In February, the state launched a new tourism brand. They're calling it Ohio Foothills. It covers ten counties across Appalachian Ohio. Rolling hills. Old forests. Small towns with one stoplight and good pie.
Here is the honest part. Skyline is not one of those ten counties. We are in Pike County, on the south-central side of Appalachian Ohio, about ten minutes from Waverly and five minutes from Lake White State Park. Same hills. Same dark sky. Same Appalachia. Just not on the state's brochure yet.
That is kind of the point. The brand map stops at the eastern edge of the state. The region does not. Pike County sits closer to the middle of Ohio's Appalachian country, about ninety minutes south of Columbus on Route 23. We've always known it was special out here. Now the rest of the state is starting to notice the area too.
What Ohio Foothills actually is
The ten counties in the new brand are Belmont, Carroll, Columbiana, Coshocton, Guernsey, Harrison, Holmes, Jefferson, Muskingum, and Tuscarawas. Funding came from the Governor's Office of Appalachia. The goal is simple. Get people to stop driving through and start staying a while.
Notice Pike County is not on that list. Neither is most of southern Ohio. The brand drew a line around the east. The Appalachian hills do not stop at that line. You can read the tourism board pitch on visitohiofoothills.com. I'll give you the honest version.
What it's actually like out here
It's quiet in a way flat Ohio is not. The roads bend. The hills pile up. You lose cell service without trying. Deer cross the road at dusk and actually make eye contact with you.
The small towns around Waverly have working diners. The rivers are clean. The sky over the property gets dark enough at night to see the Milky Way with your naked eye.
A good weekend, without the drive to Asheville
You don't need to drive ten hours to North Carolina for the Appalachian feeling. It starts here. Skyline is about ninety minutes south of Columbus, and a couple hours from Cincinnati or Dayton. No airport. No traffic. Just the hills.
Book a site at Aurora's Grove or Orion's Pointe on HipCamp. Explore the region. Stay for pie.
See you at skyline.