Welkin Ring

Protecting a regionally significant site

Welkin Ring is an incredibly beautiful property - one of the most beautiful we have ever laid eyes on. It is dominated by a 200-foot-high sandstone-knobbed pinnacle, crowned with Virginia pines, and studded with wild blueberries. The ridgetop provides stunning panoramas of the surrounding forested hills. Below the knob are jumbles of stacked rock formations that are truly otherworldly. The preserve’s name, Welkin, is derived from an old English word meaning “heavenly sphere, and the word “ring” is a verb meaning to resound and sound forth. The name was inspired because of the feeling of the earth stretching to reach the sky.

The exposure was ‘discovered’ by famous botanist Floyd Bartley in the 1930s, who, at that time, recorded a number of rare plants. To date, thirteen state-listed plants have been recorded at Welkin Ring, including blunt-leaved milkweed, long beech fern, pink dot lichen, northern fir-moss, round-leaved catchfly, sweet goldenrod, rock spike-moss, and umbrella magnolia.

The Arc is working in collaboration with the Ohio Department of Natural Areas and Preserves to protect this site in perpetuity.