Sawmill (Campground D) — Jesse Owens State Park

Nicely maintained primitive campground with outhouse style restroom. Beautiful covered bridge. Nice large sites to choose. You can park on site or choose the beautiful area across the bridge. Kind hostess. Registration required. No fee/14 day limit. Cell reception is nil unless you drive to the AEP tower. (Mile down the main road)

I was excited to stay at a new location. Found my way there and selected an open spot directly across from the bridge. That spot was taken, appeared to be a family living on the bridge. Half of it was filled with their belongings. Looked like other areas, up on the hill, were also set up as home.

Set up my area, noticed there were a lot of bugs. Seriously a lot of them. After about 6 hours unfortunately I couldn’t handle them anymore, packed up and left. It’s possible A, B, and C have fewer bugs. May drive through those areas at a future time. Would not stay at D again.

Just outside the towns of Zanesville and Cumberland where you can find Ohio's famed Wilds there's heat opportunity for free camping. No reservations needed, check out different regions and pick a spot that is open and tugs at your heart. Enjoy views of lakes, butterflies and take the opportunity to introduce your kids to fishing if you haven't done that yet. Plenty of opportunity to find a perfect hammock spot or a cozy corner for just you and a plus one or get some friends together and enjoy the company and fire together... Roll up your car windows or raccoons will take advantage of any acorns or hot chocolate packets in your car. Travel to nearby Mcconnellville and get some small town flavor and sights. Miners memorial is nearby. Go check out Big Muskie Bucket and learn a bit about Coal and power.

This is an easy find but be careful as the address can lead you astray. It is easy to see from the main road as they have a good sign up to alert you to the campground.  This was one of our favorite AEP ReCreation campgrounds. It has it's own covered bridge. How special is that:) 

I also liked this campsite as you could be by the cattails, grassy area, pine tree area, on a small island behind the covered bridge. Plenty of shallow water for the kids to play in if they wanted to go exploring. 

Cell phone signals are almost a non thing out here. I did get a signal at times on my Verizon phone. Any other carrier you were out of luck. There is no camp store here but there is a camp host.  This is not part of the Jesse Owens purchase (new Ohio State Park) so this should continue to be free for a long time as part of the AEP ReCreation camp sites. You will want to print a permit from the AEP website and have it ready just in case. https://www.aep.com/recreation/areas/recreationland

Plenty of space here and the best thing is that the camping here is free. It is an easy drive from Columbus. It is also fairly close to the Wilds.

 https://thewilds.columbuszoo.org/  AEP actually gave the Wilds the land (Columbus Zoo).  For a 2.5 hour tour it is $30.00 for nonmembers. They will also add on a $1.00 fee for conservation for each ticket sold as well. Don't forget that parking is $6.00 unless you are a member of the zoo which means it is free then.  They are asking folks to show up 30 minutes early before their tour (reservations required these days) and I suspect that is new due to COVID-19.

Vault toilets and it wouldn't be ADA accessible. They have water here but I bring my own water. 

Lots to do if you look and do your research in advance.  It isn't like a State park but that really is part of the charm.