Cuyahoga Valley National Park

Cuyahoga Valley National Park
IUCN category II (national park)
Bedrock outcrops, such as this one, can be found throughout the park
Location in the United States Show map of the US Location in Ohio Show map of Ohio
Location	Summit County & Cuyahoga County, Ohio, US
Nearest city	Cleveland, Akron
Coordinates	41°14′30″N 81°32′59″W / 41.24167°N 81.54972°W / 41.24167; -81.54972Coordinates: 41°14′30″N 81°32′59″W / 41.24167°N 81.54972°W / 41.24167; -81.54972
Area	32,572 acres (51 sq mi; 132 km2)[1]
Established	October 11, 2000
Visitors	2,226,879 (in 2017)[2]
Governing body	National Park Service
Website	Official website

Cuyahoga Valley National Park is a United States national park that preserves and reclaims the rural landscape along the Cuyahoga River between Akron and Cleveland in Northeast Ohio. Surrounded by urban areas, with a high degree of development that includes a dense road network, small towns, and private human-made attractions, Cuyahoga Valley National Park differs markedly from most of the other national parks.

The 32,572-acre (51 sq mi; 132 km²) park^[1] is administered by the National Park Service, but within its boundaries there are areas independently managed as city parks or private businesses. Cuyahoga Valley was originally designated as a National Recreation Area in 1974. It was redesignated as a national park 26 years later in 2000, and remains the only national park that originated as a national recreation area.

Cuyahoga Valley is the only national park in the state of Ohio, and one of just seven national parks located in the Midwestern United States region and one of two situated next to the Great Lakes.

Wildlife

Animals found in the park include raccoons, muskrats, coyotes, skunks, red foxes, beavers, peregrine falcons, river otters, bald eagles, opossums, three species of moles, white-tailed deer, Canada geese, gray foxes, minks, great blue herons, and seven species of bats.^[3]

Administrative history

The valley began providing recreation for urban dwellers in the 1870s when people came from nearby cities for carriage rides or leisure boat trips along the canal. In 1880, the Valley Railroad became another way to escape urban industrial life. Actual park development began in the 1910s and 1920s with the establishment of Cleveland and Akron metropolitan park districts. In 1929 the estate of Cleveland businessman Hayward Kendall donated 430 acres (170 ha) around the Richie Ledges and a trust fund to the state of Ohio. Kendall's will stipulated that the "property should be perpetually used for park purposes". It became Virginia Kendall park, in honor of his mother. In the 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps built much of the park's infrastructure including what are now Happy Days Lodge and the shelters at Octagon, Ledges, and Kendall Lake.

Although the regional parks safeguarded certain places, by the 1960s local citizens feared that urban sprawl would overwhelm the Cuyahoga Valley's natural beauty. There were also concerns about the environmental degradation of the Cuyahoga River, which was one of the most polluted river in the United States, and as such caught fire several times. Active citizens joined forces with state and national government staff to find a long-term solution. Finally, on December 27, 1974, President Gerald Ford signed the bill establishing the Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area.

The National Park Service acquired the 47-acre (19 ha) Krejci Dump in 1985 to include as part of the recreation area. They requested a thorough analysis of the site's contents from the Environmental Protection Agency. After the survey identified extremely toxic materials, the area was closed in 1986 and designated a superfund site.^[4] Litigation was filed against potentially responsible parties, which included Ford, GM, Chrysler, 3M, and Waste Management of Ohio. All the companies except 3M agreed to a settlement; 3M lost at trial.^[5]

Cleanup began in 1987 and had not been completed as of mid-2011, although most of the area had been restored to its original state as wetlands.^[6]

The area was redesignated a national park by Congress on October 11, 2000,^[7] with the passage of the Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2001, House Bill 4578, 106th congress.^[8] It is administered by the National Park Service. David Berger National Memorial in Beachwood, Ohio is also managed through Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

The Richfield Coliseum, a multipurpose arena in the Cuyahoga River area, was demolished in 1999 and the now-empty site became part of Cuyahoga Valley National Park upon its designation in 2000. It has since become a grassy meadow popular with birdwatchers.

Attractions

The park features a rich mix of natural, man-made, and private attractions, unique amongst the other national parks. It includes compatible-use sites not owned by the federal government, including several local regional parks in the Cleveland Metroparks and Summit Metro Parks systems.

The traditional terrain of a national park is represented by forests, rolling hills, narrow ravines, wetlands, river scenery, and waterfalls. There are about 100 waterfalls in the Cuyahoga Valley, and the most popular is Brandywine Falls, the tallest waterfall in the park and the tallest in Northeast Ohio at 65 feet. The Ledges include a rock outcropping that gives an unobstructed view across the valley's wooded scenery facing west. Many caves are found amongst the boulders strewn in the forest nearby. Wildlife is plentiful.

