Hueston Woods State Park sits on 3,500 acres in southwest Ohio, near the Indiana border. At its center is a 200-acre old-growth forest that was never logged — preserved specifically to protect the maple trees needed for syrup production. The park’s lodge was the largest A-frame building in the world when it was built. It houses an indoor pool, a restaurant, and floor-to-ceiling windows that make you feel like you’re in a snow globe. And on December 13th, it’s host to a drive-in holiday movie, breakfast with Santa, a winter hike, and a gingerbread house competition — plus live wildlife ambassadors from the nature center. Kathryn Conner, park manager at Hueston Woods, joins The Parks Podcast.
A note from Missy: I’m so drawn to the lodges throughout Ohio State Park. It feels like a scene from a holiday movie. And with all of the activities, Hueston Woods feels like a winter wonderland all winter long.
Episode Guest
Kathryn Conner, Park Manager
Hueston Woods State Park (Ohio)
Park & Event Details
- Location: Oxford, Ohio (southwest — border of Ohio and Indiana, Preble and Butler County)
- Size: 3,500 acres
- Nature preserve: 200+ acres of mature, unlogged forest at the center of the park (protected for maple syrup production)
- Maple Syrup Festival: First two full weekends in March (2026: March 7–8 and 14–15); trees tapped, syrup made in on-site sugar house
- The Lodge: Recently renovated; largest A-frame in the world when built; indoor pool; restaurant; floor-to-ceiling windows
- Nature Center: Raptors, snakes, turtles, fish; raptor rehabilitation center (only state-operated in Ohio); two foxes and a bobcat
- Three Cs history note: Unlike many Ohio parks, Hueston Woods was NOT built by Civilian Conservation Corps; built with help from Oxford honor labor camp members; original bunkhouse and canning house still on property; park manager’s office was the barbershop
- December 13th events: Winter drive-in (big screen at the beach, 2 holiday movies, food vendors), breakfast with Santa, winter hike, crafts and games, wildlife ambassador presentations, gingerbread house competition, garden club holiday decorations throughout lodge
- Camping: Year-round water and heated shower house
- Other events: Halloween weekends, July 5th fireworks (best viewed from lodge)
- Reservations: 6 months in advance; campground + lodge + cabins; book early for popular events
- America 250 programming in 2026
Episode Transcript
Winter in the Parks — Hueston Woods State Park, Ohio
The Parks Podcast, Episode 53 | Kathryn Conner, Park Manager, Hueston Woods State Park
Note: This is a mini episode recorded around the 2025 holiday season. Event dates referenced are specific to that time. Visit the Ohio State Parks website for current programming and reservations.
A Winter Wonderland Park — 3,500 Acres on the Ohio-Indiana Border
Missy Rentz: In today’s Winter in the Parks episode, we are talking to Kathryn Conner, the park manager at Hueston Woods State Park in Ohio. Kathryn, welcome to The Parks Podcast.
Kathryn Conner: Thank you so much for having me here today. I really appreciate it.
Missy: Of course. I love it. And now that I’m learning more about Hueston Woods, I love talking to you even more because I feel like you are a Winter Wonderland Park.
Kathryn: We really are. We’re really fortunate — this time of year, in any season, but we’ve got 3,500 acres of beautiful forest here for you to enjoy. Whether you’re hiking, mountain biking, we have equestrian trails here, or if you’re just getting out to drive your car to see the 10-mile loop that we have that really immerses you in the woods here at Hueston Woods.
Missy: Oh, that’s beautiful. So we did an episode yesterday and we talked a lot about what’s going on in Ohio State Parks, but today I really want to talk more specifically about Hueston Woods. You are located outside of Oxford, Ohio — which for those who aren’t familiar, is on the western side of Ohio. Can you tell us about Hueston Woods State Park and why you’re a park?
