Ash Cave, Ohio's largest stone recess, stretches 700 feet across and rises 90 feet high. It was created when groundwater percolating through sandstone eroded the formation's weaker middle layer and undercut the resistant top layer that forms the ceiling, while dissolving the cement holding grains of sand together; seasonal freezing and thawing further loosen particles and, on rare occasions, blocks of stone until they break off, and the falls also contribute to the slow erosive process. Archeological excavation in 1877 yielded sticks, arrows, stalks of coarse grasses, flint artifacts, pottery fragments, corn cobs, and bones of a variety of animals, and subsequent excavations show that native inhabitants once hunted elk and black bear in addition to deer, turkey, squirrel, rabbit, and duck. Once the home of the Wyandots, the area began to fill with settlers by the 1790's, who cleared land for farming, used area streams to power gristmills, and mined saltpeter for the manufacture of gunpowder. By 1990, the last remaining relics of virgin forest survived only in secret hollows and steepest cliffs, while cool, damp gorges preserved flora and fauna from Ohio's geologic past in a climate resembling that of thousands of years ago, when glaciers brought eastern hemlock, Canada yew, mountain laurel, and other northern species into the region. Known for excellent acoustics, including a whispering gallery, Ash Cave became a site for public meetings and gatherings in the 1800s. As late as 1886, ashes still covered the shelter floor, leading to speculation that early settlers made gunpowder there, but excavated artifacts suggest the ashes were the accumulated remains of countless campfires used by Native Americans who inhabited the shelter for untold centuries; whatever their source, those ashes gave Ash Cave its name, though their certain origin will likely remain a mystery.