The park has many trails, most notably the 20-mile (32 km) Towpath Trail, which follows a former stretch of the 308-mile (496 km) Ohio and Erie Canal and is popular for hiking, bicycling, and running. Skiing and sled-riding are available during the winter at Kendall Hills.^[9]. Visitors can play golf, or take scenic excursions and special event railroad tours on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad.^[10] that also facilitates access to the Towpath Trail.

Within the lush farmland landscape, the park offers an array of preserved and restored displays of 19th and early 20th century sustainable farming and pastoral or rural living, most notably the Hale Farm & Village while catering to contemporary cultural interests with art exhibits, outdoor concerts, and theater performances in venues such as Blossom Music Center or Kent State University's Porthouse Theatre. In the mid-1980s, the park hosted the National Folk Festival.

Ohio and Erie Canal Towpath Trail

Boston Store Visitor Center

The multi-purpose Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath trail was developed by the National Park Service and is the major trail through Cuyahoga Valley National Park. It runs almost 21 miles (33½ km) from Rockside Road, Independence, OH in the north to Summit County's Bike & Hike trail in the south. It follows the Cuyahoga River for much of its length. Restrooms can be found at several trailheads along the way and commercial food and drink can be found on Rockside Road, at the Boston Store in Peninsula, and at the farmer's market on Botzum Road (seasonally). There are also several visitor centers along the way. At Rockside Road the trail connects to Cleveland Metroparks trail, which travels another 6 miles (9½ km) North. The Summit County trail runs through Akron and south. The "towpath trail" continues through Stark and Tuscarawas counties down to Zoar, Ohio, running almost 70 more miles with only one significant (1 mile) interruption. Sections of the towpath trail outside of Cuyahoga Valley National Park are owned and maintained by various state and local agencies. The trail also meets the Buckeye Trail in the national park (near Boston Store). Another section of the Summit County Bike & Hike Trail system (connecting to the nearby Brandywine Falls, and also to the Cleveland Metroparks Bedford Reservation and Solon in Cuyahoga County; Hudson and Stow in Summit County; and Kent and Ravenna in Portage County, Ohio) is nearby.

Seasonally, the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad allows visitors to travel along the towpath from Rockside Road to Akron, getting off or on at any of the six other stops along the way. This is especially popular with bikers and for viewing and photographing fall colors. CVSR is independently owned and operated; their website lists days and times.

History

Restored Ohio & Erie Canal Lock at the Canal Exploration Center

The Towpath Trail follows the historic route of the Ohio & Erie Canal. Before the canal was built, Ohio was a sparsely settled wilderness where travel was difficult and getting crops to market was nearly impossible. The canal, built between 1825 and 1832, provided a successful transportation route from Cleveland, on Lake Erie, to Portsmouth, on the Ohio River. The canal opened up Ohio to the rest of the settled eastern United States.^[11]

Numerous wayside exhibits provide information about canal features and sites of historic interest.^[12] There is also a virtual tour.^[11][13]

Today visitors can walk or ride along the same path that the mules used to tow the canal boats loaded with goods and passengers. The scene is different than it was then; the canal was full of water carrying a steady flow of boats amongst the constant conversations of "canawlers." Evidence of beavers can be seen in many places along the trail.^[11]

Stanford House (formerly Stanford Hostel)

Stanford House located in Cuyahoga Valley National Park

Located in the scenic Cuyahoga Valley near Peninsula, Ohio, Stanford House is a historic 19th-century farm home built in the 1830s by George Stanford, one of the first settlers in the Western Reserve. In 1978, the NPS purchased the property to act as a youth hostel in conjunction with the American Youth Hostels (AYH) organization. In March 2011, Stanford Hostel became Stanford House, Cuyahoga Valley National Park's first in-park lodging facility. The home was renovated by the Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park^[14] and the National Park Service.^[15][16]

Towpath trailheads

Lock 28 of the Ohio and Erie Canal, in the vicinity of Peninsula, Ohio. Lock chamber, looking north. Original construction dated to 1827. With a depth of 16 feet (4.9 m), Lock #28 was the deepest lock in that portion of the Ohio and Erie Canal between Akron and Cleveland hence its popular name, Deep Lock.

