Exploring Blackhand Gorge

 Our all-day bus tour on Saturday October 22 ​began in Heath, Ohio, known as the Birthplace   of the Ohio Canal, and also site of the 2000-year-old Great Circle Earthwork. Travelling roughly   northeast, participants viewed a variety of canal remnants in Newark, Frazeysburg,   Dresden, Adams Mills and points in between.

​ Especially impressive was a two-mile hike to and from Blackhand Gorge, where the canal   towpath was created by blasting through a very large formation of solid rock. To reach the Gorge,   participants hiked through a 100-yard tunnel blasted through the massif more than 100 years   ago to enable construction of an interurban rail line between Newark and Zanesville.

​ Participants enjoyed a perfect fall day for their picnic lunch beside the Rocky Fork Culvert on   the Postle Farm near Hanover.

 On Saturday evening, participants enjoyed a banquet at the Buckingham House in Newark.   The speaker  was author and historian Aaron Kearns.

​ For more information contact Mike Morthorst at gongoozler@fuse.net.