Kathryn: Yeah, absolutely. So for folks who aren’t familiar with us, we are a Southwest park. We are right on the border of Ohio and Indiana, in both Preble and Butler County. And our park is so amazing because at the center of our park, we have a nature preserve — it’s called the Hueston Woods State Nature Preserve. So out of our 3,500 acres, this is 200-plus acres of mature forest that has never been cut down. And it’s honestly like taking a step back in time. You get to see these big open spaces, you can actually see the wildlife while you’re walking through this preserve. And what makes it so special is it was left uncut to help with the production of maple syrup. So here at our park, we still honor that with a maple syrup festival in March where we tap the trees, we make the syrup in the sugar house that we still have here on our property. It is such a special tie to show people why we have a park, why we’re here, why we want you to come out and enjoy us. And it’s a pretty sweet reason.
History, Raptors, and the Only State-Operated Raptor Rehab Center in Ohio
Missy: And it’s a park that has a lot of obviously natural conservation going on, but you also have a lot of history.
Kathryn: Yes, it is a very historical park. So not only do we have the Hueston family that kept that area uncut, but the building of our park was very historical. You have a lot of parks here in Ohio that were built by the three Cs — our park was not like that. Ours is a true state park property that was actually built with the help of some Oxford honor labor camp members. Those labor members stayed here on the park property, so we had their original bunkhouse, we have their canning house that was our old nature center. My office has a hump in the floor because it was the barbershop chair. But we have a lot of history that makes us special. And then we are also the only state-operated raptor rehab center. So we take in injured birds of prey like hawks and owls and try to get them healthy enough to go back out into the wild. And then for the ones that can’t, we are responsible for finding them permanent homes — figuring out how they can best live out the rest of their lives. And sometimes that is over at our nature center, where we do have a really large display of animals that you get to see when you’re here. So depending on what you like — people love the snakes and turtles and fish inside, but a lot of people like to see these raptors up close. We also have two foxes and a bobcat that we take care of.
Holiday Events — Winter Drive-In, Breakfast with Santa, and a Full Day at the Lodge
Missy: That is so cool. And I decided to start this Winter in the Parks series because I think winter is a spectacular time to visit parks. As we enter the holiday season, there’s so much happening in our parks around the country. What’s happening at Hueston Woods this holiday season?
Kathryn: I think winter is the perfect time to get out into the parks because sometimes the hustle and bustle — you need to take a step back and see that winter is a beautiful time to get outside because it helps reset you a little bit. The world has slowed down a little bit with the cold temperatures, but we’re still having so many things to get you involved so you don’t feel like you’re by yourself out here in the wintertime either. So we’ve got our naturalist programs that happen every weekend. And a really special event for us is our winter drive-in. We’ve been doing it now for four years — it is a true drive-in experience where you come out to our beach, we have a big screen set up and some really great holiday classics showing. We do two movies, usually some really great food vendors, popcorn, hot drinks and everything like that. And this year we’ve been able to partner with our Hueston Woods Lodge to make it an all-day event. So we’ve got breakfast with Santa, different scavenger hunts throughout the day, a winter hike, crafts and games — and then it all takes place here in the park all day long. You end the day at the beach with that movie. Start your day at the lodge. So it’s really an opportunity — you could even do it as an all-day stay overnight too. You could stay at the lodge or the cabins. Our campground has winter water and a heated shower house this time of year. So whatever your comfort level is to get out into the woods, we’ve got it here for you.
Missy: And you bring up the lodge, and I think that’s one of the unique attributes of Ohio parks — many of them have these incredible, movie-like lodges within their parks. I’m going to post pictures of this lodge. It is unbelievable how pretty this is.
Kathryn: Thank you. We are big fans of our lodge as well. It was actually — talking about history — the largest A-frame building in the entire world when it was built.
Missy: Oh, wow.
