This article needs additional citations for verification .(November 2021) |
Great Parks of Hamilton County | |
---|---|
Type | Public county park district |
Location | Hamilton County, Ohio, United States |
Created | 1930 |
Operated by | Hamilton County Park Board |
Open | All year |
Great Parks of Hamilton County is the park district of Hamilton County, Ohio, United States. It was established in 1930, opening its first park, Sharon Woods, in 1932. [1] It was known as the Hamilton County Park District until 2014. The park system includes 18 parks and 4 conservation areas. It is governed by a board of park commissioners. Park headquarters are located in the second largest park in the system, Winton Woods. The county park system also coordinates with the Cincinnati Park Board.
The parks are open 365 days a year, from dawn to dusk. Boathouses, golf courses, visitor centers and gift shop hours vary by season. All vehicles entering the parks must have a valid Motor Vehicle Permit ($10 annual for county residents; $16 annual for non-county residents; $5 daily county residents; $8 daily non-county residents). The Great Parks offer reserved banquet centers, lodging, shelters, weddings, and campsites. Campgrounds are only at Miami Whitewater Forest and Winton Woods. The three largest parks are Miami Whitewater Forest, Winton Woods, and Sharon Woods. Things to do at a typical county park are hiking trails (nature, paved, and parcourse), picnicking, fishing, paddle boating, kayaking, canoeing, biking, riding horses, farm animals, playing on playgrounds, golfing (at Miami Whitewater Forest, Winton Woods, Sharon Woods, Woodland Mound, and Little Miami Golf Center), frisbee golf, playing sports, and visiting their nature centers. Dog parks are located at Simmonds Family Dog Park (Miami Whitewater Soccer Complex) and at Otto Armleder Memorial Park & Recreation Complex. Law enforcement services are provided by the Great Parks of Hamilton County Ranger Department, 24/7/365.
Asterisk (*) symbolizes parks that are worked through the City of Cincinnati and Hamilton County
Hamilton County is located in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 830,639, making it the third-most populous county in Ohio. The county seat and largest city is Cincinnati. The county is named for the first Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton County is part of the Cincinnati-Middletown, OH-KY-IN Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Druid Hills is a community which includes both a census-designated place (CDP) in unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States, as well as a neighborhood of the city of Atlanta. The CDP's population was 14,568 at the 2010 census. The CDP formerly contained the main campus of Emory University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) however they were annexed by Atlanta in 2018. The Atlanta-city section of Druid Hills is one of Atlanta's most affluent neighborhoods with a mean household income in excess of $238,500.
Winfield is an incorporated village located in Milton and Winfield Townships, DuPage County, Illinois, United States. The population was 9,080 at the 2010 census and as of 2019, the estimated population was 9,636.
The Little Miami River is a Class I tributary of the Ohio River that flows 111 miles (179 km) through five counties in southwestern Ohio in the United States. The Little Miami joins the Ohio River east of Cincinnati. It forms parts of the borders between Hamilton and Clermont counties and between Hamilton and Warren counties. The Little Miami River is one of 156 American rivers designated by the U.S. Congress or the Secretary of the Interior as a National Wild and Scenic River and lends its name to the adjacent Little Miami Scenic Trail.
The American Discovery Trail is a system of recreational trails and roads that collectively form a coast-to-coast hiking and biking trail across the mid-tier of the United States. Horses can also be ridden on most of this trail. The coastal trailheads are the Delmarva Peninsula on the Atlantic Ocean and the northern California coast on the Pacific Ocean. The trail has northern and southern alternates for part of its distance, passing through Chicago and St. Louis respectively. The total length of the trail, including both the north and south routes, is 6,800 miles (10,900 km). The northern route covers 4,834 miles (7,780 km) with the southern route covering 5,057 miles (8,138 km). It is the only non-motorized coast-to-coast trail.
The Little Miami Scenic Trail is the fourth longest paved trail in the United States, running 78.1 miles (125.7 km) through five southwestern counties in the state of Ohio. The multi-use rail trail sees heavy recreational use by hikers and bicyclists, as well as the occasional horseback rider. Over 700,000 people made use of the trail in 2014.