Ohio and Erie Canal Towpath trailheads

Coordinates	Trailhead map	Address	Image
	Lock 39
41°22′24″N 81°36′59″W / 41.373272°N 81.616382°W / 41.373272; -81.616382 (Canal Visitor)	Canal Visitor Center	Canal Road & Hillside Road, Valley View, Ohio 44125, 1 1⁄2 miles (2.4 km) south of Rockside Road
	Frazee House	Canal Road, Valley View, Ohio, 3 1⁄2 miles (5.6 km) south of Rockside Road
41°19′10″N 081°35′15″W / 41.31944°N 81.58750°W / 41.31944; -81.58750 (Station Road Bridge)[17]	Station Road Bridge
	Red Lock
	Boston Store	Boston Mills Road, 1⁄10 mile (160 m) east of Riverview Road
	Lock 29
	Hunt Farm Visitor Information Center	Bolanz Road, between Akron-Peninsula Road and Riverview Road
	Ira
	Indian Mound

Geology

The "V" course of the Cuyahoga River is rather unique, first flowing southwest, and then abruptly turning north to drain into Lake Erie not far from its origin. The left arm of this "V", flowing north through the park, corresponds to an older preglacial valley, while the right arm corresponds to relatively new drainage. The new segment cut into the old at Cuyahoga Falls, the base of the "V". Other streams have made routes into the Cuyahoga preglacial valley by cutting gorges with waterfalls such as those found with the Tinkers, Brandywine and Chippewa Creeks. These waterfalls form when waterflow erodes the Bedford Shale, which underlies the more resistant Berea Sandstone. Glacial drift fills the valley to a depth of 400 feet. This fill is very complex due to ponding in front of the ice before and after each glaciation. Beach deposits, gravel bars and other shoreline deposits from Lake Maumee are found in the valley, as are gravels from the time of Lake Arkona, and ridges marking the shores of Lake Whittlesey, Lake Warren, and Lake Wayne.^[18][19]

A noticeable remnant of the Wisconsin glaciation is the Defiance Moraine, which trends from Defiance in western Ohio, across the state into Pennsylvania. As Cushing et al. point out, "The Defiance moraine represents the last notable stand of the glacial front in this region." The moraine varies in width from 2 to 4 miles, and according to Leverett, "it is like a broad wave whose crest stands 20 to 50 feet above the border of the plain outside it." This moraine forms a lobe that protrudes south into the valley for 8 miles all the way to Peninsula, the lobe being 6 miles wide at the north end, tapering to 3 miles wide at the south end. Kames and eskers mark the terrain south of this moraine up to the southern extent of the glaciation.^{[18]:581–584[19]:63–64, 96[20]}

The Berea Sandstone and the Bedford Shale were deposited in a river delta environment in the Lower Mississippian. River channels were incised into the Bedford Shale and subsequently these channels were filled by the Berea Sandstone. Besides setting the stage for majestic gorges and waterfalls within the valley, they have provided an economic use as well. The Berea Sandstone was quarried in Berea for grindstones and building stones, while the lowermost part of the Bedford Shale was quarried in South Euclid and Cleveland Heights for its "bluestone".^{[19]:109–111[21]}

The Sharon Conglomerate is a Lower Pennsylvanian formation composed of sandstone and conglomerate. It forms, according to Cushing et al., "disconnected patches or outliers that cap the highest hills... these outliers stand boldly above the surrounding country" due to its resistance to erosion. The Boston Ledges are the most noteworthy example. As the Mississippian shale underneath is washed away, huge blocks of the Sharon result from the settling. As Cushing et al. explain, "frost action aids in pushing these blocks apart, cracks are widened into caves, and a tangle of blocks results, separated by passages of uneven widths."^[19]:54–57

Shale gas has been produced in the area since 1883, when H.A. Mastick's well was drilled in the Rockport Township to a depth of 527 feet, yielding 21,643 cubic feet of gas daily. A gas boom occurred in 1914/1915, and by 1931, several hundred gas wells were producing from the Devonian Huron shale. Production came from shales 1,250 feet thick at depths from 400 to 1,840 feet. Pressures were 3 to 135 psi flowing less than 20,000 cubic feet of gas daily, but was sufficient to furnish light for a house or two, and sometimes heat. As Cushing et al. pointed out in the 1930s, "there are vast amounts of petroleum in the Devonian shales." Since then, the Marcellus Shale and the deeper Utica Shale have shown their economic potential.^{[19]:115–116, 123}

• 
  Map tracing the extent of the Defiance Moraine
• 
  Geologic map of surface glacial features
• 
  Ohio glacial boundary
• 
  Geologic map of rock outcrops: Qgd = Quaternary glacial drift from the Pleistocene, Cc = Cleveland Shale, Cbd and Cbe = Bedford Shale, and Cb = Berea Sandstone
• 
  Geologic cross section
• 
  Deposition of the Berea channel sandstone within the Bedford shale during the Lower Mississippian

