Flint Ridge Ancient Quarries and Nature Preserve

Flint Ridge is a geological formation covering a ten-mile stretch between eastern Licking County and western Muskingum County, just north of the National Road. Native Americans came to Flint Ridge beginning around 12,000 years ago to mine the flint to be used as arrow and spear points, drills, knives and scrapers. The area was considered neutral ground for all tribes where all were free to come and collect flint in peace.

Flint mining was a very difficult process; any flint found on the surface and exposed to the elements was too fragile to be worked, but beneath the surface running one to ten feet down was good quality flint. Large hammers up to 25 pounds were used to smash wedges made of wood or bone into tiny cracks in order to break it loose and haul it to the surface. Workers then shaped this into blocks about a foot long and up to five inches wide so that it could be carried to other locations to knap into points and tools. Mining pits can still be seen today in many locations around the park.

Flint from the Flint Ridge has been found as far away as northern Canada, Louisiana, Utah, Kansas and the Atlantic seaboard. It is recognizable by its bright and beautiful colors and patterns, which come out after a heat process. The first European pioneers came to value the local flint, and they used it for their flintlock rifles and tinder boxes. Workers constructing the National Road through Licking County in the early 1830s used flint scraps that they found to support the road bed.

In 1933, L. H. Woddrop, owner of the Flint Ridge Mining and Manufacturing Company, donated 25-30 acres to the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society to be used as a state park. Later donations of land would grow the park to its current 533 acres. Each year on Labor Day weekend, flint-knappers from all over the country, and sometimes other countries, flock to the park for the annual Knap-In hosted by the Flint Ridge Lithic Society. Skilled knappers demonstrate how to chip the flint into spear and arrow points, thereby helping to preserve the ancient art of flint-knapping.

Image 1: Examples of flint items from Hill's History of Licking County of 1881.