Hocking River

The Hocking River is a tributary of the Ohio River in southeastern Ohio in the United States.

The Hocking flows mostly on the unglaciated Allegheny Plateau, but its headwaters are in a glaciated region. It rises in Bloom Township in Fairfield County and flows generally southeastwardly through Fairfield, Hocking, and Athens Counties, through the Hocking Hills region and past the cities of Lancaster, Logan, Nelsonville, Athens and Coolville. It joins the Ohio River at Hockingport. The Hocking's tributaries also drain parts of Perry, Morgan, and Washington Counties.

Its name originally derives from a Native American name, roughly "Hokhokken" or "Hokhochen", which meant "bottle-shaped" or "gourd-shaped" and referred to the river's headwaters 7 miles north-west of present day Lancaster,_Ohio. The river begins as a small stream, then immediately goes over a water fall into a wide gorge. When viewed from above this feature looks like a bottle, which lead to its name. The river was known as the Hockhocking River until the late 19th century.