Visitor centers

Points of historic interest

Coordinates	Location	Description
41°22′24″N 81°36′59″W / 41.37333°N 81.61639°W / 41.37333; -81.61639 (Canal Visitor)	Canal Visitor Center - "Hell's Half Acre"	Exhibits related to human history in the valley and Ohio & Erie Canal history are available at Canal Visitor Center. The exhibits are housed in a renovated canal-era tavern that, for some time, had such a colorful reputation that it came to be called "Hell's Half Acre." Lock 38 is located in the front; lock demonstrations are offered by volunteers and staff in period costume every Saturday, Sunday, and holiday during the summer months. A lock model is located inside the visitor center. The ranger at the information desk will perform lock model demonstrations on request. An auditorium in the basement is used to show three different canal-related videos and one park orientation slide program. These programs are run on request.[23]
	Ohio & Erie Canal Related Structures	The Ohio & Erie Canal was constructed between 1825 and 1832. It successfully provided Ohio with a transportation system that permitted residents to conduct trade with the world. While it stopped functioning after the Great Flood of 1913, remnants and ruins of canal-related structures can be seen alongside the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail. Wayside exhibits explain the function of many of the structures visible from the trail. The Towpath Trail Sites to Visit list may be useful in directing visitors to the points of greatest interest.[24][25]
	Frazee House	The Frazee House was under construction in 1825 when the canal was dug through its front yard. It's a great place to visit for information about Western Reserve architecture and construction techniques as well as some tidbits about the Frazee family.[26]
	Boston Store	This early canal-era building was owned by the Boston Land & Manufacturing Company. The Boston Store now houses numerous exhibits relating to canal boat-building.[27]
	Everett Road Covered Bridge	The Everett Road Covered Bridge was constructed after a local resident was killed attempting to cross the swollen Furnace Run in 1877. It was destroyed by storm floodwaters in 1975 and reconstructed by the National Park Service in 1986. It is the only covered bridge in Summit County today. The bridge is located on Everett Road about 1⁄2 mile (800 m) west of Riverview Road near Everett Village.[28]
	Brandywine Village	Brandywine Village was conceived and founded by George Wallace, who built a sawmill next to Brandywine Falls in 1814. He encouraged others to move to the area, including his brother-in-law, who built a grist mill on the opposite side of the falls. With inexpensive land available and the presence of mills to provide lumber, flour, and corn meal, the Village of Brandywine began to grow. Today only a couple of buildings remain from the village but historic photos and remnants of building foundations allow visitors to remember the Brandywine Village that once was.[29]
	Civilian Conservation Corps Structures	The Civilian Conservation Corps was responsible for the construction of some of the most attractive buildings in the valley. Happy Days Visitor Center as well as the ledges, Octagon, and lake shelters were built of wormy American Chestnut wood in the late 1930s. These structures can be found in the Virginia Kendall Unit of the park.[30][31]
	The George Stanford House	James Stanford moved to Boston Township immediately after surveying and naming it in 1806. He and with his wife Polly and son George were the first homesteaders in what is today Cuyahoga Valley National Park (CVNP). His son George built a stately Greek revival home in about 1830. That home, located at 6093 Stanford Road, now serves as the Cuyahoga Valley HI-Stanford Hostel.[32]
	National Register of Historic Places	This page contains a complete list of National Register of Historic Places locations within CVNP. Some of these locations are privately owned.[33]
	Hale Farm & Village	Hale Farm & Village is an outdoor living history museum that is just a few miles and 150 years away. Costumed "pioneer" interpreters describe life in the Western Reserve during the formative years of the United States of America. The village features 21 historic buildings to tour and many talented craftspeople. It is operated by the Western Reserve Historical Society. Craft demonstrations include glassblowing, candlemaking, broommaking, spinning & weaving, cheesemaking, blacksmithing, woodworking, sawmilling, hearth cooking, and pottery making. The farm also features oxen, sheep, cows, and gardens.[34]

^[35]

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from the National Park Service document "http://www.nps.gov/archive/cuva/planavisit/todo/recreation/ohioerie.htm".

See also

• List of birds of Cuyahoga Valley National Park
• List of national parks of the United States

Further reading

• Cuyahoga Valley Trails Council (2007). The Trail Guide to Cuyahoga Valley National Park, 3rd Edition, OH: Gray & Company, Publishers. ISBN 978-1-59851-040-9

External links

• Official site: Cuyahoga Valley National Park