LORE CITY, Ohio — The angel at the trailhead is a sobering sight.
The unusual trail marker sits at the trail that leads to Hosak’s Cave at Salt Fork State Park in Guernsey County in east-central Ohio. The message is simple: Please remain on the blazed trail.
The stone carving of the angel commemorates 14-year-old Aubrey Parsons of West Virginia, who died in a June 13, 2003, fall at Hosak’s Cave. The angel was destroyed in 2007 by vandals and replaced in 2008 by the state park.
Aubrey’s death is not the only one at Hosak’s Cave. Amy Adams of Baltimore, a 20-year-old junior at Muskingum College, slipped and slid over the edge two years ago. She was flown by helicopter to an Akron hospital after the fall but died on May 3, 2009.
At least two others, both young men, have tumbled into the tree-lined gorge but survived with serious injuries.
Hosak’s Cave may sound horrible but it is actually one of the most distinctive natural features at Salt Fork, Ohio’s largest state park at just under 22,000 acres. It can be safely visited from a lower and an upper trail, as long as one is careful and heeds the warning signs.
Located at the northern end of the park, Hosak’s Cave is actually a 60-foot-high sandstone cliff where the bottom part has eroded away. That has created a rocky overhang and a roomy shelter.
From the floor of the cave to the top of the formation is 60 feet. The dimensions of the cave itself are about 40 feet high and nearly 100 yards wide.
Park tradition says that Confederate raider John Hunt Morgan and his cavalry found shelter at Hosak’s Cave during a major thunderstorm on their ill-fated 1863 raid across Ohio.
When conditions are wet, a trickle of water falls from the top into the gorge at Hosak’s Cave.
The state advises that the trails at Hosak’s Cave are potentially dangerous and that you hike at your own risk. The cave area closes at dusk.
The lower trail, accessible off Park Road No. 1, requires a short hike from the trailhead with the angel marker: about a quarter-mile. It is rocky and uphill to the cave. Signs indicate that the trail ends before you get into the heart of the cave.
The overhang is impressive and reminds me of Old Man’s Cave at Hocking Hills State Park near Logan, one of Ohio’s most iconic landmarks.
The risk is far greater on the upper trail, part of the Orange Loop Trail, which crosses a small stream and comes within 20 feet of the drop into the gorge. That’s how the deaths and serious injuries occurred: People going off trail to explore and slip on wet rocks.
You can find, if you explore a little bit, numerous other cliffs and rock outcroppings in steep sandstone-lined gorges at Salt Fork, especially near the cottage area west of the golf course, near the water treatment plant and by the McCleary Cemetery. The cliffs at Salt Fork don’t get as much attention as the outcroppings at Hocking Hills, but they are similarly striking.
There is another stellar attraction at Salt Fork: the historical Kennedy Stone House. The impressive two-story house, built in 1840, sits by the edge of the 2,952-acre reservoir. The Federal-style building of brown, fine-grained sandstone was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
You can take an easy 1.9-mile round-trip hike through the woods or you can drive. For many years, the only way to get to the house was via trail or boat.
Two connecting trails lead to and from the house. One runs close to the water, the other is uphill and includes rocky ledges. The trails are noted for their colorful spring wildflowers.
The house was built by Benjamin and Margaret Orr Kennedy on 80 acres along Sugar Tree Creek after they had emigrated from Scotland. It cost the family about $600.
The house is 40 feet long and 18 feet wide. The stone blocks — some are as large as 9 feet long and 14 inches wide — were quarried on the property. They were finely crafted and tightly fitted.
It was home for several generations of the Kennedy family. It was purchased by the state in 1966 to create the park that also furnished water to the city of Cambridge.
It had been empty for nearly 30 years and was deteriorating when Guernsey County took up a restoration as a bicentennial project in 1998, completed in 2005.
Today it is home to the Kennedy Stone House Museum that is operated by a small grass-roots group, the Friends of the Kennedy Stone House at Salt Fork State Park.
The house officially reopened in 2003 along with an attached summer kitchen, a root cellar, an herb garden, a picnic shelter and a veterans’ courtyard. A caretakers’ cabin was built and a one-room schoolhouse was moved to the site.
Visiting the house is like stepping back in time to the 1840s. It includes photos of the Kennedy family and exhibits about Victorian furnishings from the late 1800s, woolen and linen cloth, raising Merino sheep for wool and the family farmsteads lost when the reservoir was built.
You can hike from the Kennedy House to the old McCleary Cemetery. It’s a 2-mile round-trip walk.
The museum is open from 1 to 5 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays from May 1 through Oct. 31. For information, call 740-439-3521 or 740-489-5608.
Salt Fork State Park offers a 148-room lodge, a 2,500-foot-long swimming beach, a golf course, a swimming pool, 212 campsites, 54 cottages and two marinas. The reservoir, used for boating and fishing, offers 74 miles of shoreline.
The state park offers 14 miles of hiking trails. Most are short: 2 miles or less. The cross-Ohio Buckeye Trail runs along the park’s northeast edge on back roads. The park also offers 36 miles of bridle trails.
The park got its name from a salt well used by local American Indians in what is now the park’s southeast corner.
Today it gets more than 1.47 million visitors a year, and is second only to East Harbor State Park among Ohio state parks for overnight stays, with 150,332 visitors.
The park is only two hours from Akron and easily accessible. Take Interstate 77 south to Exit 47 (U.S. 22). Turn left and proceed east just under 6 miles to the park entrance.
For more information, contact the park at 14755 Cadiz Road, Lore City, OH 43755, 740-439-3521 (park office) or 740-432-1508 (camp office). The website is .
For lodge information, write to Salt Fork State Park Lodge and Conference Center, U.S. Route 22 East, P.O. Box 7, Cambridge, OH 43725. You can call 740-439-2751 or 740-435-9000. The reservation number is 800-282-7275. The website is .
For local tourist information, check out the Cambridge Area Chamber of Commerce at 918 Wheeling Ave., Cambridge, OH 43725, 740-439-6688, .
