Almost 3 million visit CVNP each year, as it celebrates a half century birthday

by Dan Holland

According to National Park Service statistics, the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, was the twelfth most visited park in the United States in 2023, welcoming nearly 2.9 million visitors. Consisting of nearly 33,000 acres of reclaimed rural lands and former industrial sites along a 25-mile stretch of the Cuyahoga River Valley between Cleveland and Akron,  the park will mark its 50th year in December, as it was first established as the Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area when a bill for its creation was signed into law by President Gerald Ford on Dec. 27, 1974.

In 1967, hundreds of junk cars were set in place along the riverbank near Jaite in an attempt to stop bank erosion. The vehicles were later removed as part of cleanup efforts in the park. Photo provided by the CVNP.

Ford resisted signing the bill because the proposed parkland included urban areas, unlike existing national parks. Former Congressman John F. Seiberling spearheaded efforts to preserve the area by taking his idea to local park commissioners, the state of Ohio and eventually to the United States Congress. He flew to a western ski resort to meet with Ford and convince him to sign the bill, just a couple of days before it would expire.

Urban sprawl

Environmental concerns in the 1960s spurred initial interests to halt urban sprawl and overdevelopment of the valley. Sewage, factory waste and a host of other pollutants led to a series of fires on the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, with a fire in 1969 making national headlines.

U.S. Congressmen Ralph Regula and Charles Vanik of Ohio first toured the Cuyahoga Valley with Department of the Interior Secretary Stewart Udall in 1966 along with officials from Cleveland Metroparks and the Akron Metropolitan Park District to determine the feasibility of establishing a park. Congress had authorized the Land and Water Conservation Act in 1964 to support parkland acquisitions.

After the bill to create the recreation area was signed, the park service held its first public meeting to receive general input for a management plan and entered into an agreement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to begin a land acquisition program.

William Birdsell, the park’s first superintendent, signed the first CVNRA general management plan in January 1977. Birdsell was given discretion on how to best purchase properties throughout the valley either through an outright purchase program or by use of a scenic/preservation easement designation. There was a natural resistance to land being taken off local tax rolls.

Growing by leaps and bounds

A boundary adjustment in October 1976 added more than 900 acres to the park. In 1978, the state of Ohio turned over to the NPS the 430-acre Virginia Kendall State Park, containing the magnificent cliffs of Ritchie Ledges and several shelters built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. A second boundary adjustment in late 1978 added an additional 2,300 acres.

The Conservancy for the CVNP raised $7.1 million to have the Boston Mill Visitor Center built in the park. Photo by J. Stringer.

As a member of the House Appropriations Committee, Regula was successful in earmarking $200 million toward preservation and restoration of the CVNRA in 1989. The park subsequently achieved national park status on Oct. 11, 2000.

The NPS manages the Cuyahoga Valley National Park in tandem with other entities that own and manage properties within its boundaries.

Reclaimed and repurposed

A 47-acre plot of land known as the Krejci Dump, a former salvage yard and waste disposal facility in Boston Township, was acquired by the NPS in 1985. After a thorough analysis of the site by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency revealed toxic and hazardous materials in the soils, the area was designated a Superfund site, and lawsuits were filed against several large corporations, including Ford Motor, deemed responsible for the contamination. Removal of toxic components began in 1987, with full restoration of the site completed and certified in 2020.

Members of the local Sierra Club began working in tandem with the NPS in 1984 to clear out the area of a former auto salvage yard in the southern portion of the park. The area is now the site of Beaver Marsh, which includes a popular 565-foot-long boardwalk.

The Jaite Mill Historic District, with restored company town buildings, was acquired in 1985 and is now used as park headquarters at Riverview and Vaughan roads. The foundations of the former Jaite Paper Mill can be seen nearby. Vehicles that years earlier had been lining the riverbanks in an attempt to stop erosion, were removed as part of the cleanup effort.

Following the closure of the Richfield Coliseum in 1994 at the interchange of I-271 and state Route 303, the Gund family sold the 327-acre parcel to the Trust for Public Land. The arena was razed in 1999, the asphalt parking lots were removed and the ownership was transferred to the CVNP.

Conservancy

Hundreds of people volunteer for the nonprofit Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park that raised $7.1 million over ten years to create the Boston Mill Visitor Center.  They also raised money to purchase the former 213-acre Brandywine Golf Course on Akron-Peninsula Road, which was transferred to the park in early 2023.

Historic structures + new trail

Remnants of the Ohio & Erie Canal, which first opened in 1827, run the length of the park. Structures throughout the canal, including several locks, were added to the National Historic Register in 1979, with the canal itself being entered into the Register in 1983.

The NPS began a 15-year lease of the canal in 1988, which allowed for development plans of a recreational-use towpath. The Canal Visitor Center opened at the restored Lock 38 in 1989.

In 1990 John Debo, the third superintendent for the park, spearheaded the construction of the Towpath Trail, converting the crumbling towpath into a physical and mental connection of the valley parkland from Rockside Road in Independence to its southern tip at West Bath Road.  The 20-mile-long Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail was completed in 1993.

The Ritchie Ledges are in the Virginia Kendall Park, which the state of Ohio deeded over to the CVNP in 1978. Photo by D. Holland.

Additional restored structures within the park include Boston Store, Brandywine Village, Everett Road Covered Bridge, Frazee House, Peninsula Depot and Stanford House.

Trails

More than 125 miles of hiking trails are available within CVNP, including a section of the Buckeye Trail. Popular loop trails include the Ledges, Brandywine Gorge, Blue Hen Falls/Buttermilk Falls, Everett Covered Bridge, Oak Hill and Plateau, Old Carriage, Salt Run and others. The Valley Trail offers 24 miles of trail riding for equestrians.

Natural features

Brandywine Falls features a 65-foot-high cataract as its centerpiece, a boardwalk and two observation platforms. A number of smaller waterfalls are located throughout the park in addition to wooded ravines, streams, rolling hills, open fields, farmland and wetlands.

Visitors can stop by the Boston Mill Visitor Center located at 6947 Riverview Rd. in Peninsula or the Canal Exploration Center located at 7104 Canal Rd. in Valley View for information on the park. 

Next month ScripType Publishing will reveal interesting information about future plans for the park.

For information on the park, visit www.nps.gov/cuva.