Columbus and central Ohio
You came in from the yard, or home from the park, and the ring was gone
Columbus, Newark, Mount Vernon and Wooster, with the reservoirs, Metro Parks and campus lawns between them
A back yard in Columbus or Newark, a picnic shelter at Highbanks, a blanket on the Oval at Ohio State. These are dry, everyday places, with no waves or current to move things about. A lost class ring, or an engagement ring that slipped off on grass, may still be lying close to where it came off. So the sooner you write down where you stood, the better.
Ring Seekers is a lost ring and jewelry recovery service that connects people who lost a ring, wedding band, watch, keys or phone in Columbus and central Ohio with a metal detectorist who can search there. Tell us what happened and where. We find a detectorist who can reach the place, brief them with your map and photos, and tell you honestly if the odds are poor.
An Oura ring, a gold chain or a hearing aid gets the same care.
Before you rake, mow or bag anything else
Stop the job you were doing. If the ring went missing during yard work, leave the leaf pile, the mulch and the yard-waste bags where they are, because any of them may hold it. Think back to the last moment it was on your hand. A photo can settle that.
Then send us three things on WhatsApp: a pin or map screenshot with the area marked, two photos of the ground from different sides, and a picture of the item or one like it. At a park, add the shelter name or the court.
Places we cover in Columbus and central Ohio
- Columbus
- Newark
- Mount Vernon
- Wooster
- The Ohio State University campus
- Scioto Mile and Bicentennial Park
- Scioto Audubon Metro Park
- Highbanks Metro Park
- Hoover Reservoir, Westerville
- Hoover Nature Preserve, Galena
- Alum Creek State Park
- Delaware State Park
- Buckeye Lake State Park
- Fairfield Beach and Crystal Beach
- Everett Park, Newark
- Ariel-Foundation Park, Mount Vernon
- Secrest Arboretum, Wooster
- Christmas Run Park, Wooster
Where people around Columbus spend a day outdoors
The facts come from the parks and the university. The ways something might go missing are only possibilities.
The Oval, the Long Walk and game-day grass at Ohio State
The Oval had taken its present shape by about 1901, and the Long Walk across it, a broad path of dark red cement, followed in the autumn of 1914, the university archives say. For home football games, tailgate tents go up on grass areas around campus. A class ring pulled off to wash hands, or a key fob dropped beside a folding chair, could be left behind in that grass.
Alum Creek and Delaware, two reservoir beaches
Ohio's Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) calls the 3,000-foot (about 900 metre) beach at Alum Creek State Park the largest inland beach in its park system. It has sand volleyball courts, and buoys mark the swim zone. Delaware State Park has an 800-foot (about 245 metre) beach, a wooded campground with 214 electric sites and a 27-hole disc golf course. A ring might work loose in the water, or during a game at the net.
Downtown on the Scioto, from Bicentennial Park to Scioto Audubon
Bicentennial Park, on the Scioto Mile downtown, has free concerts on summer weekends and fountains that children play in. A trail runs south to Scioto Audubon, a 119-acre (48 hectare) Metro Park with sand volleyball courts, playfields and a 35-foot (10.7 metre) climbing wall. A bracelet could go on a concert lawn, keys at the foot of the wall.
Highbanks shelters and the docks at Hoover
Highbanks Metro Park is named for a 100-foot (30 metre) shale bluff over the Olentangy. Most picnics use the Big Meadows and Oak Coves picnic areas, with shelters, grills and large playfields. In Westerville, Hoover Reservoir has public boat docks and open air shelters, and at its north end, off Front Street in Galena, a 1,500-foot (about 460 metre) boardwalk runs out over the mudflats of Hoover Nature Preserve. A ring that slips off at a picnic table is a small search. Off a dock, we will ask how deep the water is.
Buckeye Lake beaches and Newark's city parks
Buckeye Lake is Ohio's oldest state park, and the lake itself covers 3,100 acres (1,255 hectares). There are two public swimming areas, Fairfield Beach on the south side and Crystal Beach on the north, and a 4.1-mile (6.6 km) paved shoreline path. Newark looks after more than 20 parks and facilities, and Everett Park alone has a playground, a dog park, a picnic pavilion and disc golf.
