Goll Woods State Nature Preserve

Goll Woods is 321 acres with approximately 100 acres of native old-growth hardwoods. The rest of the preserve was once farmed and has been replanted with trees in the 1960's. The old-growth area is the least disturbed woodland known to remain in extreme northwestern Ohio and the preserve features some of the largest trees remaining in the state. Goll Woods exemplifies the "Black Swamp" forest which once covered a vast area of the flat post-glacial lake plains southwest of Lake Erie. An outstanding feature of this forest is the abundance of giant bur oaks and exceptionally large white oaks, chinquapin oaks and cottonwoods. Many of these magnificent trees are 200-400 years old and measure 4 feet in diameter. The large ash trees have succumbed to the ash borer. A rich variety of native shrubs and wildflowers occur in the woods including spotted coral-root and three-birds-orchid. The preserve is best visited in the spring before mosquitoes emerge.