OHCHA Award

Known by many from his website as “The Olde Forester,” Emmett Conway has spent a lifetime researching and tramping the hills and fields of Ohio’s Hill Country seeking out its vast treasures. Upon discovery, in every case Emmett has turned around and made extraordinary effort to share this wealth of history and heritage with anyone who would take the time to hear him. From the underlying geology and the vegetation covering it to the early traces on its surface made by buffalo and elk and native peoples; from the moundbuilders to the first economic endeavors by pioneers in the fur and salt trades; the iron furnaces, stagecoach road, canals and railroads; it has all been grist for Emmett’s mill. And mills too! He knows where they were.

<>It’s all a form of poetry to Emmett and he has been known to put it in verse and wax eloquent on it more times than we can fathom. He may have gotten an important part of his education at a school in Michigan but he put his knowledge to work for the good of Ohio, especially Ohio’s Hill Country. Emmett was the first Park Ranger in Ohio’s first State Park at Lake Hope. He has taught natural history, Ohio history, and geography to many, sometimes on a payroll but most often as a volunteer who just couldn’t keep it to himself. His love and enthusiasm for a wide spectrum of Ohio’s rich heritage is contagious. He has infected many. His legacy grows through his unnumbered students of Ohio’s heritage who have caught the bug and continue his pursuits every day.