Chillicothe — A unique mini-forest planted off the side of the city’s busiest street is a hidden gem.
That is according to Bill Bonner, Parks & Recreation Director for the City of Chillicothe. I spoke with him at “Millennium Grove” as a city crew and volunteers from the city’s Tree Commission replaced some tree identification posts.
Bonner said that at the start of the millennium, president Bill Clinton started a project to create millennium groves. Each state was to get 100 trees that were seedlings or clones of historic trees.
As the grove’s website explains, “each tree has significant historical ancestry. Every tree is a direct descendant of a tree that is, in some way, related to an event, place or person.”
Bonner said Ohio was to have five groves with 20 trees each. Chillicothe eventually got all 100 for the state, the only city in the nation to do so – partly because the town had a good tree commission already.
He said as of a few years ago, Chillicothe’s grove was only four or five of the groves still in existence – and none of those with all 100.
The trees are divided into seven groups or glades: Ohio History, American History, Presidents, Famous Women, Famous Men, Civil War North, and Civil War South.
Each tree has a post with identification plaque with a brief description of its significance. (Since some of those needed replacement after about 20 years, I used that as an excuse to do this story!) Their information is also on the grove’s website.
Find it at the southwest corner of the North Plaza Drive loop, at the end of a short driveway – in the floodplain next to the U.S. 35 freeway and its bridge over the Scioto River. The 10-acre city park has limited parking, but more space is available if you don’t mind walking a little further, down its lane from the street.
Bonner says it should be more popular, and it’s not the easiest place to find, but it has one of the visitors bureau’s new wayfinding signs pointing to it from Bridge Street – plus, it’s just around the loop from the Ross Chillicothe Visitors Bureau.
Learn much more in my long video interview with Bonner below, plus another video with my drive into the grove and a brief visual tour.
