Remarkable Ohio

Counties

Below is a complete listing of all Ohio Historical Markers. To find a detailed marker listing including text, photographs, and locations, click on a county below. Our listing is updated by the markers program as new markers are installed and older markers are reported damaged or missing.

21-27 Grandma Gatewood / “The Reward of Nature” by Emma “Grandma” Gatewood

Side A: In 1955, at the age of 67, Emma Rowena “Grandma” Gatewood became the first woman to hike the 2,050 mile Appalachian Trail alone and in one season. The Gallia County, Ohio resident hiked the Appalachian Trail again in 1957 and 1964, becoming the first to walk its length three times. In 1959, she hiked the Oregan Trail, from Independence, Missouri to Portland, Oregon. She was a founder of the Buckeye Trail and life member of the Buckeye Trail Association, which named part of the trail after her. Grandma Gatewood was born in 1887 on a farm near Mercerville, one of 15 children, and died in 1973 at the age of 85, the mother of 11 and “grandma” to many more. SHe was inducted into the Appalachian Trail Hall of Fame in 2012.
Side B: If you will go with me to the mountains/ And sleep on the leaf carpeted floors/ And enjoy the bigness of nature/ And the beauty of all out-of-doors,/ You’ll find your troubles fading/ And feel the Creator was not man/ That made lovely mountains and forests/ Which only a Supreme Power can. When we trust in the power above/ And with the realm of nature hold fast,/ We will have a jewel of great price/ To brighten our lives till the last. For the love of nature is healing,/ If we will only give it a try/ And the reward will be forthcoming, If we go deeper than what meets the eye.
Sponsors: Village of Cheshire, Buckeye Trail Association, The Ohio History Connection
Address: Cheshire Village Park, E. Main Street at the river, 
Cheshire, 
OH, 
45620
Location: NE corner of N. Locust Street and E. Main Street
Latitude: 38.9448900
Longitude: -82.1104300