Kathryn: So it is very impressive when you first arrive to the lodge. All Ohio State Park lodges are open year round, so any season you can come out and stay. A lot of them have pools, and even in the cold we’ve got indoor pools here. The lodge allows you to have a restaurant there as well and have a really nice staycation. And with that large A-frame comes a lot of large windows. So you still get to feel like you’re immersed in the outdoors. Makes you feel like you’re in a movie — like a winter movie — being out in this rustic lodge, but still being comfortable because it was recently renovated just a couple of years ago. Every room has new fixtures and furniture, and it’s a very modern take with that rustic feel.
Missy: And so when you come for the whole day experience in the lodge — you mentioned breakfast with Santa. Anything else happening in the lodge?
Kathryn: Yeah, so the breakfast with Santa is specifically at the lodge and that’s going to have cookie decorating — there is a cost associated with that one, but you don’t have to have reservations; anybody can come to it. We are doing our very first gingerbread house competition, so we get to display those in the lodge. There might be a choir singing there too to welcome you. And we’re really excited because we also take some of our wildlife ambassadors from the nature center to the lodge. So while you’re walking around doing all these really great activities, you’ll get to see a show from our naturalist. And the Christmas decorations at the lodge are spectacular. We have a really wonderful garden club that goes all out — different themes, but the work they’ve put into it will really wow you.
Missy: Are there key dates that this is happening?
Kathryn: Yes, thank you. Saturday, December 13th is the day that everything takes place. But you’re welcome to check in on Friday, stay Saturday night, and then if that weekend just doesn’t work for you, like I said, we’ve got stuff every weekend. You can go to the Ohio State Parks website, find Hueston Woods, and you can find our lodge, cabins, and campgrounds all from that website.
Missy: And we’ll put a link on the episode page so people can go directly there for sure.
Planning Ahead — Reservations, Maple Syrup Festival, and America’s 250th
Missy: As people start to plan beyond the holiday season — Ohio parks are busy and I know it can be very hard to get reservations for campgrounds and things throughout the year. When can people start making reservations?
Kathryn: So I think that’s a really good thing to bring up because sometimes people get very discouraged when they can’t get booked for some of these really special events we have. You can book six months in advance. And a lot of times for some of those busy things — like our Halloween weekends or the 4th of July — the earlier you can get that reservation in, the better. Because we have so much great stuff for you to take part in, but obviously the campground, lodge, and cabins only have so much space.
Missy: Mark your calendar and do your research now because Ohio parks are incredible and you do need to be refreshing your browser six months before to make sure you get a spot. Beyond Christmas time, what do we have to look forward to at Hueston Woods?
Kathryn: Yeah, so that’s actually the nice thing about some of our big events — we try to make them to where you can plan for them. So we know that our Maple Syrup Festival is always going to be the first two full weekends in March. So this year for us in 2026, that’s going to be March 7th and 8th, and 14th and 15th. You always know that we have our fireworks display on July 5th — best viewed from the lodge — and that’s always July 5th. And then, I’m sure a lot of your listeners know, but in 2026 it is America’s 250th. Ohio State Parks are really taking advantage of that great celebration and doing all sorts of really great programming. So when you are on our website, take a look and see if there’s any special America’s 250th events you want to take part in, and check out which parks have the lodges and cabins and campgrounds for you.
Missy: That’s perfect. Kathryn, thank you so much for sharing Winter in the Parks at Hueston Woods State Park. I’d love to invite you back because I would like to tell more of the story about Hueston Woods and its history and its conservation. So hopefully you’ll be open to coming to do a full episode with us sometime soon.
Kathryn: I would absolutely love to do that with you, and maybe we can bring out some of our animal ambassadors to show too.
Missy: I would love that. Thank you so much. Happy holidays to you and to the whole crew at Hueston Woods State Park.
Kathryn: Thank you so much. You have a wonderful day.
Missy: Thanks to everybody for listening. If you are in Ohio, plan a trip to Hueston Woods State Park this holiday season. And until next time — we’ll see you in the parks.
Music for The Parks Podcast is performed and produced by Porter Hardy. Follow us @TheParksPodcast or visit TheParksPodcast.com.