- gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash ...

Maple ''Acer'' () is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated since http ...

swamp forest and mesophytic forest with many oak trees in the lower elevations. Because of drainage efforts for agriculture, the woods is transitioning slowly to

Beech Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engle ...

forest. In 2006, one of the largest

burr oak ''Quercus macrocarpa'', the bur oak or burr oak, is a species of oak tree native to eastern North America. It is in the white oak section, ''Quercus'' sect. ''Quercus'', and is also called mossycup oak, mossycup white oak, blue oak, or scrub oa ...

trees, over 450 years old, died of old age. It had a DBH (

diameter at breast height Diameter at breast height, or DBH, is a standard method of expressing the diameter of the trunk or bole of a standing tree. DBH is one of the most common dendrometric measurements. Tree trunks are measured at the height of an adult's breast, ...

) of 56 inches and stood 112 feet tall.

Wildflowers

Early in the year, over 40 species of ephemeral spring wildflowers including large flowered

trillium ''Trillium'' (trillium, wakerobin, toadshade, tri flower, birthroot, birthwort, and sometimes "wood lily") is a genus of about fifty flowering plant species in the family Melanthiaceae. ''Trillium'' species are native to temperate regions of No ...

, Ohio's state wildflower,

bloodroot ''Sanguinaria canadensis'', bloodroot, is a Perennial plant, perennial, herbaceous flowering plant native to eastern North America. It is the monotypic genus, only species in the genus ''Sanguinaria'', included in the poppy family Papaveraceae, ...

, columbine,

marsh marigold ''Caltha palustris'', known as marsh-marigold and kingcup, is a small to medium size perennial herbaceous plant of the buttercup family, native to marshes, fens, ditches and wet woodland in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. It flower ...

, spotted coral-root and three-birds-orchid are in bloom.

Historical

Besides being a nature preserve, Goll Woods also holds historical significance.

Goll Homestead

On the nature preserve is a historic farm complex known as Goll Homestead, initially designated for destruction, but now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, with its distinctive European design, constructed of large timbers.

Goll Cemetery

Goll cemetery also lies on the preserve grounds. The 3/4 acre burial ground was set aside early by Peter and Catherine Goll, where they laid to rest a young child. Many from the Goll family are now buried there, as well as those from Louys, Valiton, Beucler, Seigneur, Cramer, and Klopfenstein families. The cemetery is rumored to be haunted.

Lockport Covered Bridge

Nearby, just 1.3 miles southwest of the nature preserve, on County Road I-25, is the Lockport Covered Bridge in Lock Port, Ohio, spanning the

Tiffin River The Tiffin River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed May 19, 2011 tributary of the Maumee River in northwestern Ohio in the United States. Headwater tributaries of the r ...

that runs near the nature preserve. It is feature on the Northwest

Ohio River Trail The Ohio River Greenway Trail (ORT) is a proposed route that would interconnect existing trails in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia. The proposal is spearheaded by the Ohio River Trail Council (ORTC), a volunteer-led, non-profit ...

and was a winner in the 2002 National Timber Bridge Awards competition, and is often associated by travelers with the nature preserve.

Notes

External links

Goll Woods State Nature Preserve
Ohiodnr.gov.
Oak Openings Initiative, Swanton, Ohio
{{authority control Ohio State Nature Preserves National Natural Landmarks in Ohio Protected areas of Fulton County, Ohio Tourist attractions in Fulton County, Ohio Fulton County, Ohio Hiking trails in Ohio Reportedly haunted locations in Ohio Protected areas established in 1969 1969 establishments in Ohio Forests of Ohio