The Hayes Arboretum is an arboretum of 330 acres (130 ha) located in Richmond, Indiana, United States. It is open free to the public Tuesdays through Saturdays, 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. It is the primary project of the Stanley W. Hayes Research Foundation, a private operating foundation. The Foundation owns a total of 466 acres (189 ha) of property in Wayne County, IN.
The Forest Preserve District of Cook County is a governmental commission in Cook County, Illinois, that owns and manages land containing forest, prairie, wetland, streams, and lakes. These land holdings are primarily managed as undeveloped natural areas and for outdoor recreation. The Forest Preserve District encompasses approximately 70,000 acres of land or approximately 11% of the land in Cook County, which contains the city of Chicago and is the most densely populated urban metropolitan area in the Midwest. The Forest Preserves also owns the lands on which the Brookfield Zoo and the Chicago Botanic Garden operate. The Cook County Board of Commissioners also serves ex-officio as the board for the district. The Forest Preserve District headquarters is located in River Forest, Illinois.
The Columbus and Franklin County Metro Parks are a group of 20 metropolitan parks in and around Columbus, Ohio. They are officially organized into the Columbus and Franklin County Metropolitan Park District. The Metro Parks system was organized in 1945 under Ohio Revised Code Section 1545 as a separate political division of the state of Ohio. The Metro Parks are overseen by a Board of Park Commissioners consisting of three citizens appointed to three-year terms without compensation by the Judge of the Probate Court of Franklin County, Ohio. The Board in turn appoints an Executive Director responsible for operations and management of the parks.
A fitness trail, trim trail or parcourse consists of a path or course with outdoor exercise equipment or obstacles installed along its length for exercising the human body to promote good health. The course is designed to promote physical fitness training in the style attributed to Georges Hébert. In general, fitness trails can be natural or man-made, located in areas such as forest, transportation rights-of-way, parks, or urban settings. Equipment exists to provide specific forms of physiological exercise, and can consist of natural features including climbable rocks, trees, and river embankments, or manufactured products designed to provide similar physical challenges. The degree of difficulty of a course is determined by terrain slope, trail surface, obstacle height (walls) or length (crawls) and other features. Urban parcourses tend to be flat, to permit participation by the elderly, and to accommodate cyclists, runners, skaters and walking. The new concept of an outdoor gym, containing traditional gym equipment specifically designed for outdoor use, is also considered to be a development of the parcourse. These outdoor exercise gyms include moving parts and are often made from galvanised metal.
Winton Woods City School District is a city school district in northern Hamilton County, Ohio, United States. Winton Woods serves students living in Forest Park, Greenhills, and Springfield Township.
Highlands Sanctuary, Inc. is a nonprofit organization which operates under the dba of The Arc of Appalachia Preserve System. The Arc of Appalachia has been in operation since 1995, working to create and steward nature preserves in the forested Appalachian counties of southern Ohio. In 2016, The Arc of Appalachia had completed the protection of 4268 acres in 15 preserve regions.
Reedy Creek Park is a 125-acre (51 ha) urban park at 2900 Rocky River Road in the Newell section of Charlotte, North Carolina. Adjacent to the park is a 737 acre nature preserve.
Miami Whitewater Forest is the largest park in the Great Parks of Hamilton County with 4,345 acres (17.58 km2). It is located in Hamilton County, Ohio, just northwest of Cincinnati. Included in the park are the 7.8-mile (12.6 km) paved Shaker Trace Trail as well as many other shorter trails. There is also a golf course, a 46-acre (19 ha) campground, horseback riding, and many sports offered. 46 modern campsites are available, with electric hookups and a fire pit.
Winton Woods is a park in Springfield Township and the village of Greenhills in the northern suburbs of Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. Winton Woods – the headquarters of the Great Parks of Hamilton County, was the second park founded in the district. The park spans more than 2,500 acres (1,000 ha) and is the second largest in the system.