McGraw Edison Recreation Area is one of Muskingum County’s newest parks. At one time a private company park, the county took it over after it had been allowed to return to a partially wild state. There is a .25-mile gravel road through the center of the park, and hiking and mountain bike trails throughout the park. Some of these trails cross the Little Salt Creek over concrete causeways, which may require trudging through a few inches of water in wetter seasons. The park has a mix of forest and meadow, pond and creek, and you will also find a few clues to its past as a corporate recreation area, like old shuffleboard courts being reclaimed by nature. The north pond is a good place to find a wood duck, warblers during migration, and a variety of sparrows.

McGraw Edison is an 80-acre park located nine miles east of Zanesville on Park Lane in Perry Township. The property was purchased with a grant from the Clean Ohio Conservation Fund and in-kind services from the City of Zanesville and the Muskingum County Engineer. Metro Funds from the Ohio Department of Transportation were used for the gravel and geotextile fabric to widen the driveway through the park.

The site is a pleasing mixture of gently rolling grasslands and steeper wooded hillsides. Water features include Little Salt Creek and an unnamed tributary, a wetland, and a small pond. An exceptional feature of the park is a hemlock grove located near the confluence of the unnamed tributary and Little Salt Creek. This microcosm of rock outcrops and tall graceful hemlocks provides a stark contrast to the rest of the park’s rolling fields and hardwood forests.

Through a cost share grant with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, much of the open area has been planted to warm season grasses to provide excellent bird habitat. NRCS cost share also provided funding for the planting of a wide variety of hardwood trees and trees have also been donated by the National Wild Turkey Federation.

Thanks to the volunteer efforts of the Appalachia Outdoor Adventures, five miles of beginner/intermediate mountain bike trails wind through the outer edges of the park. AOA members built and maintain the trails.