OHIO FINDS

Visitors can’t help but be intrigued from the minute the large wooden sign appears along the side of the road: “Welcome to Seneca Caverns, See the ‘Earth Crack.’ ” Since 1933, travelers have made the trek to this part of Seneca County, just south of Bellevue, to explore the caves two local boys discovered in 1872 while hunting rabbits.

Gingerly stepping down the rock pathway, which ends 110 feet underground, one can’t help but feel a bit like Tom Sawyer. Mark Twain himself would approve of our guide, who brings history with a side of humor to the tight turns and dark nooks.

Seneca Caverns formed from aged sediment that fell 7 to 12 feet, creating multiple levels to explore. Named after Ohio’s Seneca Indian people, the caverns are one of the largest caves in Ohio, and their geological significance draws visitors from around the world.

Owner Denise Bell started as a tour guide at Seneca Caverns while in high school. She didn’t particularly have a love of caves, but she did end up marrying Richard Bell, whose parents, Don and Fannie Bell, opened the tourist attraction on May 14, 1933.

“It’s a crazy business to be in, but I’ve developed a passion for it,” says Bell. “I had a science teacher bring her students. She stopped to tell me as a child she toured Seneca Caverns, and that tour is why she became a science teacher. That’s why I do it.”

The seven public cave levels are rich with history, both recent and ancient, which is visible in the inscriptions from cave visitors more than a century ago as well as intact brachiopod fossils in rock that dates to the Devonian period (between 358 million and 419 million years ago). Depending on recent precipitation, visitors may even catch a glimpse of the crystal-clear flowing stream named Ole Mist’ry River.

“The fourth level is my favorite,” Bell says. “You can hear the water dripping. Soda straws form here — they’re hollow tubes of crystal formations that take over 100 years to form one cubic inch. On this level are the inscriptions that remind me there were people there before us. It’s a spiritual place.”

Sarah Miller

15248 E. Township Rd. 178, Bellevue 44811, 419/483-6711, senecacavernsohio.com

MOON-SHAPED FACE STONE CARVING

Attributed to artist Noble Stuart

It took some time, but Noble Stuart finally got the credit he was due. In the 1940s, Stuart created carvings on natural sandstone formations at Worden’s Ledges near Hinckley in Medina County. Those creations, which range from depictions of baseball player Ty Cobb to a sphinx, were once thought to have been chiseled decades earlier by an anonymous artist.

The connection to Stuart made more sense, considering his link to the land where the carvings exist. Late in life, he married Nettie Worden, whose father, Hiram Worden, was a tombstone and statuary carver. Hiram had acquired the land surrounding what is now Worden’s Ledges in the mid-19th century, built a house and raised a family.

After his death, the property passed to Nettie, who died in 1945, leaving Stuart alone there. He exorcised his grief by making carvings on the rocks a mile behind the Worden family house. He also made freestanding works in stone and wood near the homestead.

For anyone wanting a glimpse of Stuart’s best-known work, Worden’s Ledges is part of the Cleveland Metroparks Hinckley Reservation. Although they are exceptionally scarce, smaller sculptures have turned up at auction, including this unsigned, 16-by-13-inch stone carving of a moonshaped face. Richard “Jeff” Jeffers

$3,375