Experience Hocking Hills 2024

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Five years in the making, the Hocking Hills Children’s Museum held its grand opening in January 2024, with a happy herd of children in attendance to watch the ribbon being cut – though they were probably far more interested in the museum’s many interactive play/learning stations.

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If the Hocking Hills Children’s Museum has one feature that sets it apart from other children’s museums, she suggested, it’s probably its local flavor.

“I think what makes it special is that we embraced and incorporated things that are special about our community,” she said. “So the businesses that are in the downtown pretend play area are real businesses that are here in the community. So it helps kind of bring everybody together, and makes people excited to also go see those things for real.”

Kallimanis was one of a small group of local people who envisioned the children’s museum back in 2019 and spearheaded its development. She, Kristen Stimmel and Georgia Johnson are all degreed early childhood education professionals with experiencing teaching pre-school in the Logan-Hocking School District.

Johnson’s husband John Johnson, a finance professional, served as the organization’s treasurer/

Once they announced their plans the community quickly got on board, with donations coming in from local businesses to help make their vision a reality. The project also benefitted from grants including two $75,000 matching grants from the Hocking Hills Tourism Association’s Destination Investment Fund, and $7,000 from the Hocking County Community Fund and the Foundation for Appalachian Ohio.

Within a year of starting to plan, the group was able to obtain space in the Weghorst Building for the museum. Extensive renovations were needed to get it ready, including removal of an interior wall – and, of course, creation and installation of all those cool stations.

With the museum up and running, Kallimanis reported, it’s now entertaining ideas for new features it might offer in the future.

“We are brainstorming some things,” she said. “We haven't announced it officially yet, but we are thinking about offering two different small summer camps just for two different age groups. And then we also tried a Parents Night Out recently, which was kind of a drop-in service where the kids hung out here with us and then their parents were able to come and pick them up. That's something that we'll probably offer like quarterly and people will just have to kind of keep an eye on the Facebook page and the website for those dates.”

For more information, visit https://hhchildrensmuseum.com/.

Acounty, especially one like Hocking with a big tourist trade, will typically host a visitor’s center where people from elsewhere can pick up information on local attractions. Some of these centers might also include a gift shop.

In downtown Logan, though, the Hocking Hills Tourism Association for

about seven years has been running an establishment that kind of flips that formula. Instead of an information hub with a gift store, it’s an outlet for a wide range of unique and locally crafted items, while also providing the services of a visitor’s center.

Homegrown on Main has been located for close to five years at 65

W.Main St., having moved there after spending a couple of years at another Main Street address.

“We are actually the Hocking Hills Tourism Association,” explains Diane Welch, the store’s manager.

“We purchased this building so that we could have a downtown location for information. And then we donated

the space to local artists. They have to be local. They have to be born, or live, in Hocking County or one of the contiguous counties in order to qualify.”

The artisans, who work in all kinds of media, can sell their work on commission in the shop. Currently, according to Welch, there’s a goodsized roster of participants.

“Years ago we started out with probably about 20 artists, and we have grown,” she said. “We have about 100 artists on the books. Not all are active right now. I would say about 85% of them are active right now.” Their wares include all manner of items, many with a strong local theme, and none of them made on a production line.

“Everything is handmade, handcrafted, hand-painted,” Welch said.” We have photographers that do beautiful work, jewelers, all kinds of souvenirs, stained glass, art, and baskets.” The shop also holds classes in crafts such as painting and basket making.

Nor is the art of the word neglected.

“We have local authors, and they’re posted right here in our white bookcase,” Welch points out. “We also carry the books from the Historical Society on Logan history, on all kinds of things. And that is actually a donation that goes directly to the Historical Society.”

What merchandise moves the best

varies from one day to another, though according to Welch, items that serve as mementoes of a visit generally do well.

“Today, for example, we have sold several photography prints,” she said. “Because a lot of them are pictures of the Hocking Hills, and when people come and visit, they’re like, ‘Oh, we went there! I want the picture!’ So we sell a lot of photography prints. We sell a lot of souvenirs, like magnets and keychains and so forth; people are always buying those.” Locally themed t-shirts and sweatshirts are also popular, as are baskets, she said.

And what about items featuring the shadowy hominid who’s become almost the unofficial mascot of the Hocking Hills? Is there much demand for Bigfoot merch?

