From I-71 take Exit 9 for Red Bank Road. Continue onto Red Bank Expressway and go .6 mile. turn right onto Duck Creek Road and go .6 mile. Turn right into United American Cemetery.

Over 100 bird species have been reported at this cemetery. It a good place to look for resident hawks and woodpeckers, summer breeding birds, and it attracts some warbler migrants in spring and fall. Waterfowl are reported year round.

The United American Cemetery is the oldest African-American cemetery in Ohio, located on Duck Creek Road in Cincinnati, Ohio and founded in 1844 by the United Colored American Association. Among those interred at the cemetery who are notable are Horace Sudduth and John Isom Gaines.

From United American Cemetery turn right onto Duck Creek Road and go .3 mile. Use the right 2 lanes to turn right onto Kennedy Avenue and go .3 mile. Turn left onto Highland Avenue and go .3 mile. Turn right onto Ridge Road and drive 1.9 miles. Turn right onto Section Road and turn left into French Park.

Reserve the French House for a private party and you and your guests can feel you’ve stepped back decades in time. The focal point of 275-acre French Park. French House was built in the early 1900’s and then remodeled several times. The two-story brick house offers many adjacent rooms and outdoor terraces, surrounded by gardens and meadows in the center of French Park for private functions.

French Park itself has miles of hiking trails, creeks, meadows and wooded hillsides, a shelter and a distant view of Cincinnati. The park is in Amberley Village.

From French Park turn right onto Section Road and go .3 mile. Turn right onto Ridge Road and drive 1.6 miles. Continue onto East Columbia Avenue for 1 mile. Turn right onto Reading Road and drive 3.1 miles. Reading Road turns right and becomes Sharon Road. Sharon Road turns left and becomes Main Street. Continue onto Reading Road and then make a slight right onto Lebanon Road. Arrive at Sharon Woods Park on the right in 1 mile.

Nearly 150 bird species have been reported at Sharon Woods including ducks and warblers during the spring and fall migrations and a mix of resident birds in both summer and winter.

Sharon Woods is a popular park that features a visitor center with exhibits, gift shop and Adventure Station, an accessible two-story indoor play area for children ages two to 12. The park is a popular spot to exercise outdoors with a 2.6-mile paved multi-purpose trail around the lake, a 1.0-mile Parcours trail, and the 0.7-mile Gorge nature trail. Reservable areas include Lakeside Lodge, shelters and picnic areas with Great Parks Catering available. As well as optional children’s celebration packages at Sharon Centre. Soccer practice fields are available for lease.

From Sharon Woods turn right onto Lebanon Road and go .8 mile. Make a slight right to merge onto I-275 east toward Columbus and drive. 7.5 miles. Take Exit 54 for Wards Corner Road. Turn right onto Wards Corner road and drive 1.4 miles. Turn left onto OH-126 east and go .2 mile. Turn right and stay on OH-126 for .9 mile. View birds on the Dennison Gravel Pits from nearby roads.

The Grand Valley Preserve is gated and you must secure a pass key to enter the preserve. The gravel pits have been viewed from nearby roads for many years by area birders.

The Camp Dennison Gravel Pits, also known as The Grand Valley Preserve, a former gravel excavation site, was acquired by the Village of Indian Hill in 2002. Located in Camp Dennison, the 379-acre site has been the focus of a reclamation project to restore wildlife and the Preserve’s natural beauty.