Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Ohio

While we were staying in Medina, Ohio visiting friends and family, we went to visit Cuyahoga Valley National Park, which is located south of Cleveland, starting in Bedford and going south near Akron. Jim and I both grew up in the Cleveland area and I and my girlfriend Karen would ride our bikes from Maple Heights to Bedford Reservation and explore Tinkers Creek Gorge. 

The little "*" that you see between Broadway and Dunham is where I grew up. As you can see, it's not that far from Bedford Reservation. I am glad that this wonderful natural area was eventually turned into a national park and will be here for years to come for all to enjoy. There is so much to do and see in the Park, that we did not get to see, so I am attaching a link to some Getty Images that were taken of the park for your enjoyment.

This is the southern section of the park. We went to the Boston Mill Visitor Center, but that was all we saw. As you can see, there is so much to see. There is a Scenic Railroad that takes you through the park, as well as a bike/walking path called the Towpath Trail. I sure wish we would have taken the time to take the scenic train through the park.

Cuyahoga River

As you can see, there is a lot of construction happening right here. They are building a new walking bridge across the river. Did you know that the Cuyahoga once was thought to be a lost river? It caught on fire! The Cuyahoga River is a symbol of what is possible when people work together for clean water. As an industrial river flowing through Akron and Cleveland, it became internationally famous for its pollution. Today the river is a water trail and the centerpiece of the national park. 

In 1969 oil and debris in the river caught fire in an industrial section of Cleveland, north of the park. It was the last in a series of fires that occurred over the previous 100 years. Nationwide, people began talking about the dirty Cuyahoga River. The fire sparked local and federal action to protect clean water.

The Cleveland-Akron Bag Company opened here in 1898. Boston became a company town. Today's Visitor Center (Boston Mill) served as a company store and living quarters. It sold groceries and other merchandise. 

Boston Mill Visitor Center

Machine Room - Cleveland Akron Bag Company

The factory employed as many as 200 workers, many with Polish immigrant backgrounds. 

In 1918 the bag company recruited Julia and Chester Zielenski to run its store. Previously the couple ran a small store in a Polish and Russian neighborhood in Cleveland. They bought the Boston business and operated it after the mill closed.

Clara Zielenski, 1929

Clara was born and raised in the visitor center building. Her mother, Julia, managed the general store. Her father, Chester, worked as the butcher and managed the boots, tools, and men's clothing. Clara remembers valley residents enjoying her family's hamburgers, cookies, and large oranges.

The bag company needed clean water to make paper. Workers dammed the Cuyahoga River and built a filter house. Unfortunately, water pollution flowing from Akron became overwhelming. In 1919 the township trustees petitioned the state. Akron built a new water treatment plant in 1928, but it was too late for the factory. Lack of clean water contributed to it closing in 1923. 

The dam being dynamited to reduce flooding

Over 500 generations of people have lived in the Cuyahoga Valley. As they did so, they transformed the land -- and the land transformed their lives. The park protects archeological sites and over 400 historic buildings that reveal the beliefs and practices of past generations. Today, these help us understand how people and the valley changed one another.

13,000 to 3,000 years ago people followed large Ice Age mammals such as the Mammoth into the valley. As glaciers melted, the valley took its present shape. Plants and animals changed with the warming climate. People adopted their way of life. Hundreds of generations passed.

3,000 to the 1500s people increased their use of cultivated plants and new technologies such as pottery. Adena and Hopewell traditions flourished in central and southern Ohio, influencing the Cuyahoga Valley. People here built earthworks and obtained items through elaborate trade networks. By the late pre-contact, maize farmers established year-round villages.

Thayendanegea (also known as Joseph Brant) was born in Ohio in 1743. Some historic documents list his birthplace as along the Cuyahoga River. He became prominent Mohawk leader, resisting the loss of native lands to American settlers.

By the 1600s, the valley's original settlers were gone. Violence and diseases on the East Coast had spilled westward. American Indians from other areas moved into the valley to trade furs or seek refuge, having lost their homes elsewhere.

In 1795 the state of Connecticut once claimed northeast Ohio as its western reserve. The state sold its land to the Connecticut Land Company. The company then resold it to white settlers starting in 1795. This new wave of migration started slowly. Many came here to farm. 

In 1827 builders completed the Ohio & Erie Canal through the valley. The canal provided an important link in a national transportation network. Growth in agriculture, industry and development soon followed.

