Ash Cave and Cedar Falls

Ash Cave and Cedar Falls

Ash Cave is described as Ohio's largest recess cave, about 700 feet long, and Cedar Falls is the Hocking Hills' biggest falls by volume. Ohio bought both in the 1920s.

At a glance

Fact	Value
Type	Cave
County	Hocking
Established	late 1920s
Coordinates	39.3984 N, 82.5472 W
Ash Cave recess (length x depth x height)	about 700 x 100 x 90 feet (1933)
Largest recorded ash pile in Ash Cave	100 feet long, 30 feet wide, 3 feet deep (19th century)
Ashes estimated by Hildreth on his visit	300 to 400 bushels (1837)
Height of Cedar Falls	about 50 feet (1975)
Visitors to Ash Cave Forest Park, first ten months	51,648 (1931)
Visitors to Cedar Falls Forest Park, first ten months	6,095 (1931)
Park areas: Ash Cave / Cedar Falls	262 acres / 30 acres (1933)
Hemlock in the Cedar Falls valley said to be Ohio's tallest tree	149 feet (1933)

Overview

Ash Cave and Cedar Falls are two areas of Hocking Hills State Park in Benton Township, Hocking County, both on branches of Queer Creek. Ash Cave is a horseshoe-shaped rock shelter, described as the largest recess cave in Ohio at about 700 feet end to end, 100 feet deep and 90 feet high, with a small waterfall pouring over its rim; it is named for a great heap of ashes early settlers found on its floor, which the Ohio Department of Natural Resources attributes to centuries of campfires by Native travelers. Cedar Falls, just under two miles by trail down the Queer Creek gorge from Old Man's Cave, is the largest waterfall in the Hocking Hills by volume, named by settlers who took the hemlocks for cedars, and a grist mill once worked above it. Physician-geologist Samuel P. Hildreth described both in 1837, and the State of Ohio bought them as forest parks in the late 1920s. Both are now stops on the Grandma Gatewood Trail, and Ash Cave's acoustics have made it a meeting place from township gatherings to symphony concerts.

The name

Ash Cave is named for the huge heap of wood ashes found on the floor of the shelter by early settlers; one pile was reputedly 100 feet long, 30 feet wide and 3 feet deep. Cedar Falls, according to the Hocking Hills tourism site, was misnamed by early white settlers who mistook the gorge's hemlocks for cedars; the name was already in use in Samuel P. Hildreth's account of the region, written after the 1837 state geological survey and reprinted by Henry Howe. (source)

How the land formed

Both features are carved in the Mississippian Black Hand Sandstone (about 345 million years old), a delta deposit with a hard lower zone, a weakly cemented middle zone and a hard upper zone. At Ash Cave, in the northwest quarter of section 26 of Benton Township, a small tributary of the East Fork of Queer Creek follows a major joint; the resistant upper zone forms the rim and roof, and spray from the waterfall plus groundwater seeping through the porous rock dissolve the cement of the middle zone, leaving a thick floor of loose quartz sand. Enlargement is mostly grain-by-grain spalling, not roof collapse, and wind plays no part. At Cedar Falls (section 13, Benton Township) Queer Creek follows a joint trending N. 80 W., races through a narrow chute in the upper zone and drops about 50 feet into a large plunge pool. (source)

Native American history

Ash Cave has the clearest record of Native use in the park. The ashes, estimated at several thousand bushels in the 19th century, are attributed by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to campfires built up over centuries, and excavation of the shelter floor has turned up arrows, flint artifacts, pottery and the bones of animals eaten for food; the Hocking Hills tourism site dates a test excavation to 1877 and adds sticks, grass stalks and corn cobs. The ODNR says archaeological evidence supports the campfire explanation and that the Shawnee appear to have used Ash Cave chiefly, perhaps as a resting place, while traveling between villages in present West Virginia and central Ohio; the tourism site places the cave on the main trail through the Queer Creek and Salt Creek valleys to the Scioto towns at Chillicothe. The 1883 county history says the Wyandot held this tract and used the Queer Creek valley as a refuge. The 1975 state guidebook, speaking of the park's shelters generally, finds no evidence of permanent habitation. Broader ODNR text says people first used the region's recesses more than 7,000 years ago and that the Shawnee, Delaware and Wyandot hunted and lived here in the 1600s and 1700s.

