A Brief History of the Paint Creek Recreational Trail: It began as the Dayton & Southeastern Railroad. Colonel S. N. Yeoman of Washington Court House created the railroad in 1871 hoping to build a standard gauge railroad to connect Dayton, Xenia, Washington Court House, Frankfort, Chillicothe and Wellston to connect to the coal mines of southeast Ohio. The railroad would provide a good way to move coal from southeastern Ohio to shipping west to Dayton and beyond. There was a railroad bed that had been graded 25 years earlier connecting Dayton and Washington Court House.

Yeoman was able to gain the rights to this roadbed to build the railroad but was unable to gain financing for the project. Three years later he hired a promoter to raise interest and funds to start construction. Ultimately, he was able to raise funds to start the project but in 1875 he was discharged at a directors meeting and replaced by the railroads chief engineer. Construction began in 1875, and the first train ran on the tracks from Dayton and Washington Court House in 1877. The section from Washington Court House through Frankfort to Musselman Rd was completed in November of 1877 and onto Chillicothe in 1879. This included at 1,000’ bridge over the Scioto River. The railway between Chillicothe and Washington Court House was abandoned in the early 1970’s by CSX who had acquired the rail from the Baltimore and Ohio Line and is now the Paint Creek Recreational Trail. The trail is approximately 32 miles in length from a trail head at Shaw Wetland on Robinson Rd 2 miles east of Washington Court House to the east side of Chillicothe at the Scioto River. We are awaiting an Ohio Department of Natural Resources Clean Ohio grant approval submitted by the City of Washington in March 2024 to complete the final 2.4 miles from Robinson Rd/Shaw Wetland to the City of Washington Court House.

By 1890 the railroad was extended southeast to Richmond Dale and onto Wellston in 1891. Then by 1892 the railroad reached Ironton. The dream of Colonel Yeoman was finally realized to connect the coal fields of southeast Ohio to the shipping port of Ironton and west to Dayton and beyond.

In 1990 Tri-County Triangle Trail, Inc. a 501(c)3 non-profit was created with the vision to convert the abandoned railroad right-of-way to and convert the abandoned rail bed to a recreational trail (commonly known as a rail-trail) to connect Chillicothe, Frankfort, Washington Court House. The group worked tirelessly to raise funds from supporters and businesses and were successful in purchasing the right-of-way from Washington Court House to National Park Service Hopewell Mound Group on Sulfur Lick Road a distance of 24 miles. The Ross County Park District acquire the right-of-way from Hopewell to Chillicothe a distance of 7 miles. The trail was constructed in multiple phases with Tri-County Trail assisting with local fund matches for grants, construction of amenities like covered benches and other rider amenities, maintenance such as mowing, trail repairs, pavement sealing and other improvements. Tri-County Triangle Trail has continued to support trail development in Fayette and Ross Counties and partnered with the Ross County Park District to assist with maintenance. In addition, Tri-County Triangle Trail has been able to purchase abandoned rail right-of-way from Washington Court House east to New Holland (the Pickaway County Park District owns the right-of-way from New Holland to Circleville and southwest from Washington Court House to Clinton County line (Clinton County Park District owns the right-of-way from Fayette County line to Wilmington (approximately 7 miles of this trail has been completed.)

When all these connections are completed the Paint Creek Recreational Trail will be connected to a regional and national trail system that consists of hundreds of miles of rail-trail extending across the United States!