In the mid 1800s, Blacks escaping slavery in the south used the canal as a route along the Underground Railroad. The "Railroad" wasn't an actual train; instead, it was a way to travel from slavery toward freedom using any means possible. Boston and Peninsula grew quickly, their boatyards and businesses serving the canal traffic. Cleveland, a small settlement founded in 1796, became a port city serving the canal and Lake Erie. Akron got its start in 1825 after speculators donated land for the canal.

By 1880 the Valley Railway opened to ship coat from central Ohio to Cleveland. It also offered passenger service. Depots sprung up along the route. Valley residents now had much quicker access to Cleveland and Akron. After the Civil War, new industries transformed cities. Cleveland became a center for iron, steel, machine tools, petroleum, chemicals, paints and automobiles. Akron became known as the Rubber Capital of the World for its leadership in tire production. The region's population grew as Blacks from the south, white Americans from Appalachia, and new European immigrants moved to these cities seeking work.

The Cuyahoga was not the first river to sculpt the valley's bedrock. Before glaciers buried its work, an ancestral river cut a deep valley near ours. Then, between two million and 10,000 years ago, an ice age gripped the planet. Glaciers filled the ancient valley with gravel, sand, silt and clay. When glaciers retreated, the regions experienced rapid changes. A succession of lakes filled lowlands. As the Great Lakes took shape, modern rivers emerged. The Cuyahoga River sliced through glacial deposits, re-carving a valley. 

When we left the Visitor Center, we drove south along Riverview Road to the Ira trailhead and walked to the "Beaver Marsh." The Beaver Marsh used to be a used car salvage yard.

Burrell Tonkin's auto repair shop and salvage yard was 
full of car bumpers, tires, and auto parts

Starting in the 19th century, land development drained the original wetland. The Ohio & Erie Canal came through. Darwin Carter had a dairy farm on part of the property. Just before the National Park Service purchased the land, an auto repair shop was here, surrounded by old cars and worn-out parts. During the establishment of the Park, efforts by humans and beavers transformed this site back into a wetland.

In 1984 the Portage Trail Group of the Sierra Club organized a site clean-up. Together with the National Park Service, they hauled away car parts, bed springs, and accumulated trash. Plans for the property were unresolved; the young park was considering building a parking lot here. Around the same time, beavers started returning to the valley. They had been absent from Ohio for over a century, trapped out for their fur. Beavers built a system of dams that flooded the area. By altering their environment and creating deep water, beavers can enter their lodge underwater an swim to gather building supplies and food, avoiding the dangers of land. 

Humans cleaned up and preserved the land. Beavers restored natural water levels, awakening long-dormant seeds in the soil. Wetland and plants returned, creating habitat for diverse wildlife.

Blue Heron

The Beaver Marsh is located 1/4 mile north of the Ira Trailhead along the Towpath Trail. The easy walk is accessible by wheelchair or stroller. A boardwalk was built across the Marsh connecting the Towpath on each end. Along the Towpath is part of the Ohio & Erie Canal, specifically Lock 26. 

Locks act like elevators, raising and lowering boats. It took 44 locks to manage the 395-foot elevation rise between Cleveland and Akron.

The Ohio & Erie Canal celebrates the first 110 miles of waterway that helped the nation grow. Dug by hand from 1825 to 1832, the Ohio & Erie Canal was the first canal west of the Appalachian Mountains. It connected Lake Erie to the Ohio River, providing a key link in an interstate shipping route. People and products flowed across America. Canal towns became major commercial centers. Ohio grew in population and wealth. 

Lock 26 -- Life in Cheesedom: Canal, farm and railroad ~~ all played a part in the lives of Charles and Susan Carter. They lived in a house next to Lock 26 and made a living in various ways. Charles served as a canal boat captain and locktender.  The family also raised corn and hay on their 56-acre farm to feed their dairy cows. 

Charles and Susan Carter's house bordered the canal towpath at Lock 26. Their son Darwin lived next door and helped run the family dairy farm. Though the community did not have any stores, taverns, or churches, Ira was a distribution point for dairy production. The Carters and other local farmers brought milk to the Hawkins Cheese Factory for processing. It was one of many in the region, which became known as "Cheesedom." From the nearby railroad depot, farmers shipped their cheese and fresh milk to urban areas.

In this self-portrait, photographer Edwin Bell Howe stands at the railroad depot with stacks of cheese wheels. The depot was across from the cheese factory at the intersection of Ira and Riverview Roads. The depot was named for Ira Hawkins, whose land was crossed by the tracks.

