Our first storybook trail premiered in 2020. Today, four trails encourage a love of reading (anywhere!) and also offer opportunities to get outside, move our bodies, practice literacy skills, and spend time with friends and family.

View a map of all storybook trails.

Three trails feature librarian-selected picture books and interactive prompts, which add to the fun and help build early literacy skills. Find these trails at Sells Park (Athens); the Chauncey Depot Trail (Baileys Trail System, Chauncey); and Robbins Crossing Historic Village (Hocking College, Nelsonville).

Richland Avenue Park (Athens) hosts our “Stories in the Park” trail. This trail began with a “Humanities in the Park” series, written and researched by faculty in the Ping Institute at Ohio University and designed by ACPL. These exhibits aimed to highlight the important role the humanities played in shaping the Athens area and greater Southeast Ohio (and how they still impact our daily lives).

Longer term, exhibits at this site will celebrate the work of Athens County artists, writers, and local historians.

Note: Trail content is periodically updated (about every 6 months), so there’s always something new to experience!

ACPL thanks the following for helping to make our storybook trails possible:

The Athens City Department of Arts, Parks and Recreation  •  Baileys Trail System  •  Village of Chauncey  •  Ohio Department of Natural Resources  •  Hocking College  •  Baird Brothers Foundation  •  Ping Institute  •  Ohio University Libraries (in particular the Mahn Center for Archives and Special Collections and the Digital Initiatives Department)  •  Central Region Humanities Center at Ohio University  •  Ohio Humanities, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.