Lake Loramie State Park

About Lake Loramie State Park

This quiet hideaway in rural Ohio offers visitors the opportunity to swim on a sandy beach, cruise in the lazy waters of Lake Loramie, or stay overnight in a shady campsite. The tranquil nature of the park, home to over 1,000 hectares of beautiful lakes and lakeways, offers visitors a peaceful escape from the hustle and bustle of urban life.

It is hard to imagine that more than two-thirds of Ohio's surface was once covered by a vast, ancient and ancient lake system, the largest of its kind in the world. In the past, hundreds of thousands of different reptile, amphibian, bird, and mammal species invaded its borders, but the last one retreated about 12,000 years ago.

The ice advance directly affected the natural conditions that are now visible in Lake Loramie State Park. Glaciers stored ice of various sizes in the form of sand, gravel, sandstone and other mineral deposits. These deposits have led to some of the richest soils in the world, especially in the western half of Ohio, where the land is generally flat.

Near Lake Loramie, the vegetation consisted mainly of beech forests that thrived on the moist and fertile soils of the region. Today, Ohio has large forests covering 95% of the state, but little of these massive forests is visible because the development of land for agriculture and other purposes has drastically changed the original vegetation. The typical area today is a mixture of grasses, shrubs, trees, grassland and grassland, with a few trees and bushes.

Waterfowl, including Canada geese, visit the park, as do various songbirds and small mammals. The campsites of the park are available for camping, fishing, hiking, canoeing, kayaking and other recreational activities.

Wildflowers thrive in the woods and fields, and the lake is completed by views to the north, south, west, east and west of the park, as well as to Lake Superior and Lake Michigan.

A path leading to Blackberry Island gives visitors an insight into nesting red woodpeckers and owls. The meadows of the park form the basis for a large population of eastern bluebirds, and a path leads to the lake.

It was the headquarters of the Miami Confederacy until it was destroyed by the French in 1752 after the Miami Indians had taken the side of the British. More than 400 Indian families lived here in the 18th and 19th centuries, most of them in the area of Lake Loramie.

Lake Loramie is named after the trading post built at the beginning of the 19th century on the site of what is now the Beed Reservoir. He came to the area as a Jesuit priest, served the Wyandot and Shawnee Indians, and became a bitter enemy of the Americans. His businesses became the center of Indian calamity for settlers, and General George Rogers Clark destroyed the post and a nearby Indian village during an expedition to the Miami Valley in 1782.

Shortly after, Loramie emigrated with a gang from Shawnee to the West, and in 1794 General Mad Anthony Wayne had a fortress built at the former trading post.

Lake Loramie was built in the late 18th and early 19th centuries on the banks of the Missouri. A short feeder channel connected it to the main channel, which enabled the lake to be built at a depth of about 400 metres above sea level.

In the mid-19th century, the canal system reached its peak of economic importance, but the railways and the destruction caused by the 1913 floods eventually forced all canals to be closed for a year. At that time, Lake Loramie and other canal areas were recognised as key to meeting the increasing demand for leisure activities. In 1949 it became a state park under the newly created Department of Natural Resources and Nature Conservation and has been maintained as a state park ever since.

Camping enthusiasts can choose between electric and non-electric campsites, many of which are located in shady areas directly under the water. Some campsites have showers, flushing toilets and landfills, and some have no toilets at all.

Several pitches are equipped with boat ties, and there are three group campsites that can be reserved for organized groups. Three pitches - A - consisting of a tent site, a picnic area, a caravan site and a parking lot, can be rented in the summer months only by reservation.

Boat trips are a popular activity on Lake Loramie, and there are port rentals and launch pads. Unlimited horsepower boat engines are allowed, but you do not have to behave at the Elysee or in the harbor.

Drive through the lazy waters of Lake Loramie, swim on the sandy beaches or stay overnight at a shady campsite. The entire lake is classified as impassable by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, but the lake itself is not served by any of the state's four major roads, including Interstate 80 and I-94.

Lake Loramie offers more than eight kilometers of hiking trails, and part of the trail network follows the Miami-Erie Canal from the park to Delphos. The route is also accessible on foot, by bike, canoe, horse, kayak or even by boat, but not by car.

Gross Woods State is one of the largest natural reserves in Ohio State, with more than 1,000 acres of forest, wetlands and streams. Managed by the ODNR's Natural Site Division, the Gross Forest is the second least disturbed forest in Ohio and the third largest in North America.

It is also one of the few mixed forests preserved in this part of Ohio and offers camping, fishing, boating, picnicking and swimming. It is about a half-hour drive from Lake Loramie and for more information about local attractions, please call 1-800-BUCKEYE.