Hocking Hills

Bio

Our County Name and the Hocking River Hocking County was named from a shortened version of the Hockhocking River. Hockhocking, in the Delaware tongue, signifies a bottle. In Shawnee, Wea-tha-Kagh-Qua-sepe, meant bottle river. The Hockhocking River had a waterfall of nearly 20 feet located about 6 or 7 miles northwest of Lancaster. Above the falls, the creek was very narrow and straight, forming the "bottle" neck. At the falls the riverbed spreads out into some of the best hiking in Ohio. The Hocking enters the county from Good Hope Township in the northwest and then flows southwest, touches Marion Township, continues through Falls and Green Townships, and exits the county through northwestern Starr Township. The river is then in Athens County. County Formation Hocking County formed March 1, 1818 from Ross, Athens, and Fairfield. Logan was made the county seat at that time. The county's boundaries, townships, etc. have not changed since 1851, and continue to attract numerous tourists every year looking for great Ohio vacation spots Logan, Ohio Logan was established one mile below the "great falls" of the Hockhocking River, around the river and a branch of the Ohio Canal. When the town was platted, the river was used to furnish power for a sawmill and two corn-burrs. A burr is a pair of grinding stones. The town was named as a monument to Chief Logan of the Mingo Indians. An Indian village was located at the Logan City site, within the sound of the falls. Logan was platted by Ohio Governor Thomas Worthington. On March 5, 1839 Logan was incorporated. The town then had 50 houses. The 1840 census showed a population of 436. In 1877, Logan's schools had 748 pupils; 374 boys and 374 girls. An average of 7,500 tons of coal per day passed through Logan in 1883. This would have included most of the coal mined in this part of Ohio. Logan's railroad was named the C H V & T Railroad.