Strouds Run State Park is a 2,606-acre recreation area beside Athens, Ohio, centered on the 161-acre artificial Dow Lake. Named for Ohio Company shareholder William Stroud, it was assembled in the 1940s and 1950s as part of Athens State Forest and became a full state park after Dow Lake Dam was completed in 1960. The park preserves traces of earlier farms and settlements, including the Gillett farmstead, Pioneer Cemetery, and former lands of the Crumley and Cone families. Set in the unglaciated Allegheny Plateau, it combines steep wooded terrain, springs, bluffs, and trails with recreation, making it a major natural area adjoining Athens.