The 21-acre slice of the Hocking Hills on State Route 374, about halfway between Pine Creek and Laurel Run southeast of Rockbridge, has been in Christopher Kline’s family since 1863. The once-vast acreage was gradually parceled out to family members as it was passed down through generations, and Kline has fond memories of visiting his grandfather, who farmed strawberries, potatoes, and corn on this particularly pristine patch of paradise.
“My grandpa quit farming as he got older, but he still mowed the agricultural field for a long time,” Kline says. “He finally grew tired of messing with the hill.”
Butterfly Ridge feaures a mile-long trail that winds through a variety of butterfly-friendly habitats.
When Kline and his wife, Kris, members of Lancaster-based South Central Power Company, acquired the land, they weren’t sure exactly what they were going to do with it.
“We could cut for timber, but that didn’t seem fulfilling,” he says. Finally, they decided to fall back on what they know. Christopher has a master’s degree in plant biology from Ohio University and served as education director at the Grange Insurance Audubon Center in Columbus. He also was interpretation specialist at Franklin Park Conservatory, where he was known as “The Butterfly Guy.”
“I know butterflies, and we both know how to educate,” he says. They decided to create a place centered on the well-being of southeastern Ohio butterflies, and soon enough, Butterfly Ridge was born, with a mile-long trail winding through a variety of butterfly-friendly habitats.
Worn-out farmland became pollinator-heavy prairie. Overgrown woods became havens as a three-dimensional checkerboard of forest openings was carved out. Wetlands were tamed with a boardwalk. A tree house presents high-level views of all of it.
Bees are also part of Butterfly Ridge’s repertoire, and visitors will find a pollination display with fascinating bee and pollination facts (like, there are 200,000 pollinator species around the world and 20,000 of them are bees).
Flora is a vital part of the butterfly-attracting scheme, and markers help visitors identify the plants that are particularly popular with fluttering friends. Bird’s-foot violets, plantain orchids, and downy rattlesnake plants dot the edges of the trail and lace the ground through the trees. As butterfly season peaks, wild bergamot and purple coneflowers bloom. “We’re big fans of native Ohio thistle, bush clover, mountain mint, and sneezeweed — and the little native bees love it, too,” Kline says.
Visitors to Butterfly Ridge can look for the small white Henry’s elfin butterfly in early spring. The flutters of yellows, oranges, browns, and blacks of the silver-spotted skipper, eastern tiger swallowtail, little wood satyr, and eastern comma are later arrivals (butterfly guides are available in the gift shop).
Butterfly sightings are not guaranteed for visitors, though, even during peak butterfly seasons from late May to early June and late July to early August. Rain, cloudy days, and temperature fluctuations can influence butterfly appearances.
“To me, that’s the fun thing,” Kline says. “You walk the trail and you don’t know what you’ll see. The way I look at it, we are like a butterfly safari.”
If butterflies are shy when you visit, it’s still a beautiful place to just come and experience, and visitors can gather a bevy of butterfly know-how. In fact, helping people become environmental stewards is an important part of Butterfly Ridge’s mission. “One of our big things is giving out information so people can steal our ideas and make a butterfly garden themselves.”
Butterfly Ridge, 17864 State Route 374, Rockbridge. 740-204-5372; www.butterfly-ridge.com.
For more butterflies...
Butterfly Ridge is one of 14 stops on the Hocking Hills Butterfly Trail. Maps and passports are available at the Hocking Hills Regional Welcome Center in Logan, or they can be downloaded here.
