Heritage in Licking County
Licking County is an eclectic mix of communities, each with its own unique personality and character. Although different, we share one thing in common and always have - our ability to see the beauty and relevance in our collective history. When it comes to the big story of Licking County, we come together in one voice to tell a bold tale of human ingenuity, love, loss, and community spirit. No one community overshadows the other, and we are willing to tell our neighbors' stories like they were our own. In Licking County, the official history book sits on all of our shelves. History begins here. Find your way.
The Licking County Courthouse
The Courthouse has stood faithfully for over a century on its little patch of parkland and was constructed before Newark’s Warren S. Weiant established the first independent telephone company in the United States, before Augustus H. Heisey founded his world-famous glass factory, before the Scheidler Machine Works occupied the building on South First Street, before the Historic Jail was constructed…
The Newark Earthworks
Now standing as the best preserved and largest examples of Hopewell geometric earthworks anywhere, the Newark Earthworks once encompassed more than four square miles of land maintained by the Hopewell Era. Today, they blend quietly into the hum of life in Licking County, perhaps easily missed in the flow of traffic and life. But that wasn’t always the case…
Legend Valley
The legend began quite simply. The 230-acre plot of land now known as Legend Valley has long been hallowed ground. For as many as 1,700 years, a 50-foot tall stone mound on the site marked the final resting place of an Adena person, adorned with copper jewelry and flowing black hair…
Blackhand Gorge
While Blackhand Gorge resulted from the erosion of Black Hand Sandstone, the gorge was not named for the sandstone. According to legend, an American Indian petroglyph, which was in the shape of a hand and colored black, once existed on the gorge's northern wall. Several theories exist for why Ohio's American Indians carved the hand into the cliff…
Louis Sullivan Building
The Louis Sullivan Building of Newark has graced the Courthouse Square for over a century at One North Third Street. It was built in 1914 and opened its doors on August 25, 1915 as The Home Building Association Company, commonly known as “The Old Home”. One of only eight banks designed by noted American architect Louis Sullivan…
The Heisey Glass Museum
The mission of the National Heisey Glass Museum is to preserve, collect, and interpret Heisey glass, related materials, and information. Heisey Collectors of America, Inc. established the National Heisey Glass Museum in Newark in 1972 to display and promote the study of the A.H. Heisey & Company and its products from 1896 to 1957. The museum houses an astounding collection of Heisey pieces, maintains official archive records, and offers Heisey for sale in their gift shop.