Qualla: Great Seal State Park https://qualla.com/great-seal-state-park en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:06 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/v/p/great-seal-state-park-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Great Seal State Park https://qualla.com/great-seal-state-park Great Seal State Park: Introduction https://qualla.com/great-seal-state-park/ Photo credit Nyttend, Public domain. Look at the Great Seal of the State of Ohio and you will see a familiar Ohio landscape: a rising sun behind a line of forested hills, with a sheaf of wheat and a bundle of arrows in the foreground. The hills are not generic. They are these hills, north of Chillicothe in Ross County, where Ohio's first state capital sat and where the 1803 convention designed the symbols of a new commonwealth. The 1,682 acres of Great Seal State Park preserve the actual view that the seal depicts. Hike up Sugarloaf Mountain at dawn and you are standing in the picture on every Ohio courthouse document.

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Image: Nyttend | Public domain

]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/v/p/great-seal-state-park-wp/dnvp-great-seal-state-park-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Great Seal State Park: Where Ohio Was Imagined https://qualla.com/great-seal-state-park/ Photo credit Dan Keck from Ohio, CC0. Chillicothe, just south of the park, was Ohio's first state capital after statehood in 1803, and the constitutional delegates who met there to write the early laws had front-row seats to the hills now inside Great Seal State Park. When they sat down to design a state seal, they d...

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Image: Dan Keck from Ohio | CC0

]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/v/p/great-seal-state-park-wp/dnvp-great-seal-state-park-where-ohio-was-imagined.mp3 0:06 2 full Great Seal State Park: Hilly Country https://qualla.com/great-seal-state-park/ Photo credit Dan Keck from Ohio, CC0. The park encompasses the rugged transition between the flat farmland of central Ohio and the more dramatic foothills of the Appalachian Plateau. The Scioto River curves through the valley to the west, and the ridges rise abruptly from the river bottom in a series of sharp climbs....

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Image: Dan Keck from Ohio | CC0

]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/v/p/great-seal-state-park-wp/dnvp-great-seal-state-park-hilly-country.mp3 0:06 3 full Great Seal State Park: From 7,500 Acres to 1,682 https://qualla.com/great-seal-state-park/ Photo credit Dan Keck from Ohio, CC0. The original 1970s plans for Great Seal State Park were considerably grander - 7,500 acres, more than four times the eventual size. Area landowners objected, the state scaled back the proposal, and the park finally opened with limited access in 1979 at 1,682 acres. The compromise...

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Image: Dan Keck from Ohio | CC0

]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/v/p/great-seal-state-park-wp/dnvp-great-seal-state-park-from-7-500-acres-to-1-682.mp3 0:06 4 full Great Seal State Park: The Pandemic Grove https://qualla.com/great-seal-state-park/ Photo credit Dan Keck from Ohio, CC0. In 2021 the park added the COVID-19 Pandemic Memorial Grove, a paved walkway lined with 15 native Ohio trees planted in memory of those who died in the pandemic and in honor of those who survived. The choice of location is fitting in a quietly powerful way. The seal that inspired...

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Image: Dan Keck from Ohio | CC0

]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/v/p/great-seal-state-park-wp/dnvp-great-seal-state-park-the-pandemic-grove.mp3 0:06 5 full