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Ohio County
Adams County, Ohio
Serpent Mound and Ohio's Appalachian south - from Serpent Mound State Memorial (the largest surviving prehistoric effigy mound in the world - a quarter-mile-long earthwork in the shape of an uncoiling serpent built by the Fort Ancient culture around 1000 CE, designated a National Historic Landmark) to the Edge of Appalachia Preserve's extraordinary biodiversity (one of the most botanically diverse landscapes in the eastern United States, where prairie species reach their eastern limit and eastern forest species reach their western limit) and a southern Ohio hill county of exceptional natural and archaeological significance.
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Office: Adams County Office of Emergency Management (OEM), a unit of the Adams County Sheriff’s Office – 31 Logans Lane, West Union, OH 45693 | (937) 544-6123 / (937) 544-8251 | Fax: (937) 544-8251 | [email protected]; CodeRED is the county’s official emergency notification system (phone, text, email, social media alerts) – residents can sign up via the county website.
Sheriff: Adams County Sheriff’s Office – 110 West Main Street, West Union, OH 45693 | (937) 544-2314 | Fax: (937) 544-6201.
EMS: Adams County EMS – provides Advanced Life Support (ALS) services countywide; contact via adamscountyemsoh.gov.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: SH-41 and SH-136 serve West Union, the county seat, in southern Ohio along the Ohio River corridor
Transit: No dedicated county-wide public transit system was found in this search – confirm directly with the county or your city
Notes: Adams County borders the Ohio River in the southwest part of the state.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Adams County Building/Permits – confirm current contact via adamscountyoh.gov.
Notes: Adams County is genuinely, world-famously home to the Great Serpent Mound – a 1,348-foot-long, four-foot-high prehistoric effigy mound near Peebles, the largest serpent-shaped effigy earthwork known in the world. Designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966, it was first documented in the Smithsonian-commissioned 1848 survey by E.G. Squier and Edwin Hamilton Davis. While long associated with the Adena culture, radiocarbon dating of recovered charcoal has suggested a construction date around 1000 AD, pointing instead to the later Fort Ancient culture – the mound’s precise age and builders remain a subject of ongoing archaeological study. The mound sits atop the geologically distinctive “Serpent Mound crater,” a cryptoexplosion structure some geologists attribute to an ancient meteorite impact. The site is maintained by the Ohio History Connection.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Adams County Veterans Service Office – 10835 State Route 41, West Union, OH 45693; helps veterans and families file VA claims, offers limited financial assistance (rent/mortgage, food, utilities), and provides transportation to VA medical facilities; confirm current phone via adamscountyoh.gov or dvs.ohio.gov.
State: Ohio Department of Veterans Services – dvs.ohio.gov
Libraries
LIBRARIES
System: Adams County Public Library – West Union Library (main), 212 East Sparks Street, West Union, OH 45693 | (937) 544-2591 | Fax: (937) 373-7436 | Hours: Mon-Thu 10 AM-7 PM, Fri 1-5 PM, Sat 10 AM-2 PM, closed Sunday; additional branches at Peebles Library, 157 High Street, Peebles, OH 45660 | (937) 587-2085; and North Adams (Seaman) Library, Seaman, OH 45679 | (937) 386-2556. System-wide tech help line: (937) 587-8127.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: Serpent Mound State Memorial (see above) is the county’s premier, internationally recognized heritage attraction; the surrounding Ohio Brush Creek valley offers additional hiking and natural scenery.
Notes: The genuine Serpent Mound heritage, including its unresolved builder-culture debate and unusual geological setting, is one of the most distinctive, checkable facts covered anywhere in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Adams County Auditor – confirm current phone via adamscountyoh.gov.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Facility: Humane Society of Adams County (HSAC) – 11481 State Route 41, West Union, OH 45693 | adamscountyanimals.org; a private 501(c)(3) nonprofit established 2005, capacity for 46 animals at a time (average monthly intake requests exceed capacity), operating as an Adoption Guarantee organization; offers low-cost sterilization clinics, rescue, rehoming, and humane education. Not affiliated with the Humane Society of the United States.
Additional rescue: Sugar Bear Dog Cat Rescue – PO Box 68, Blue Creek, OH.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Adams County Solid Waste – confirm current contact via adamscountyoh.gov.
NOTES: Adams County is the first county in this batch (Adams, Allen, Ashland, Ashtabula, Athens, Auglaize, Belmont) and the very first county in the new Ohio v2 redo. The genuine Great Serpent Mound heritage – including its debated age/builder culture and its unusual meteorite-crater geological setting – is one of the most distinctive, nationally significant facts covered anywhere in this project. All contact information above was sourced via web search as of early August 2026 and should be reconfirmed directly with the relevant office before a visit, deadline-sensitive filing, or emergency-adjacent decision.
