On March 12, a Community Visioning Session was held in Shawnee. The session was
organized by Grant Sector Leader Ohio Hill Country Heritage Area and Shawnee Mayor
Renee Brunton. Led by Crooked Road Expert Todd Christensen, the group worked through
various visioning exercises, and the following themes emerged:
Assets of Shawnee:
Beautiful downtown buildings and structures on Main Street
Outdoor recreation (Wayne National Forest)
Appalachian culture, including coal heritage (real history)
Arts and Music
Friendly, welcoming, genuine people
Park and Gazebo
Restored train car
The B & C Carryout: offers food and groceries; should be expanded
Desperado’s Bar & Restaurant also provides food options
Desired Businesses for Shawnee’s Downtown Empty Buildings:
Local foods
Local crafts
Connections to rest of Winding Road: Buckeye Trail, opera house trail, for
theater festivals, Robinsons Cave, Mine Fire, Watershed clean-up sites, ATV
trails, motorcycle routes, antique shop trail, CSX Rail Bed Trail, historic mining
communities trail
Next Steps:
Plan process to get community buy-in
Inventory available properties
Plan connections to Winding Road
Inventory sources of funding
Provide technical assistance to business owners
Seek guidance from branding experts
Build state and public awareness
The Winding Road team will provide assistance to the Village of Shawnee to seek funding
for a fully developed community led revitalization master plan.
Ohio's Hill Country Heritage Area 