Oak Openings--Horse Rider Center

Oak Openings--Horse Rider Center

Jeffers Road Whitehouse, Ohio 43571

Oak Openings Preserve Metropark Official Website
Oak Openings Preserve map
Oak Openings Trails webpage

Also, see all the hotspots at:
Oak Openings Important Bird Area

About this Location

A convenient, Horse Riders’ Center is located on Jeffers Road with ample parking for trailers. Restrooms, water, hitching posts, and a picnic shelter with grills are also provided at this site. The north side of Evergreen Lake provides additional restrooms.

About Oak Openings Preserve Metropark

See all hotspots at Oak Openings Preserve Metropark

Located between Whitehouse and Swanton, Oak Openings Preserve takes its name from the surrounding region, which is 23 times larger than the park itself. That’s something to consider when you realize that Oak Openings Preserve is over 4,000 acres.

Pioneers trudging through a dense swamp called this area “Oak Openings.” Most of the park is an oak savanna ecosystem, characterized by alternating wetlands and vegetated dunes. The Nature Conservancy once named the sandy region one of the 200 “Last Great Places on Earth.”

Prickly-pear cactus, wild lupine, and sand cherry bloom atop dry, hot sand dunes just yards away from orchids growing in low, wet swales. There are more than 50 miles of trails in Oak Openings Preserve. Stands of isolated pine and spruce planted by the WPA during the Great Depression are still visible.

Oak Openings is a birder’s paradise. It is the nesting place of Bluebirds, Indigo Buntings, Whippoorwills, Lark Sparrows, and many other species, as well as an excellent location to see migrating songbirds in the spring.

Features

  • Restrooms on site

  • Entrance fee

Content from Oak Openings Preserve Metropark Official Website and Ohio Ornithological Society