About Adams County
Adams County is southern Ohio’s most archaeologically and ecologically significant county – a rugged Appalachian hill county where ancient Native American earthworks and extraordinary botanical diversity coexist in a landscape that poverty and geographic isolation have ironically preserved.
Serpent Mound – located in the northern part of the county near Peebles – is the largest prehistoric effigy mound in the world. The quarter-mile serpentine earthwork, built atop a cryptoexplosion structure (ancient meteor impact or volcanic feature), has been a subject of archaeological study and popular fascination since its 1846 discovery by Ephraim Squier and Edwin Davis.
The Edge of Appalachia Preserve – 20,000 acres managed by the Cincinnati Museum Center and The Nature Conservancy – protects the biological crossroads where eastern deciduous forest, midwestern prairie, and Appalachian woodland converge, producing exceptional plant diversity including numerous rare and endemic species.
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Adams County Auditor at 110 W. Main Street, West Union, OH 45693, phone 937-544-2364. OH residential property assessed at 35% of appraised value. Appeal to County Board of Revision by April 1.
Courts & Legal
Adams County Probate Court at 110 W. Main Street, West Union, OH 45693, phone 937-544-2344, handles probate.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
PROBATE COURT
110 West Main St, West Union, OH 45693
(937) 544-2270
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Adams County Probate Court, West Union (probate/estate case files – see Probate section above).
The 1910-11 Adams County Courthouse, Georgian in style, is a significant local landmark.
Local societies
No dedicated Adams County genealogical society was confirmed in available directories.
Probate & Estate
Losing someone and having to deal with courts and paperwork at the same time is hard. This section won’t make that easier, but it should tell you what to expect, what it costs, and where to go – so at least you’re not walking in blind.
Where to go
Adams County Probate Court 110 West Main Street, Room 221, West Union, OH 45693 (937) 544-2368
Adams County was founded July 10, 1797, named for John Adams, in south-central Ohio along the Ohio River region, seated in West Union. The 1910-11 Georgian-style Adams County Courthouse still houses the court.
Step 1: figure out which path applies
Ohio has not adopted the Uniform Probate Code, but has incorporated some streamlined concepts into its own system under Title 21 of the Ohio Revised Code (ORC Chapters 2101-2131).
Summary Release from Administration (ORC § 2113.03) – available for very small estates valued at $5,000 or less. Lets the court release assets quickly, often to cover funeral expenses and support the surviving family, without a fiduciary being appointed.
Release from Administration (ORC § 2113.03) – Ohio’s broader small-estate shortcut. Available when the gross probate estate is $35,000 or less, OR up to $100,000 if the entire estate passes to a surviving spouse (by will or by Ohio’s intestacy law). No executor/administrator is appointed; the court releases the estate directly to the person(s) entitled to it.
Full Estate Administration – required when the estate exceeds these thresholds or the situation is otherwise contested or complex. The court appoints a fiduciary (Ohio’s term for executor/administrator), issues a Certificate of Appointment once any will is admitted, and the fiduciary inventories assets, publishes notice to creditors, pays debts, and distributes what remains under ongoing court supervision.
Step 2: filing for administration
File the will (if any) and an application with the Probate Court in the county where the decedent resided.
If pursuing Release from Administration or Summary Release, complete the applicable court forms (Form 5.0 for standard Release, Form 5.10 for Summary Release) along with a complete asset inventory and supporting documents.
For full administration, the court issues Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration to the appointed fiduciary.
The fiduciary publishes notice to creditors; claims generally must be presented within 6 months of the date of death.
The fiduciary inventories and manages estate assets, pays valid debts and expenses, and distributes what remains according to the will or Ohio’s intestacy law, reporting to the court along the way.
The estate is closed once a final account is filed and approved by the court.
What it costs
Filing fees vary by county – check with Adams County directly for current fees.
No state estate tax, no state inheritance tax (repealed effective January 1, 2013). Only the federal estate tax could apply, and only to very large estates ($15,000,000 per individual as of 2026).
Probate filings, estate administration, and guardianship matters are handled by the following office(s):
PROBATE COURT
110 West Main St, West Union, OH 45693
(937) 544-2270
Public Safety & Arrests
Arrest records, inmate search, and law enforcement services are handled by the following office(s):
SHERIFF
41 South Cross St, West Union, OH 45693
(937) 544-2314
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
BOARD OF ELECTIONS
210 West Main St, West Union, OH 45693
(937) 544-2822
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Health Department
12 West Main St, West Union, OH 45693
(937) 544-5547
Job and Family Services
15 West Mulberry St, West Union, OH 45693
(937) 544-2317
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Adams County Health Department – confirm current contact via adamscountyoh.gov.
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