Belle Valley

History

Belle Valley had its start when the Cleveland and Marietta Railroad was extended to that point. The Village of Belle Valley was incorporated in 1905. On May 18, 1913, fifteen coal miners were killed in a mine explosion. The population of Belle Valley was about 1000 at the time. During World War II, Belle Valley soldier Harry Torhan, who was born to Russian emigre coal mining parents, received the Silver Star and Purple Heart for evacuating four wounded soldiers while under mortar and small arms fire during the Battle of the Bulge.

Geography

Belle Valley is located along the West Fork of Duck Creek in Noble Township. Belle Valley is located within a short driving distance of Cambridge, Marietta, and Zanesville, near Interstate 77. According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of , all land. The Village of Belle Valley is also part of the Ohio Buckeye Trail, a hiking trail that circles the entire state of Ohio. The Belle Valley section is a mostly hilly, completely rural portion of the Buckeye Trail that runs through Guernsey and Noble Counties in southeast Ohio. The section runs from Winterset to the America Electric Power Recreation Lands. The trail here is mostly on rarely traveled dirt roads, with off-road portions located at Salt Fork Wildlife Area, Seneca Lake (the southernmost of the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District Lakes), Wolf Run State Park and America Electric Power Recreation Lands. The trail passes through the villages of Old Washington, where the trail crosses I-70, and Belle Valley, where it crosses I-77, and Hoskinsville.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  2,127
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  1,993
• Turkey Vulture

  Cathartes aura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,806
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,786
• Song Sparrow

  Melospiza melodia (A.Wilson, 1810) · Aves
  1,699
• Canada Goose (canadensis Group)

  Branta canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,536
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,477
• Red-winged Blackbird

  Agelaius phoeniceus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  1,413

Largest nearby schools

• Shenandoah Elementary School
  Elementary · Sarahsville · 712 students · 18.3:1 ratio
• Caldwell Elementary School
  Elementary · Caldwell · 494 students · 14.1:1 ratio
• Shenandoah High School
  High · Sarahsville · 261 students · 11.9:1 ratio
• Caldwell High School
  High · Caldwell · 209 students · 11.6:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.9 — 2025-05-09
  3 km S of Pleasant City, Ohio
• M 2.8 — 2025-04-29
  1 km SE of Pleasant City, Ohio
• M 3.1 — 2025-04-24
  3 km S of Pleasant City, Ohio
• M 3.1 — 2025-04-22
  3 km ESE of Buffalo, Ohio
• M 2.8 — 2025-02-03
  0 km NE of Reno, Ohio
• M 2.6 — 2021-11-19
  2 km NW of Sherrodsville, Ohio