When planning a stay in Piqua, you can choose from different highlights, including nature, trails along the water, and historic sites. Garbry Big Woods Sanctuary is characterized by an undisturbed wet beech-maple forest; other places highlight connections to the river and canal or local history. For planning, it helps to distinguish between a park with a loop trail, a historic district with a self-guided tour, and city squares or facilities. The places below offer specific and varied starting points.
Nature, Parks, and Trails Along the Water
Garbry Big Woods Sanctuary is a 100-acre park with an undisturbed wet beech-maple forest. You can go for walks and observe wildlife here. A 0.7-mile loop trail runs along a boardwalk. This makes the park a place where a clearly defined trail format and the forest as a distinct natural feature come together. If you want to combine a walk with wildlife watching, both are among the activities specifically mentioned for the sanctuary.
Piqua’s city parks also offer a wide range of nature and recreation options. The 17 city parks cover nearly 275 acres in total. Amenities include fishing channels and hiking and biking trails. This overview complements visits to individual parks by giving you a broader picture of the city’s green spaces, without assigning all the activities mentioned to a particular park.
The “River’s Edge” section of Linear Park runs along the Great Miami River and, in places, follows the former Miami-Erie Canal. The river and the former canal route provide two distinct landscape features here. Great Miami River also runs directly alongside Lock 9 Park; the park is also at the junction of the Great Miami River Trail and the Ohio-to-Indiana Trail. The remains of Lock 9 on the Miami-&-Erie Canal are in the park. Its location at the junction of two trails and the historic lock are therefore distinct features.
Goodrich Giles Park is a 9-acre recreation area on South Main Street along the Great Miami River Trail. Its name also tells a part of Piqua’s history: the park is named after Goodrich Giles, a former enslaved person and Civil War veteran who became Piqua’s first prominent Black businessman. The name of a present-day park thus also points to an important historical figure.
Historic Sites and Local Stories
The Piqua-Caldwell Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 11, 1985. A self-guided walking tour of the district uses historic markers and QR codes to provide information about the individual buildings. This offers a practical way to explore the neighborhood’s history: the buildings take center stage, while markers and QR codes provide information about each one.
In the center of Piqua, McCulloch Square lies between Market Street and High Street, directly in front of the historic Fort Piqua Plaza. The square includes a pavilion and monuments commemorating notable residents. Its significance lies both in its place in the city and in its commemoration of people from Piqua’s history. For a different way to explore the past, the John Scott Garbry Museum offers an interactive recreation of a town square, with shops and demonstrations of 19th-century crafts.
Piqua’s history can be explored in a variety of ways: through a district and its buildings, monuments in public spaces, a recreation of a historic square, and the remains of a lock. In addition, the Piqua Public Library’s Local History and Genealogy Department provides historical research tools and original historical documents. If you’re especially interested in local history, you can explore both places around the city and historical source materials. Together with the forests, parks, and trails along the water, these offer a range of ways to spend your time in Piqua.
For the broader travel overview: Miami County.