“Bigfoot’s right there,” Welch says, pointing out a display of sasquatch fridge magnets. “And he’ll get bigger and bigger as we get closer and closer to the first weekend in August” – the date of the annual Hocking Hills Bigfoot Festival, set to take place this year on Aug. 2-3.

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What began as a small, ghost kitchen out of Maya Burrito during the pandemic has since grown into a flourishing local eatery.

Chelsee and Tristan Roley, co-owners of The Feed on 428 East Front Street in Logan, have taken a tremendous amount of pride in what they and their staff have built over the last few years. At the beginning March 2022, they moved to their current location, in what used to be Bush's Restaurant, as reported in the Logan Daily News.

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The Feed

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Tristan, formerly a sous-chef in a wide variety of restaurants, designed the menu as "pub grub, but with a unique twist you won't find anywhere else." In a nod to its ghost kitchen grassroots with a menu that changed weekly, The Feed keeps customers on their toes with seasonal options that change twice every year.

Some of the more interesting menu options currently offered at the restaurant include the "Choke-A-Goat" ("no animals were harmed in the making of this dish"), an artichoke and goat cheese beignet dish served with lemon aioli. They also offer the "Jack &

The Cheese Stick," a housemade cheese stick "the size of a beanstalk," topped with a homemade tomato and banana pepper relish, fried pepperoni, and a garlic parmesan drizzle.

This is all in addition to its regular menu of chicken sandwiches and hamburgers, which Tristan takes just as seriously as a culinary challenge. "You can get a burger anywhere, but you can't get our burger anywhere," he said.

For those with dietary restrictions, The Feed is also one of the few eateries in Logan that offer an array of vegetarian and vegan options.

"I'm someone who's bored easily and creative," Tristan went on.

One of his favorite outlets for that restless energy is The Feed's catering options, for events as small as a family

gathering, and as large as weddings. Tristan said that the custom menus of their catering service provide a great challenge for the whole staff.

It is, of course, an undertaking the chef cannot take sole credit for.

Chelsee, who received a master's degree in teaching, decided to jump on board with her front-of-house experience to help her and her husband's business get off the ground.

Among the workers at The Feed, Tristan shouted out a few. Evelin Kersh is the restaurant's sous-chef and kitchen manager, "who has done a great job researching, finding ways to help the business run more efficiently. We may not always agree on everything, but she's been indispensable to get to where we are now."

Tristan also made mention of Adam Harcourt, who made the transition from the former Bush's Restaurant to The Feed, "and hasn't missed a shift since. He's been steady and dependable as a rock." Lastly, Tristan spoke to the contributions of the front-of-house manager, Hannah Colliton, who has provided key customer service training, and "always made sure our guests feel appreciated and welcomed."

"Everyone who works here at The Feed have been vital to the operation," he said.

Tristan also made mention of Lee Howdyshell, the former owner of Bush's, who has been of help on the business side of things, a "learn as you go" experience for two owners that don't have formal backgrounds in business.

The Feed is located on 428 East Front Street, a stone's throw from historic downtown Logan. More about the restaurant can be found at their Facebook page, or their online ordering website on Toast.

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In January 2024, a pencil sharpener collection housed in Hocking County, and reputed to be the largest in the United States, re-opened after a two-year closure.

The Rev. Paul A. Johnson Pencil Sharpener Museum, originally kept in a small garden shed that once sat on the family’s property, was moved to the Hocking Hills Welcome Center in 2011, following the reverend’s passing. A museum brochure describes how each of the shelves were numbered and photographed in preparation for the move, to maintain its exact original placement.

In 2022, after the small, 10-foot square shed was closed due to irreparable wear and tear, the planned new location received a boon from the Parades family, of Tampa, Florida. After her husband, Frank, passed away, Stephanie Parades sought an ideal home for his collection of over 1,000 sharpeners, and came across a museum in the Hocking Hills.

Parades’ contribution includes sharpeners dating to the early 1800s, produced in Spain, older than any pieces in the Johnson collection. With

the approximately 3,500 owned by the Johnson family, the total collection is now more than 5,000, according to a press release on the re-opening.

According to Hocking Hills Tourism Association Deputy Director Audrey Martin, who led the rebuilding project, special care had to be taken “to honor the vocal wishes of both these men — that inside the museum, there can be no duplicates whatsoever.” The HHTA does not own the collection, but manages it on behalf of the families.

