Baughman Park

Frazeysburg, Ohio

On June 10, 2006 I visited Baughman Park with Marty Myers and Chad Porter. We saw many of the beautiful statues, as well as three abandoned houses. I have divided the photos into the following sections:

Update: Baughman Park was auctioned off, and the statues were sold and removed.

A brief history of the park:

First, Baughman Park is located on private property. Therefore, you should try to get permission before going there. Should you choose to visit without getting permission, you do so at your own risk.

The statues at Baughman Park were carved by Brice Baughman, a local undertaker in Muskingum County. He started carving statues in the rocks located on his father's property when he was a child in the 1880's. Most of the carvings are animals or human faces.

In 1898, Brice Baughman's father opened a sandstone quarry. This provided him with quarried stone to practice with. He then started to carve large statues of famous people in American history. The first statue he carved was President William McKinley (in 1898), and the last was President Warren G. Harding (in 1927). Thousands of people came to see his statues. He never charged an admission for people to visit the park. The park was officially dedicated as "Baughman Memorial Park" in 1931, by Ohio Governor Vic Donahey.

When Brice Baughman was no longer able to care for the park, it sat abandoned for many years. It was then sold, and was owned by a couple different people. One owner planned to turn it into a campground, but unfortunately he became ill and the idea was abandoned. Some of the old campground buildings still stand though. Several of the statues were damaged by vandalism while the park was abandoned, but they are all still standing.

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