Ash Cave rock shelter and ash deposit: camp, Ash Cave, Benton Township, prehistoric through 18th century
Trail along Queer and Salt creeks from the Kanawha country to the Scioto towns: trail, Queer Creek and Salt Creek valleys; roughly the line of State Route 56, 18th century
Treaty of Greenville cession: treaty, Hocking County region, 1795

Stories

The mystery of the ash heap

When Samuel P. Hildreth visited the shelter in 1837 he found 'not less than three or four hundred bushels of clean ashes, as dry and free from moisture as they were on the day they were burned,' and noted that others put the heap at several thousand bushels. He could not say whether they were refuse from the old hunters who, in time of peace, extracted saltpeter from the caves' nitrous earth to make gunpowder, or had been piled up over ages by Native people who made the caverns their dwelling places. Half a century later Henry Howe printed a description by O. C. Farquhar of Zanesville, who wrote that even in 1886 many bushels of wood ashes remained, nearly as pure and dry as the day they were burned. Farquhar still called the source unexplained and both theories only speculation. He described the cave as a semicircular cavern nearly 700 feet long under a ledge at least 125 feet high, the highest rock exposure in the county, and said thousands of people came each summer, usually pairing it with Rock House six miles away. (source)

A tradition of Indian lead mines (legend)

According to the tradition Hildreth recorded among 'the credulous settlers' of the Queer Creek country, Indians had found and worked lead ore somewhere in these cliffs. Settlers spent many weary days searching the grottoes for it and often turned up ashes and heaps of cinders. They imagined that the 'pot holes' in a bench of sandstone at Ash Cave had somehow been used for smelting the lead. Hildreth saw that the holes had been worn by water at a remote period when the stream ran there, although it now flowed 80 or 100 feet lower and ten or twelve rods farther north. The search itself, he wrote, had been fruitless. (source)

Ash Cave as a meeting hall

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources says Native orators are rumored to have taken advantage of Ash Cave's acoustics. The cave has whispering galleries that amplify sound, and a speaker standing on the large slump block outside its entrance can easily be heard by a crowd gathered inside. The department calls the cave an ideal natural bandshell. In modern times it has hosted camp and township meetings, Sunday worship services and even choral concerts. (source)

Cedar Falls: a mill, a misnomer and a staircase

Queer Creek tumbles over the face of the Black Hand Sandstone at Cedar Falls in the greatest waterfall by volume in the Hocking region. In the mid-1800s a grist mill was built above the falls to use that water power for grinding grain. Early white settlers named the place for cedars, mistaking the stately hemlocks of the gorge for them. The trail from Old Man's Cave reaches the falls through the lower Queer Creek valley, a remote, hemlock-filled chasm walled by steep rock. Visitors coming from the parking lot descend nearly 100 Democracy Steps designed by the artist and mathematician Akio Hizume, whose varied step lengths make walkers alternate the leading foot and follow the Fibonacci sequence. (source)

