The Best Spots for a Bonfire Night in Hocking Hills

A bonfire night isn't about the fire — it's about what's around it. The best setups for groups, couples, and families across the Hocking Hills region.

A good bonfire night in the Hocking Hills isn't about the fire. It's about what's around the fire — the company, the sounds, the sky, the temperature of the air against the warmth on your face. The fire is just the anchor. Where you put that anchor matters.

At your cabin's fire pit

This is where most Hocking Hills bonfire nights happen, and for good reason. Most cabin rentals in the area include an outdoor fire pit — stone-ringed or metal — with Adirondack chairs or log benches arranged around it. You're on private property, so there's no noise curfew beyond what your rental agreement says. You can stay up as late as you want.

The best cabin fire pits are the ones set back from the cabin itself, far enough that the smoke doesn't drift into the building, but close enough that someone can run inside for a blanket or another drink without missing the conversation. Look for cabins that mention "fire pit with seating area" in the listing, and check the photos to see whether it's a dedicated setup or an afterthought.

For the biggest selection of cabins with fire pits, HockingCabins.com lets you filter by amenities. For something more unique — A-frames, treehouses, luxury stays with dedicated fire pits — check HockingRentals.com.

At the state park campground

The Hocking Hills State Park campground has fire rings at every site. The sites are paved, close together, and definitely not secluded — but if you're camping rather than cabining, this is where you'll have your fire. The campground is located near Old Man's Cave, so you can hike the gorge trail during the day and come back to your fire at night.

The rules are straightforward: fires only in the provided fire rings, never leave a fire unattended, and buy your wood locally. The camp store typically has bundles available, or you can have wood delivered to the campground before you arrive.

Stargazing + bonfire: John Glenn Astronomy Park

You can't have a fire at the John Glenn Astronomy Park itself — it's a designated dark-sky observation area and any open flame would ruin everyone's night vision. But the park is just a few minutes from most cabin areas, which means you can spend the first half of the evening at the telescope pads watching Jupiter's moons or the Milky Way, and then head back to your cabin fire pit for the second half.

This is one of the best double-feature evenings in the Hocking Hills. The astronomy park sits on a ridgeline with minimal light pollution, and the transition from cold, quiet stargazing to a warm fire with friends is the kind of contrast that makes a trip feel complete.

For groups: the bonfire-sized fire

If your group is big enough — eight people or more — a standard fire pit might feel cramped. You want a full bonfire: a larger fire ring, more wood, more heat radius, enough warmth that people can stand back at comfortable distances and still feel the fire.

A few things to know about scaling up:

More wood, different wood. A bonfire burns through wood roughly twice as fast as a regular campfire because the larger fire draws more air and combusts more completely. Budget 50–100% more wood than you would for a standard fire. A full face cord for a single bonfire night is not unreasonable for a group of ten to fifteen people.

The ring matters. A small metal fire pit from a hardware store is designed for a three-person fire, not a bonfire. If your cabin has a large stone fire ring — two feet or more in diameter — you have room to build bigger. If it's a small portable pit, keep the fire manageable and add more wood over time rather than building a tower.

Start earlier. A bonfire takes longer to build up a good coal bed, and a good coal bed is what radiates heat long after the flames die down. Start your fire at dusk so it has time to build before full dark.

The romantic fire for two

Small fire. Two chairs. A blanket. Maybe a bottle of wine. No phone.

For a fire-for-two, you actually want less wood and a smaller fire. A large fire forces people to sit farther back, which defeats the purpose. Three or four logs, a small teepee structure, and a slow feed of one log at a time keeps the fire at the intimate scale — bright enough to see each other's faces, warm enough to not need the blanket (but keep it anyway).

Cherry wood is ideal for this. It burns with a warm red glow and a subtly sweet smoke that's more pleasant than oak's neutral scent. If your firewood delivery includes any cherry in the mix, save those pieces for the quiet night.

The family fire

Kids and campfires require attention, but a family fire is one of the most reliable ways to get everyone off their phones for an evening. The key adjustments:

Set up the chairs farther back than you think you need. Kids move unpredictably and a buffer zone matters. Keep a bucket of water within arm's reach — not because you expect a problem, but because it changes the mental dynamic from "be careful" to "we're prepared." And bring marshmallows. Always bring marshmallows. The s'mores guide has the rest.