Incription Rock | Ohio’s Lake Erie Shores & Islands

Attractions

Kelleys Island Inscription Rock
Lakeshore Drive
Kelleys Island OH 43438
419.746.2754
kelleysislandhistorical.org

The 32 x 21’ surface of the rock is covered with one of the finest examples of aboriginal art in the Great Lakes region. Known as a petroglyph, no one is sure what the unusual drawings depicted. The most widely accepted theory is that the large rock was used as a "message stone" where various Native Americans would make drawings noting that they’d been there, how the hunting or fishing had been and/or where they were headed next. The markings have been so eroded by exposure to the weather that it is difficult to see them. In 1969 The Ohio Historical Society erected a cover to attempt to preserve the rock.