• Image of bluebells in the spring

    Cuyahoga Valley

    National Park Ohio

There are park alerts in effect.
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  • Canal Visitor Center Closure

    Canal Visitor Center will be closed for construction, starting Monday, May 6, 2013. It will reopen with new exhibits in early 2014.

  • Riverview Road Closure

    Riverview Rd from the Cuyahoga Falls line north to the Peninsula line will be re-paved, beginning the week of April 22. Expect delays. Flaggers will direct traffic. Final resurfacing and striping will take place following the Memorial Day holiday.

  • Bald Eagle Closure in Effect

    RR tracks, and 30 foot right of way on either side, are closed to all foot traffic from the Rt. 82 Bridge at Station Rd, north to the RR tracks at. The Cuyahoga R. downstream of the Brecksville Dam to the Fitzwater Rd Bridge is closed to water activities.

Changing Landscape

Hunt Farm Visitor Information Center
The Hunt Farm in Everett now serves as the Hunt Farm Visitor Information Center.
©Jeffrey Gibson
 

The landscape of the Cuyahoga Valley has witnessed centuries of changes as farmers struggled to use the land to feed and support their families. Over time agriculture intensified, technology advanced, and properties exchanged owners.

Later generations of landowners were sometimes members of the same family and sometimes not. Some new owners continued to plow the land, while others pursued different goals. During the establishment of Cuyahoga Valley National Park from the mid-1970s through the mid-1980s, the federal government purchased many properties. The park brought new hopes for preservation, but also new challenges related to increasing tourism and shrinking local tax bases. The Cuyahoga Valley is a dynamic landscape, continuously adapting to new cultural influences.

 
Oral history audio.
In Their Own Words
Click the topics to hear stories about Cuyahoga Valley life.

Land for the National Park (2 minutes 31 seconds)
Hazel Broughton, who grew up in Everett, describes residents' fears and concerns about their homes and farms during the creation of the national park in the 1970s.

Farming Fades (47 seconds)
Martin Johnston, a farmer from Valley View, talks about the decreasing number of farms in the Cuyahoga valley.

 

Past and present residents have witnessed natural and cultural changes that impacted their decisions to live and farm in the Cuyahoga Valley. From the first stages of national park development, local residents expressed concerns about what would happen to their properties, neighborhoods, and way of life.

Click on the links to the left to learn more about some of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park's historic farms, and hear stories from residents who experienced many of these changes.

Click to learn more about creating Ohio's National Park.

Did You Know?

Image of Civilian Conservation Corps statue outside Happy Days Visitor Center.

During the Great Depression, the "boys of Company 567" of the Civilian Conservation Corps helped shape the landscape that would later become Cuyahoga Valley National Park by constructing buildings, playfields, and a lake, as well as planting over 100 acres of trees.