Map showing 1860 canals in brown and natural
waterways in blue

The first step towards uniting a country divided by geography began in 1817 with construction of the Erie Canal. This canal linked New York's Hudson River with Lake Erie at Buffalo. The Erie Canal opened in 1825, immediately benefitting New York and beyond.

The Erie Canal was the beginning of a national transportation system, connecting ports on the Great Lakes with eastern markets. To reach into the Midwest, America needed canals built farther inland. Seeing the benefits of the Erie Canal, Ohio caught canal fever. 

By 1825, plans to link Lake Erie with the Ohio River were underway. Many routes were under consideration, but a continental divide in northern Ohio created a major obstacle. Geography and politics both affected decisions about the canal's route. At the divide's highest point, today's Summit County, the canal would need additional sources of water. The Cuyahoga River and the nearby Portage Lakes could supply that water.

When Simon Perkins offered land in what is now Akron, the state decided to route the canal through the Cuyahoga Valley. Power and money motivated land owners, such as Peninsula's Herman Bronson, who offered free land to the state -- if the canal would pass through their property.

Using design specifications from the Erie Canal, construction on the Ohio & Erie Canal began throughout the state in 1825. It took two years of hand digging to complete the section from Cleveland to Akron, and five more years to finish all the sections. Dug largely by Irish and German immigrants, this four-foot deep ditch stretched 308 miles to Portsmouth on the Ohio River. By the fall of 1832, the canal promised passage from Cleveland to Cincinnati in 80 hours, a trip that had one taken weeks.

Records indicate immediate profits from the canal. Prior to the completion of the Ohio & Erie Canal, Cleveland merchants shipped 1,000 barrels of flour to Buffalo for transport to eastern markets, sometimes for as low as $0.10/ barrel. Six years later, 250,000 barrels of flour flowed through Cleveland, headed east to places like New York City. Cheaper than imported European grain, American-grown grain often sold for as high as $1/barrel.

Other businesses began to grow and flourish along the canal. In the Cuyahoga Valley, mills -- such as Alexander's Mill in today's Valley View and the Thomas and Moody Mill in Peninsula -- were soon grinding grain to ship eastward. People built stores and taverns to fill the needs of the farmers and canal travelers. A local example was Moses and Polly Gleeson's tavern at Lock 38, now Canal Visitor Center.

Iron ore, coal, oats, pork, lard, cheese, salt, wool, and even whisky joined the exports to the East. As more land was cleared for farming, people also began shipping excess timber. Increasing prosperity meant eastern markets shipped more goods west. These included American-made cotton fabric and imported coffee, tea, sugar and china. As transportation costs dropped, these goods became more affordable.

The canal brought other, more subtle changes. These included changes to foodways and imperceptions. New foods, such as salertus (baking powder), were imported, which made use of new technology -- the cook stove and Ohio-made cast ironware. Recipes, fashion, news, and ideas now traveled at unheard of rates. Where information had taken 30 days to arrive in Ohio from New York, it now took a mere 10 days.

Cities boomed wherever the canal went. During the first decade, property values all along the canal increased, sometimes as much as 360% from pre-canal days. As people moved to Ohio, the canals provided the nation with mobility. By 1850, due largely to the canal and the people it brought, Ohio was the third most populated state.

The Ohio & Erie Canal opened up Ohio and expanded America's market economy. Americans were able to buy and sell more basic goods with each other; lessening their dependence on foreign imports. Ohio's canal system helped set the stage for the young country to become a formidable player in the world economy. 

The Flood of 1913 damaged the canal, making it too expensive to repair. Afterwards, some use of the canal continued. For example, a steel mill in Cleveland purchased the canal water for industrial purposes and keeps water in a section north of State Route 82. 

Realizing the history and scenic values of the canal and its surroundings, in the 1970s citizens began to campaign for their preservation. The Ohio & Erie Canal became the spine of Cuyahoga Valley National Park, established in 1974. In 1996, it also became the backbone of the new Ohio & Erie Canalway. This national heritage area continues to improve life here in northeast Ohio. The canal no longer carries goods, news, or people. Instead, its adjacent Towpath Trail transports hikers, cyclists, and horse riders. Today, the Ohio & Erie Canal leaves change in its wake, providing people in urban areas with green spaces for recreation and enjoyment.