🌿 RelaxedDay trip · from Columbus, OH
Newark & Buckeye Lake — Arboretum Groves, Lakeside Villages & Velvet Ice Cream
An easy hour east of Columbus lies a gentle patchwork of arboretum groves, a shallow reservoir ringed by cottage villages, and a working 19th-century grist mill that has churned out ice cream for generations. This unhurried day begins in the sweeping tree collections and Japanese garden of the Dawes Arboretum near Newark, wanders the lakeside hamlets and marina docks of Buckeye Lake, and finishes at Ye Olde Mill in Utica — the century-old home of Velvet Ice Cream, where a waterwheel still turns beside a duck pond. It is a slow, green, small-town loop built for wandering rather than rushing, capped by a relaxed lunch in the handsome brick streets of nearby Granville.
Day 1 — Dawes Arboretum, Buckeye Lake & Ye Olde Mill
Day 1 — Licking County, OH
Day 1 — Licking County, OH
🚗 2 hr 45 min driving📍 4 stops
🌅
Morning
🚗
Drive
Columbus, OH → The Dawes Arboretum, Newark, OH
45 min8:00 AM → 8:45 AM
The Dawes Arboretum
★ 4.7Founded in 1929 by Beman and Bertie Dawes, this 2,000-acre arboretum just south of Newark is one of central Ohio's great green refuges, with more than 15,000 living plants spread across meadows, woodlands, and formal gardens. The signature feature is the famous Dawes Hedge — a mile-long line of clipped arborvitae that spells out the family name in letters so large they are legible from the air. A Japanese garden with a raked-gravel dry landscape, a cypress swamp boardwalk, and sweeping collections of oaks, hollies, and conifers reward an unhurried morning of walking. A visitor center, an observation tower, and gentle looping trails make it an easy first stop for all ages.
8:45 AM📍 See location
🍽️
Lunch
🚗
Drive
The Dawes Arboretum, Newark, OH → Granville, OH
15 min9:45 AM → 10:00 AM
🍽️ Lunch10:00 AM
The Granville Inn Dining Room
The Granville Inn is the grande dame of this postcard-perfect New England-style college town, a 1924 sandstone manor built by Sunday Creek Coal magnate John Sutphin Jones and now the anchor of Granville's tree-lined main street. Its dining room and pub serve a seasonal menu of American fare — hearth-roasted plates, sandwiches, and local produce — in warm, wood-paneled surroundings, with a broad veranda for fair-weather lunches. Granville itself, home to Denison University, is one of Ohio's most walkable villages, its brick sidewalks lined with independent shops and cafes. It makes an ideal relaxed midday pause between the arboretum and the lake.
2 options · tap to switch
☀️
Afternoon
🚗
Drive
Granville, OH → Buckeye Lake, OH
25 min12:00 PM → 12:25 PM
Buckeye Lake & Lakeside Villages
★ 3.7Buckeye Lake began life in the 1820s as a feeder reservoir for the Ohio and Erie Canal and grew into one of the state's oldest lake resorts, once home to a legendary amusement park that drew crowds by interurban rail. Today the shallow, breezy lake is ringed by the cottage villages of Buckeye Lake, Millersport, and Hebron, where marinas, docks, and lakeside patios look out over the water. Buckeye Lake State Park offers boat ramps, a swimming beach, and a levee-top path good for a slow stroll. It is an easy place to watch sailboats, feed the afternoon breeze, and soak up the faded-resort charm of a bygone Ohio getaway.
12:25 PM📍 See location
🌙
Evening
🚗
Drive
Buckeye Lake, OH → Ye Olde Mill, Utica, OH
30 min5:00 PM → 5:30 PM
Ye Olde Mill — Velvet Ice Cream, Utica
★ 4.6Since 1960, Velvet Ice Cream has made its home at Ye Olde Mill, a restored 1817 grist mill set on 20 wooded acres near Utica, where a wooden waterwheel still turns beside a spring-fed duck pond. Visitors can watch ice cream being made through viewing windows, tour a small milling-and-ice-cream museum, and settle onto the grassy grounds with a cone or sundae of Velvet's rich flavors — the company remains family-owned and has been churning ice cream in Ohio since 1914. A cafe serves sandwiches and pie alongside the frozen treats, and shaded picnic tables by the pond make it a perfect sweet finale before the drive back to Columbus.
5:30 PM📍 See location
🚗
Drive
Utica, OH → Columbus, OH
50 min6:30 PM → 7:20 PM
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