Sells Park

Sunset on Sells

The beginning of a Trail at Sells Park

Sells Park Lookout

The Rockhouse

A trail map of Sells Park and Strouds Run.^[1]

Sells Park, also known as Sells' City Park or Sells' Park, is a public park in Athens, Ohio, near Ohio University. It is claimed to be "one of Athens’s best hidden treasures."^[2] It comprises 22.5 acres (980,492 ft²), and includes Sells Pond, a 1876 square yard (1,568.60 m²) pond.

Park trails[]

Sells Park is part of The Athens Trail Network, a multi-use trail network branching out from Sells Park itself.^[3] A series of twelve trails and connectors branch out into the surrounding woods, heading eastwards to eventually connect with the trails of Strouds Run State Park. The trails are designed for hiking, running, and biking, although some sections are off-limits to bicycles.

There are wooden markers along the trails which provide information. There are also signs at forks which show the trails' names and where they lead to in each direction. The trails provide scenic views of the East State commercial area and travel past and through notable features such as Sells Pond, Riddle State Nature Preserve (Hawk Woods), Boulder Cove, Turtlehead Cave (Blue Ash Rockhouse), Finger Rock, Pioneer Cemetery, and Dow Lake at Strouds Run State Park.

The trail network is maintained by community and university volunteers.^[4]

History[]

Sells Park was formerly owned by the Sells family until it was given to the United States in 1939, and turned into a federal reserve. It was later ceded by the United States to Athens, Ohio, in 1979.^[5]

About 3 yards behind a bench commemorated in 2011 on the right side of the lake, there is a barely visible cement foundation of an old male and female bathroom building which once stood there, taken down some time in the 1990s under the city of Athens' rule.

On the side of the pond closest to the two paths that lead up to the park, there is a cement support structure of a long-gone platform which you could fish from. (However, as fishing is no longer allowed in the park, it was likely simply abandoned.)

One of the unusual features of the pond is an aqueduct, below what was the platform. While the platform is gone, the aqueduct is still there, and functional; and you can hear and see water flowing from it down to its end by the entrance about 20 yards away.