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Great Seal State Park Location: 635 Rocky Road email: tar.hollow.parks@dnr.state.oh.us
Rugged and rolling, these sandstone giants lay on the edge of the Appalachian foothills. For over three centuries, the hills of Great Seal have been home to those who would settle in and around the fertile Scioto Valley below. In the mid to late 1700's, the area around Great Seal State Park was the roaming ground of the Shawnee. While the Scioto River would carry many a Shawnee from one village to the other, just to the north, there was an intersection of five major Indian trails. In fact, three of the Shawnee towns, all named Chillicothe, were located on the bottomlands. And the legendary Shawnee leader, Tecumseh, was born north of Great Seal State Park near what is now the town of Circleville. One of the first settlers to the area, General Nathaniel Massie, organized a settlement in the late 1700's. In the early 1800's, the town of Chillicothe and the same town that the Shawnee called their own became the capital of Ohio. Now, the main mountain, Sugarloaf Mountain, looks down upon the city in one direction and a quiet, cozy campground in the other.
On the seal is a representation of the Scioto River, separating fields of grain from Mount Logan and Chillicothe. The 13 rays of the rising sun symbolize the 13 original colonies, and the 17 arrows symbolize that Ohio was the 17th state admitted to the Union
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