There is a moment in almost every stone project where a photograph stops being useful. You have found the look online, you have shown it to somebody, and then you stand in front of an actual pallet and realize that the stone in the picture and the stone in front of you are related the way a stock photo of a dog is related to a particular dog.
That is the reason a stone yard exists, and it is why this one puts it in writing. Their own description is that whether you need one stone, one ton or one truckload, this is the source. The one stone part is not a figure of speech. There are bins of individual rocks near the front, sold by weight.
This guide covers what Creech’s Ohio Valley Stone stocks, what the product names actually mean, and what to bring with you when you go, because natural stone rewards showing up more than almost any other building material.
A Stone Yard That Changed Hands Without Changing
The business ran for years as Ohio Valley Stone Products under Bill McIntosh, a forty-year veteran of the masonry construction industry, and became known across the Tri-State as a source for natural stone and natural stone veneer.
On June 1, 2018 it was bought by Steve and Karen Creech, who had been customers of the place for years before they owned it. That is a reassuring way for a supply business to change hands. The new owners already knew what the yard was for.
The detail that says the most, though, is on their own About page: Bill is still there. Forty years in masonry, sold the company, and you will still see him moving pallets and selling stone because that is what he likes doing. A yard where the former owner turns up to work is a yard with its institutional knowledge intact, and in a trade where the useful information lives in people’s heads rather than in catalogs, that matters.
The staff carry the same shape. Their site describes John as a veteran of construction and landscaping with a career of more than thirty-three years in construction and project management. Reviewers name John and Betsy specifically and describe them as kind and informative, which is the review a supply house should want.
| At a Glance | Creech’s Ohio Valley Stone |
| What it is | A natural stone yard. Supply only, serving contractors and homeowners alike. |
| History | Formerly Ohio Valley Stone Products under Bill McIntosh. Bought June 1, 2018 by Steve and Karen Creech, who had been customers. |
| Stocks | Wall stone, flagging, edging, cobbles, benches, cut steps, snapped steps, coping, cut wall stone, natural stone veneer, boulders and aggregates |
| Address | 4507 Anchorage Rd, Cincinnati, OH 45226 |
| Phone | (513) 871-0900 |
| Hours | Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Saturday, 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Closed Sunday. |
| Website | ohiovalleystone.com |
Location, Directions and Access
Creech’s Ohio Valley Stone is at 4507 Anchorage Rd, Cincinnati, OH 45226. The yard can be reached at (513) 871-0900.
The easiest way to place it is by the airfield. The yard sits on Anchorage Road just south of Lunken, down in the flat river-bottom ground between the airport and the Ohio. If you know where Lunken is, and most people on the east side do, you are already within a few minutes of the gate.
This guide does not print turn by turn directions, because the streets down there are short, industrial and easy to describe wrongly. Use the map below and let it do the work.
Hours and Access
The yard is open Monday to Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., and is closed on Sunday. The Saturday window is narrow, so a weekend visit needs planning.
- Contractors and homeowners are both welcome, and their own site says so on the front page.
- Bring a vehicle suited to what you are buying. Stone is heavier than it looks, and a pallet will not fit in a car trunk.
- Staff will help load. Reviewers describe being carried out to their cars with small orders.
- Some third party listings show shorter weekday hours and no Saturday opening. The hours above are the ones on their Google listing.
Selling at Every Scale
Most material suppliers have a minimum. A bulk yard sells by the scoop, a distributor sells by the pallet, and if you need one flat stone to fill a gap in an existing path you are out of luck at both.
This yard runs the whole range. Their own line about one stone, one ton or one truckload is borne out by the reviews, including one from a customer who came in looking for rocks to paint, found bins of smaller stones near the front, and left with about twenty palm-sized pieces weighing eighteen pounds for seven dollars, carried to the car by a member of staff.
That is a trivial transaction and it is the most revealing one in the whole review set. A yard that will weigh out seven dollars of rock for somebody’s craft project on a weekday morning is a yard that will also take your questions seriously when you come back with a real patio.
What the Product Names Mean
Natural stone is sold under names that describe the job rather than the look, which is confusing the first time and extremely efficient once you know it. Their published product list runs to wall stone, flagging, edging, boulders, aggregates, cobbles, benches, cut steps, coping, cut wall stone and snapped steps, plus natural stone veneer.
Two distinctions are worth carrying in with you. Cut steps are sawn to dimension and snapped steps are broken, which gives a rougher edge and a different price. And coping is not decorative trim; it is the cap that sheds water off the top of a wall, which is a structural job as much as a visual one.
If you are weighing natural stone against manufactured units, it is worth weighing the options for a patio surface first, because the two behave differently underfoot, underground and in a Cincinnati freeze.
Bringing Stone Home to an East Side Yard
A stone purchase usually sits inside a larger project, and the yard visit tends to happen either too early or too late. Too early and you are choosing a surface before you know the layout. Too late and the design is fixed around material you have not seen.
The right order is layout first. Working out laying out a space before you choose the stone tells you how much you need and where the level changes are, which is what decides whether you are buying steps and coping as well as flagging.
Two other things are worth settling before the yard trip. Steps, seat walls and the pieces that get built in are far cheaper to plan than to add, and they are exactly what the cut steps and bench stock at a yard like this is for. And if there is already concrete out there, when an old slab can stay where it is changes the material list completely.
Platinum Deck and Patio builds paver patios, retaining walls and decks across the Cincinnati metro, and on the east side in particular the natural stone option is worth pricing alongside manufactured units rather than assuming it is out of reach.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a homeowner buy here, or is it trade only?
Both are welcome. Their own site leads with contractors welcome and homeowner friendly, and the review set is a mix of builders and people buying a handful of stones.
Will they really sell a single stone?
Yes. Smaller stone sits in bins near the front and is sold by weight. Their own description of the business covers one stone through one truckload.
Do they carry boulders?
Yes, up to multi-ton. Boulders are the clearest case for choosing in person, and worth thinking through how you will unload at the other end before you buy.
What is the difference between cut steps and snapped steps?
Cut steps are sawn to dimension for a clean edge. Snapped steps are broken, giving a rougher natural face. Both are solid stone treads; the choice is appearance and price.
What should I bring?
Measurements, a photograph of the house and of anything the stone has to match, an idea of your thickness, and a vehicle that can carry weight. If color matters, come on a day you can see it in daylight.
The Bottom Line
Creech’s Ohio Valley Stone is a plain stone yard doing an old job on a short industrial street below Lunken. What makes it worth the trip is range and the people. It sells at every scale from one rock to a truckload, it carries the full vocabulary of natural stone rather than a curated selection, and the man who owned it before still turns up to move pallets.
Natural stone is the one material where going to look is not optional. Color varies between pallets, thickness varies within them, and the photograph you fell in love with was taken somewhere else in different light.
Measure the space, settle the layout, then go and stand in front of the actual pallet. Call (513) 871-0900 first if you want something specific pulled, and give yourself more than the Saturday window if you can.
And if you only need one stone, say so. They will sell you one.