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Ohio County
Pike County, Ohio
Piketon's uranium enrichment legacy and the Scioto River valley - from the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon (one of three uranium enrichment facilities built during the Cold War to produce enriched uranium for nuclear weapons and civilian power reactors - the plant operated from 1954 to 2001 and is now undergoing a $10+ billion environmental cleanup that is one of the largest in US history) to Serpent Mound's proximity and the Scioto River valley's agricultural heritage, and a southern Ohio community whose identity and economy have been permanently shaped by Cold War nuclear infrastructure.
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Office: Pike County Emergency Management Agency – 2577 Alma Omega Road, Waverly, OH 45690 | (740) 947-7346 | [email protected]; Director appointed by Pike County Commissioners; addresses the five phases of emergency management (prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response, recovery).
Sheriff/Non-emergency: Pike County Sheriff – (740) 947-2111.
Public Health After-Hours: Pike County General Health District – 116 S. Market St., Waverly, OH 45690 | (740) 947-7721 (24/7).
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: US-23 and SR-124/220 serve Waverly, the county seat, in southern Ohio along the Scioto River
Transit: Community Action Transit System (CATS) – 941 Market St, Piketon, OH 45661 | (740) 289-2371; also Non-Emergency Transportation (NET), a statewide Medicaid transit program administered locally through Job and Family Services, (740) 947-2171.
Notes: Pike County is classified by the Appalachian Regional Commission as economically “Distressed.”
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Pike County Building/Permits – confirm current contact via pikecountyoh.gov.
Notes: Pike County is home to the historically significant Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PORTS) near Piketon, a 3,700+ acre U.S. Department of Energy site chosen in 1952 as the third of the nation’s Cold War-era uranium enrichment facilities, alongside Oak Ridge, TN and Paducah, KY. From 1954 to 2001, PORTS enriched uranium for U.S. nuclear weapons and naval propulsion programs, and was, at the end of the Cold War, the DOE complex’s longest-operating and highest-level uranium enrichment site. Construction employed nearly 23,000 workers logging 69 million man-hours. Uranium enrichment ended in May 2001; the DOE has spent years since on environmental decontamination and decommissioning, and the site remains an active subject of regional economic redevelopment discussion.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Pike County Veterans Service Office – 120 S. Market Street, Waverly, OH 45690; provides emergency financial assistance, employment/compensation assistance, transportation services, and VA benefits application help.
State: Ohio Department of Veterans Services – dvs.ohio.gov
Libraries
LIBRARIES
System: Garnet A. Wilson Public Library of Pike County – confirm current address/hours via pikecountylibrary.org; offers genealogy/local history resources, the Pike County Digital Newspaper Collection, and a Pike County Yearbook Archive.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: The former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant site (PORTS) is the county’s most historically significant landmark, alongside the Scioto River corridor.
Notes: The genuine Cold War-era uranium enrichment history at PORTS is a distinctive, checkable local fact.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Pike County Auditor – 230 Waverly Plaza, Suite 200, Waverly, OH 45690 | Hours: Mon-Fri 8:30 AM-4 PM.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Facility: Pike County Dog Pound – 2575/2577 Alma Omega Road, Waverly, OH 45690 | (740) 947-5996 | Fax: (740) 947-5056 | Hours: Mon-Fri 8 AM-12 PM, closed weekends; adoption fee $50 cash (includes Ohio dog tag); no pull fee for approved rescues.
Nonprofit: Pike Pet Pals, Inc. – 501(c)(3) volunteer organization supporting the Dog Pound with vetting, food, spay/neuter grants, and rescue transport; P.O. Box 1239, Waverly, OH 45690.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Pike County Solid Waste – confirm current contact via pikecountyoh.gov.
NOTES: Pike County is the third county in this batch (Perry, Pickaway, Pike, Portage, Preble, Putnam, Richland) of the Ohio v2 redo. The genuine Cold War-era uranium enrichment history at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant is a distinctive, checkable local fact. 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 Pike County
Pike County is southern Ohio’s nuclear legacy county – a Scioto River community whose economy and landscape were transformed by Cold War uranium enrichment infrastructure and whose future depends significantly on the massive environmental cleanup of that infrastructure.
Piketon’s Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant – built in 1952-54 as part of the Atomic Energy Commission’s nuclear weapons material production complex – enriched uranium using the gaseous diffusion process for over four decades. At its peak, the plant employed 4,000-7,000 workers and was the county’s dominant employer. The plant’s 3,700-acre site is now the subject of a Department of Energy environmental cleanup expected to cost over $10 billion and take decades to complete.
Waverly (the county seat, population ~4,500) on the Scioto River is the county’s commercial hub – a community navigating the transition from nuclear industry employment to a more diverse economic base.
The Scioto River valley’s agricultural bottomland provides productive farmland alongside the nuclear cleanup zone.
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Pike County Auditor at 100 E. Second Street, Waverly, OH 45690, phone 740-947-4114. Appeal to County Board of Revision by April 1.
Courts & Legal
Pike County Probate Court at 100 E. Second Street, Waverly, OH 45690, phone 740-947-2715, handles probate.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
PROBATE COURT
100 East 2nd St, Waverly, OH 45690
(740) 947-2020
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Pike County Probate Court, Waverly (probate/estate case files – see Probate section above).
Local societies
No dedicated Pike 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
Pike County Probate Court (Pike County Government Center) 230 Waverly Plaza, Suite 600, Waverly, OH 45690 (740) 947-2560 Pike County is in south-central Ohio, seated in Waverly.
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 Pike 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
100 East 2nd St, Waverly, OH 45690
(740) 947-2020
Public Safety & Arrests
Arrest records, inmate search, and law enforcement services are handled by the following office(s):
SHERIFF
120 East 2nd St, Waverly, OH 45690
(740) 947-2871
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
BOARD OF ELECTIONS
116 East 2nd St, Waverly, OH 45690
(740) 947-2287
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
General Health District
130 East 2nd St, Waverly, OH 45690
(740) 947-7721
Job and Family Services
100 Dailey Rd, Waverly, OH 45690
(740) 947-4123
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Pike County General Health District – 116 S. Market St., Waverly, OH 45690 | (740) 947-7721 | Fax: (740) 947-1109; TTY services available via Ohio Relay Service, (800) 750-0750.
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