Mary Beth Preserve Hiking Trails

The Mary Beth Zak Lohse Preserve was acquired in September, 2018 and expanded in November, 2019, using Clean Ohio Conservation Fund / Open Space grants. The property is 283+ acres in size.

The preserve is named after a friend of conservation, who died in 2011. Mary Beth helped found the Appalachian Ohio Group of the Sierra Club and served as the Conservation Chair for the Ohio chapter of the club. She was a leader in Southeast Ohio conservation efforts and a participant in Athens Conservancy activities. Clean Ohio support enabled the Conservancy to buy the initial 240 acres from the Gillette family, descendants of one of the earliest settlers in the Strouds Run area. Located on both sides of Strouds Run Rd. between the Athens city limits and Dow Lake, the establishment of this preserve will help protect the water quality in the lake. Previously the largest private holding in the Dow Lake watershed, it also includes two-thirds of a mile of the principal stream feeding the lake. As well as bordering Strouds Run State Park and the Blair Preserve, the Mary Beth Preserve adjoins and helps buffer Hawk Woods, with its towering oaks and tulip trees, an exceptional stand of old-growth forest owned by the City of Athens and dedicated as a state nature preserve. The city purchased Hawk Woods in 2003 in partnership with the Athens Conservancy, which played a key role in fund-raising.

This land was once the farm of Orrin Gillett, a son of Samuel Gillett, a tanner who was one of the early settlers in the Strouds Run watershed. At one time, the Gillett family altogether owned about one thousand acres of land, mostly in Canaan Township with just a small area in Athens Township. Almost half that land is now part of the state park, and a portion is also in private property on Tucker Run Road. The Gillette heirs from whom the property was purchased are descendants of Orrin (and Samuel) Gillett.