Timeline

c. 345 million years ago: The Black Hand Sandstone that forms Ash Cave and Cedar Falls is deposited as a delta in a shallow Mississippian sea. (source)
more than 7,000 years ago: People begin using the recess caves of the Hocking Hills, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. (source)
1600s-1700s: Shawnee, Delaware and Wyandot people hunt and live in the region; the Shawnee use Ash Cave as a rest stop between West Virginia and central Ohio. (source)
1782: A beech near the outlet of the Queer Creek valley is carved 'This is the road to hell, 1782,' probably by a prisoner on his way to the old Indian town of Chillicothe. (source)
1795: The Treaty of Greenville opens the region to white settlement. (source)
1818: Hocking County is organized. (source)
1835: A grist mill is built at Cedar Falls to use the water power of Queer Creek (the tourism site says only 'mid 1800s'). (source)
1837: Samuel P. Hildreth of the first Ohio geological survey visits Ash Cave and estimates 300 to 400 bushels of clean, dry ashes; his account also names the 'Cedar Falls.' (source)
1877: A test excavation of the Ash Cave ashes turns up sticks, arrows, grass stalks, animal bones, pottery, flints and corn cobs. (source)
1883: The History of Hocking Valley describes Ash Cave as a semicircular cavern 600 feet long under a 120-foot ledge, the highest rock exposure in the county. (source)
1886: Many bushels of dry wood ashes are still reported on the floor of the shelter; thousands of people visit each summer, often pairing the trip with Rock House six miles away. (source)
late 1920s: The State of Ohio buys Ash Cave and Cedar Falls as state forest parks, following its first Hocking Hills purchase in 1924. (source)
1931: Ash Cave Forest Park records 51,648 visitors and Cedar Falls Forest Park 6,095 in the first ten months of the year. (source)
1933: Karl Ver Steeg lists Ash Cave Park at 262 acres and Cedar Falls Park at 30 acres, and reports a 149-foot hemlock in the Cedar Falls valley said to be the tallest tree in Ohio. (source)
1930s: CCC Company 505 from Camp Hocking, one of the first CCC camps organized in Ohio, makes trail improvements at Ash Cave, among other park areas. (source)
1949: The new Ohio Department of Natural Resources and its Division of Parks take over Hocking Hills State Park, including Ash Cave, from the Department of Forestry. (source)
1967: Grandma Gatewood leads the first of her six-mile January hikes through Hocking Hills State Park. (source)
1975: The Ohio Geological Survey's Hocking Hills guidebook describes Ash Cave's recess as 100 feet deep and more than 500 feet long, with a rim about 90 feet high. (source)
1981: The six-mile route linking Old Man's Cave, Cedar Falls and Ash Cave is designated the Grandma Gatewood Memorial Trail. (source)
1997: The 'Democracy Steps,' a staircase of gradual steps from the parking lot down to Cedar Falls, are designed as an outdoor sculpture by the architect Akio Hizume (spelled 'Aiko' in the cited article). (source)
2022: The Columbus Symphony Orchestra begins annual summer concerts inside Ash Cave. (source)

Sources

Towns and ZIP codes

Water, health, jobs and history for the places on the shores and just downstream.

Towns

Benton Township, Hocking County

ZIP codes

43152 Benton Township and South Bloomingville

Questions

Why is it called Ash Cave?

Ash Cave is named for the huge heap of wood ashes early settlers found on the floor of the shelter, one pile reputedly 100 feet long, 30 feet wide and 3 feet deep. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources attributes the ashes to campfires built up over centuries by Native travelers. Samuel P. Hildreth estimated 300 to 400 bushels of clean, dry ashes when he visited in 1837, and others put the heap at several thousand bushels.

Why is it called Cedar Falls if there are no cedars?

Cedar Falls was misnamed by early white settlers who mistook the gorge's hemlocks for cedars, according to the Hocking Hills tourism site. The name was already in use in Samuel P. Hildreth's account of the region, written after the 1837 state geological survey and reprinted by Henry Howe. In 1933 a 149-foot hemlock in the Cedar Falls valley was reported as the tallest tree in Ohio.

How big is Ash Cave?

Ash Cave is described as the largest recess cave in Ohio, about 700 feet end to end, 100 feet deep and 90 feet high, with a small waterfall pouring over its rim. The 1975 Ohio Geological Survey guidebook gave the recess as 100 feet deep and more than 500 feet long, with a rim about 90 feet high. In 1933 Ash Cave Park covered 262 acres and Cedar Falls Park 30 acres.

How tall is Cedar Falls in Hocking Hills?

Cedar Falls drops about 50 feet into a large plunge pool, according to the 1975 state geological guidebook. Queer Creek follows a joint trending N. 80 W. and races through a narrow chute in the hard upper zone of the Black Hand Sandstone before the drop. It is the largest waterfall in the Hocking Hills by volume, and a grist mill built above it in the mid-1800s used that water power to grind grain.

Did Native Americans use Ash Cave?

Yes, Ash Cave has the clearest record of Native use in Hocking Hills State Park. Excavation of the shelter floor has turned up arrows, flint artifacts, pottery and the bones of animals eaten for food, and a test excavation dated to 1877 also found sticks, grass stalks and corn cobs. The ODNR says the Shawnee appear to have used Ash Cave chiefly as a resting place while traveling between villages in present West Virginia and central Ohio.

How was Ash Cave formed?

Ash Cave was carved in the Black Hand Sandstone, a Mississippian delta deposit about 345 million years old with hard lower and upper zones and a weakly cemented middle zone. Spray from the waterfall and groundwater seeping through the porous rock dissolve the cement of the middle zone, leaving a floor of loose quartz sand under the resistant rim. The shelter enlarges mostly by grain-by-grain spalling, not roof collapse, and wind plays no part.

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