Conkle’s Hollow, situated off S.R. 374 on Big Pine Road is a rugged, rocky gorge – considered one of the deepest in Ohio. The valley floor is a veritable wilderness covered by a profusion of ferns and wildflowers while hemlock, birch and other hardwood tower overhead. The growth is so thick in places that little or no sunlight reaches the deep valley floor.

A folk legend speaks of a petroglyph that was found on the gorge wall by early settlers. The carving was fashioned as an arrow pointing to the opposite side of the hollow. As the legend goes, a small band of Indians robbed a flotilla of settlers along the Ohio River of a large amount money.

The Indians journeyed to Conkle’s Hollow to hide the stolen goods until the danger had passes. A small recess was located on the west gorge wall and was reachable only by climbing one of the two towering hemlocks growing at the base of the cliff.

First, they had to cut one of the trees so that when it fell it served as a ladder to the recess cave above. They hid the money and carved the directional arrow on the opposite side of the gorge which pointed to the hiding spot.

The Indians then shoved the hemlock to the gorge floor leaving only one standing in order to retrieve the goods later. as time passed and efforts of the settlers to find the Indians had ceased, the thieves returned for the stolen property.

Much to their chagrin, the other hemlock had been felled during a storm, and the stolen money remains to this day somewhere in the hollow. Many locals claim having seen the carving, but it has since eroded away.