About 10 miles above Lancaster (just after Bickel Church Road) turn right on Deep Cut Road, angling northeast along the former canal bed toward Millersport. Just when the road climbs a small hill, one of early Ohio’s most impressive engineering feats comes into view: the Deep Cut, a 2-mile-long, straight, 60-foot-deep channel created to bring the canal out of its source at nearby Buckeye Lake. After Millersport, follow the small roads through the oddly picturesque old resort villages along the northern embankment of the lake.

The long history of Buckeye Lake dates back to the construction of this reservoir in the early 1800s as a feeder for the state’s new canal system. The lake was lined partially with huge limestone slabs from a nearby mound. By 1900, the canals had been long abandoned, but there were lively amusement parks along the shore. There is now a state park, where a historical museum tells the stories, and boat tours of the Cranberry Bogs are available (inquire locally).

Return to SR 37 to head north into Granville, or continue via SR 79 into Heath and Newark.

The new, the old, and the odd characterize the settlements along the constructed northern embankment of Buckeye Lake, the headwaters of southern Ohio’s canals.

Tarlton, the GH Road

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