Biohazard Cleanup Near West Cherry Fork Cherry Fork, OH

Cherry Fork is an unincorporated community and former village in Wayne Township, Adams County, in southern Ohio — its voters chose to disincorporate the village in 2014.

Cherry Fork was laid out in 1848 under its original name, North Liberty, and later took its present name from Cherry Fork, the stream that runs near the town site.

The village was founded in 1848 by Colonel William McVey, an abolitionist who also established its first post office.

Because of its abolitionist roots, Cherry Fork became an important link on the Underground Railroad, where area homes hid runaway slaves in secret rooms and hidden passageways.

Scotch-Irish Covenanter settlers from Rockbridge County, Virginia, built a log church at Cherry Fork in 1804, and the Cherry Fork Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church organized there in 1805 is the oldest congregation of Covenanter origin in Ohio.

The population of Cherry Fork was 170 at the 2020 census, up from 155 people living in 64 households in 2010.

At its turn-of-the-century peak, Cherry Fork supported two general stores, a drug store, a hardware store, a furniture store, a tailor's shop, two doctors' offices, two churches, a hotel, and the annual North Liberty Fair.