Shawnee State Park

Located in the middle of the 65,000 acre Shawnee State Forest, is still just 13 minutes from downtown Portsmouth or 10 minutes from the Shawnee State Golf Course & Marina. A great place to bring students for a school outing. With a full time Naturalist on staff, nothing is better than having a classroom in the middle of Shawnee State Forest. The 63,000 acres of Shawnee State Forest and Shawnee State Park encompass a part of the former hunting grounds of the Shawnee Indians. Historians note that the Shawnee name means "those who have silver," as the tribe conducted considerable trade in this precious metal. A major Shawnee village, known as Lower Town, was located near the confluence of the Ohio and Scioto rivers. The Scioto River provided access to the heart of the Shawnee country in central and southern Ohio. The Ohio River was the gateway to frontier settlement in the Ohio region as well as for Indiana and Illinois. This expansive waterway, the Spaylawitheepi in Indian tongue, was the site of many confrontations between incoming pioneers and the Native Americans. The Shawnees monitored the influx of the white settlers from the line of ridges that overlooked the mighty Ohio River.