Old quarry lakes in Mount Vernon, garden paths in Wooster
Ariel-Foundation Park in Mount Vernon is a 250-acre (about 100 hectare) civic park. Its three lakes were once gravel quarries, and seven picnic pavilions stand around them. In Wooster, Secrest Arboretum is part of Ohio State's Wooster campus, with theme gardens, paved walkways and pavilions rented out for events. Photographers are welcome there, and a ring handed round for a photo could end up in the grass. The City of Wooster counts Christmas Run, Freedlander and Wooster Memorial among its family parks.
What happens after you message us
You explain it once
One person reads your WhatsApp message and stays with your case.
Your sketch of the yard reaches the detectorist first
A rough drawing of the lawn, with the beds and where you were working, is passed on with your photos and pin before anyone sets out.
A playfield is a fair bet, open water is not
A lost ring on a playfield at Highbanks is a fair bet. One that went over the side of a boat somewhere on the 3,387 acres (about 1,370 hectares) of Alum Creek Reservoir is a poor one, and our first reply says so.
When renting a detector is the sensible move
A metal detector rental can suit a fresh loss on a small lawn or on dry beach sand. For a ring in the water at Fairfield Beach, a large yard or something as small as an earring, a detectorist makes more sense.
No search is booked until you know the costs
We explain the costs before any search is booked.
A few facts about central Ohio that shape a search
Till plains and old lake beds
ODNR describes the country around Alum Creek and Delaware as fertile agricultural till plains, and says clay and silt settled on the beds of the glacial lakes that once lay around Buckeye Lake. Tell us what has been done to the ground since, whether mowing, raking or digging.
Reservoirs held by dams and a dike
Alum Creek and Delaware are reservoirs behind Corps of Engineers dams, and Buckeye Lake is held back by a dike finished in 1830. ODNR notes that the Corps monitors the water level at Delaware Lake. A photo that shows where the water's edge was on the day helps.
First snow around November 20
The National Weather Service gives November 20 as the average date of the first measurable snowfall at Columbus (1981 to 2010). Snow hides a ring. If the drive has been shovelled since, tell us where the snow was piled. Buckeye Lake's beaches are open from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
Questions you might have, from a mulched bed to a disc golf course
I spread mulch round our yard in Newark on Saturday and my engagement ring was gone by dinner. Beds, lawn or the empty bags?
It could be any of the three, so leave them all as they are and keep the bags back from collection. Tell us which beds you did, in what order, and when you last noticed the ring on your hand.
My son tailgated on campus grass before the Ohio State game and his class ring is missing. The tents are down now. Has that ruined it?
Not necessarily. What matters is where the tent stood, not whether it is still up. A tailgate photo with a building behind it can place the spot, and so can the people who were set up next to you.
My wife took her rings off to put on sunscreen at Alum Creek and one never made it back onto her hand. That beach is 3,000 feet long. Where would anyone start?
Where your towels were. However long the beach is, the search is the patch of sand round your spot. Tell us what you were level with, the changing area, the showers or the volleyball courts, and how far up from the water you sat.
The band on my Apple Watch snapped while I was wading at Fairfield Beach on Buckeye Lake. Will it have drifted off?
We cannot promise either way, but Buckeye Lake is a lake held back by a dike, not a river, so where it dropped is the sensible place to start. Tell us where you went in, how far out you had waded and what time of day it was.
I lost my truck keys on the disc golf course at Delaware State Park, and we played all 27 holes. Is that even a search?
It is, once it has been narrowed down. Think of the last hole where you know you had the keys, and any bench where you dug in your bag. Ask at the park office too.
We had family photos taken by the lakes at Ariel-Foundation Park in Mount Vernon and my husband's wedding band is missing. The park closes in mid-November. Too late?
Not necessarily. The official season runs from April 1 to November 15, and the park says some areas stay open to people on foot all year. Send us the photos from just before and just after the band disappears from his finger.
I live in Wooster and the clasp on my necklace gave way somewhere on the lawns at Secrest Arboretum during a family picnic. Is Wooster too far from Columbus for you?
No. Wooster is one of the towns on this page. We take enquiries for necklaces and chains, as we do for earrings, bracelets, hearing aids and metal-framed glasses. Show us on a map where the blanket was and which path you came in by, and send a photo of the necklace if you have one.
Columbus and central Ohio
When did you last see it on your hand?
The last photo, the job you were doing, the ground since then.
Start with the last moment you are sure of: a photo from the picnic, the glove you pulled off. Then the ground, and what has happened to it since. Send that on WhatsApp with a pin and two photos, and we will reply with how we see the chances for your lost ring, watch or keys, and the next step.