Great Council State Park

Great Council State Park is located in the Oldtown area of Xenia Township, Greene County, Ohio, United States. In February 2021, the state of Ohio agreed to purchase a 0.7-acre (0.28 ha) site along U.S. Route 68 (US 68), south of Brush Row Road, in Oldtown, north of Xenia, housing the Tecumseh Motel, for $260,000. The state planned to redevelop the property as a state park in honor of Tecumseh (c.1768 - October 5, 1813), the Shawnee leader who was killed in the War of 1812 and became an iconic folk hero in American, Indigenous, and Canadian history. The park would educate the public about Tecumseh and the Shawnee people, and its focal point would be a 2,000-to-3,000-square-foot (190 to 280 m2) interpretative center. The park's location was chosen due to the Shawnee history in the area: Oldtown is on the former site of the large Shawnee settlement commonly referred to as Old Chillicothe, led by Chief Blackfish, which had a population of 1000 between 1777 and 1780, and Old Chillicothe's council house is believed to have been located on a high ridge behind the motel; the park's location is also due to the earlier mistaken belief that Tecumseh had been born in Old Chillicothe. The park was to be developed by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) in coordination with the Ohio History Connection, the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, the Shawnee Tribe and the Absentee Shawnee, and run by ODNR.