Deep Hollow-Dark Skies Preserve encompasses 110.6 acres in Carthage Township, about 13 miles east-southeast of Athens and 16 miles west of Belpre. Funded by a Clean Ohio Green Space Conservation Program grant, with additional support from generous community members, the preserve was established in December 2020.

This important addition to the adjacent Morris Preserve consolidates a large area of closed-canopy forest in a township with little public land. This preserve also protects a pristine, high-quality stream, riparian and hillside deciduous forest, vernal pool wetlands, and a dark-sky area.

The name Deep Hollow–Dark Skies emphasizes the preserve’s diverse topography, reaching from a clear stream at the bottom of the gorge to a ridge-top that provides wonderful night-time celestial viewing. In between is a hardwood forest dotted with rock ledges and sandstone slump blocks.

Use iNaturalist to help document plants, mushrooms, insects, birds, mammals, and more in Deep Hollow-Dark Skies Preserve.

Volunteer Preserve Steward: Tom Reid