Martin said that the process of moving the collection to its newlyconstructed home required much the same careful packing and organization as the move in 2011. Its planned re-opening hit some road blocks due to commercial building permits, but came through in time for the annual Hocking Hills winter hike and Logan Ice Festival, which helped boost attendance at the ribbon cutting ceremony.

“I can’t tell you what a pleasure this project was to do,” Martin said. “The turnout was terrific, just what we hoped for, and the Johnson family,”

children, grandchildren, and extended relatives, “showed up to help ring in the new museum.”

Johnson’s pencil sharpener collection began with a quirky retirement gift from his wife, Charlotte, in 1988. The two were married from 1950 until Paul’s death, in 2010.

“I told Paul he needed a hobby,” Charlotte recalled to The Logan Daily News in 1988. “Very politely he told me, ‘I will find my own hobby,’” she went on, and eventually, he found one. “I didn’t know anyone at all who collected pencil sharpeners and thought it would be an interesting thing to look for,” Paul told the Logan Daily in 2009.

Over the years, he combed through knick-knack shops, picking up pieces as common as the standard schoolroom crank sharpener, as ornate as a painted Olympian hurling a javelin over the globe, as stately as the busts of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, and as creepy as a wax-figurine-head of former president Bill Clinton. And then, approximately, 3,495 more.

The collection garnered him interest from writers in OhioTraveler, American Profile, and many other publications, which are kept and framed in the new museum.

“Retired minister stays sharp,” reads one long-ago headline from the Logan Daily.

Quirky hobby aside, Rev. Johnson was a man with a renowned legacy in the Southeast Ohio community. The Logan Daily News profiled the impact of his life and work in a 2010 article following his passing.

He was a veteran of the Navy who fought in World War II, before returning home and pursuing the Christian gospel. Counted among his accolades were numerous community service and citizen fellowship awards, from Hocking and Athens counties, from the Ohio Department of Aging. In 1984, Johnson was awarded the Citation of Honor from the Ohio State Senate, and in 2004, both he and his wife were inducted into the Ohio Senior Citizens Hall of Fame.

“Paul was all about his God first and foremost,” Marjorie Moore, director of the Scenic Hills Senior Center, said at the time. “Without Paul here at the senior center, we would

have been lost in many different things. He was strong, a leader and had such an impact on southeast Ohio. Paul had a special impact on all our lives.”

His work extended to the preservation of history as a member of the Ohio Historical Society Board. He helped organize the military museum in Nelsonville, established an annual day in commemoration of the Millfield Mine Disaster in 1972, and ensured the museum’s preservation before his death.

Hocking Hills Adventure Trekisacompanyof expertguideswholead outboundactivitiesincluding, rockclimbing, rappelling,archery,team buildingandnatureexcersions. We cater to groupsofallsizeswhetherit ’s acoupleontheirhoneymoon oracorporateouting with 40peopleand ever ythinginbetween. Ourmostpopulr experienceis the rappeltrek thatincludesa 120’ rappel nexttoawaterfall!Informationcanbefoundonour website at www.hockinghillsadventuretrek.com orgiveusacallat 740-777-2579.

If you’ve got the urge to scramble up a rock face, descend a waterfall on a rope, sharpen your skills with a bow and arrow, or just commune with the great outdoors in Hocking County, you might want to check out Hocking Hills Adventure Trek. Since 2011, they’ve been offering expertly guided experiences in the Hocking State Forest and other local sites, featuring activities that include rock climbing, rappelling, hiking, archery, and more.

“Our number one seller is rappelling trips,” says owner Justin Bowers. “Rock climbing trips are kind of close behind. We also do nature hikes; we do archery events; we’ll do teambuilding events. And occasionally, for some of our large groups we’ll bring in some other activities. Say we get a group of 30 or 40 that are booking, and they want several things going on at once. We’ll have an artist come out and help lead them through painting, we’ll have a bluegrass band – throw in a lot of little things. But like I said, the big one is the stuff on ropes.”

One experience Adventure Trek can offer its customers is the chance to rappel down what is now officially designated as Ohio’s tallest waterfall – Big Spring Hollow Falls in Hocking Hills State Park. That phrase “now officially designated” was used for a reason; according to Bowers, until some years back the 120-foot-tall falls didn’t meet the strict criteria (of whatever official body concerns itself with these matters) to qualify as a waterfall. When those rules were

changed, however, Big Spring Hollow Falls shot to the top of the list.

