Home base for Fort Hill hiking is the beautiful picnic area, with its tree-shaded parking lot, small stream, and well-proportioned stone and timber structures, erected here in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps. These and similar structures at other archaeological sites were part of the public outreach and facility enhancement initiatives by Henry Shetrone, the former newspaper reporter who was then Curator of Archaeology at the Ohio Historical Society.

From here the various trails diverge: The Fort Trail heads south, from where it offers good views of the earthworks from below as it approaches the southeastern Gateway. Beyond that, the long, strenuous Gorge Trail leads to stone cliffs and arches, and a picturesque log cabin shelter.

Leaving directly from the edge of the parking lot, the Earthwork Trail makes the steep, 360-foot vertical climb to the northern “prow” of the plateau, encircled by the North Gate of the earthwork.

Fort Hill, Paint Valley

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