The Forest Museum and connected trails, Etawah Woods, Valley of the Ancients and Barrier Ridge, are closed for the season but will reopen on weekends in April 2021 from 9:30am-4:30pm. They will be open daily, COVID and staff-permitting, starting May 1, 2021 from 9:30am-4:30pm. All other trails at the Highlands Nature Sanctuary are currently open. Please note: masks are required in the Forest Museum and social distancing is encouraged. 

The Appalachian Forest Museum

The Appalachian Forest Museum is the Arc’s main visitor center showcasing eight fine-art murals depicting the world significance of Ohio’s forest and America’s Eastern hardwood biome. There are two short hiking trails beginning from the Museum, bringing you through an old-growth forest and winding down into the Rocky Fork Gorge, and a 3.5 mile loop trail beginning at the Museum’s lower parking lot.

The Forest Has a Story…

The Appalachian Forest Museum is the first museum in the world devoted to Earth’s temperate deciduous forest. Visually stunning and inspiring, the Appalachian Forest Museum brings visitors a new perspective of our “home-sweet-biome.” Follow a deer trail through an ancient grove of old-growth tree replicas to experience the little-known but world significant story of the temperate forest.

The story, which starts 33 million years ago and spans across the globe, is told in nine chapters, each illustrated by an original mural sized oil painting, hand-painted by renowned artists Geoff Mowery, John Agnew, Robert Dafford, and Ann Geise.