“Big Springs Falls dries up a good portion of the year,” Bowers explained. “So for a long time, even though it’s beautiful in the spring, it wasn’t considered a waterfall. And then several years ago they reclassified how many days of the year that it has to be flowing with water in order to be considered a waterfall. And Big Springs just barely made the cut.”

He noted, however, that the area around the falls contains a number of other comparably impressive cascades that also make great rappelling sites.

“There’s an almost 100-acre area that’s designated for rock climbing and rappelling,” he noted. “That’s where we play. And within that area, there are four waterfalls over 100 foot tall. Now again, the other three didn’t quite make the classification; they only flow three or four months out of the year, not six months or whatever it is. But they’re very picturesque. And so when we go out there and lead trips, we try to finish with the actual waterfall one. But it is a public area; there could be like, a Boy Scout group or something already using it. If that’s the case we move over to one of the other waterfalls, so you’ll still get just as awesome of an experience.”

Hiking and rock climbing can be physically demanding activities, though Bowers and company can adjust the experience to the individual.

“With rock climbing, you don’t have to be a professional to climb,”

he said. “We can set up some routes that aren’t much more difficult than a stepladder. Or we can set up very difficult things; we can tailor it to the person. And rappelling is not hard at all. It’s more about the excitement of being up high, and kind of getting that adrenaline rush of stepping over the cliff on ropes. But if you have the strength to hold a gallon of milk up, then you have the strength to control that descending device that we’ve got on you. But the hike to the location, you’ve got to be able to hike a couple of miles of Hocking Hills kind of terrain. So managing uphills, and big steps, that kind of thing. And again, that’s not the triathlon athlete. We get lots of families, Mom, Dad, a couple of kids that are 10 or 12 years old, stuff like that, that do it all the time, and have no issues with it.”

Along with straightforward outdoor activities, Adventure Trek can also put together a challenging team building exercise, complete with a nature theme.

“We’ll do that with corporate groups; we’ll do it with school groups; we’ll do it with church groups; lots of different ones,” Bowers said. “And it can be done with small groups of just like six people, or we’ve had groups of 40 or 50 come in and do it. We try to tie it in to nature. So one of the activities that we almost always throw in is shelter building. We’ll talk about how to choose the right site, and what kind of stuff you want in your shelter. And Continued on next page >

Hocking HIlls Adventure Trek

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then, depending on if it’s a big group, we might split them into a couple smaller groups – we try to get six to 10 people in a group. And we’ll have them build a little survival shelter. And then we’ll kind of rate the survival shelter. We’ll have people sit in it and we’ll pour water over it, to see if it works.”

Adventure Trek allows for a lot of flexibility in its different offerings. You can pick a standard adventure, or custom-design one.

“We have our basics – there’s the waterfall rappelling trek; there’s the climbing trek; there’s the half-hour nature hike that are very simple,” Bowers explained. “And if you don’t want the headache of trying to figure out your own, you can just click on

that, book it, and be done with it. But mostly with larger groups, but even with smaller groups, we’re willing to mix and match. For example, I’ve got a group that’s been coming back for 10 years. They’re a private school, a Catholic school in Cincinnati, and they usually bring out about 30 kids. They do four days of events with us. And the one day that we’re doing rock climbing and rappelling, we’ll set up several rock climbs and a couple rappels, and we’ll have an artist come out to do the painting with them. And they can run around – we call that our playground. It’s out there in the state forest, it’s beautiful. We’ve got guides all over the place, making sure that they’re safe, and letting them just kind of do whatever. Or we can set up a little zipline across one of the little gorges. And then at different points we’ll have a nature guide take them down to the creek and back up, and show them some cool little

finds, some salamanders and stuff like that. And then as soon as they’re done with that, we’ll drive over and shoot archery for an hour.”

And while much of Adventure Trek’s activities take place in the state park, Bowers noted that you can also order its experiences to go, as it were.

“We’ll sometimes come to someone’s place, if they’ve got a field behind their church,” he said. “Or if they’ve rented a cabin, we can get in touch with that cabin owner and try to get permission, if there’s enough land behind the cabin. We’ll do nature hikes right behind their own cabin. And the same thing with the archery. The archery course that’s owned by the state is super convenient, but we have all the targets and stuff to just come to wherever we need and set up.”

For more information or to book an adventure, visit https://www. hockinghillsadventuretrek.com/.

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