• Photo of the Beaver Marsh by Jeffrey Gibson.

    Cuyahoga Valley

    National Park Ohio

  • Canal Road Partially Closed Monday May 14, 2012

    Canal Road will be closed to all traffic from Hillside to Tinkers Creek Road beginning Monday, May 14 until early September, 2012, for construction. Although Hillside Road will be open, the recommended route to Canal Visitor Center is from Rockside Road More »

  • Ice Box Cave Closed

    Ice Box Cave, located in the Ritchie Ledges, is now closed in an effort to slow the spread of a disease to our bat population. More »

Doing Chores

Feeding chickens at Spicy Lamb Farm.

NPS/Ted Toth

Feeding chickens at The Spicy Lamb Farm.

Since the first Western Reserve farmers arrived in the Cuyahoga Valley, farm children balanced chores with education. On larger farms, parents needed their children's help to manage the farm and sell its products. In addition, children went to school, participated in extracurricular sports and activities, and completed their homework.


On the farm, children had important responsibilities, from milking cows to picking and selling corn at a roadside stand. Their labor affected the success of the family's farm. To earn extra money, teenagers and young adults often got part-time jobs building roads, drilling wells, or working for other local businesses.

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

Childhood Chores (21 seconds)
Dorothy Vani and her brother Myron Marfut describe their responsibilities on their mother's farm, located on Akron Peninsula Road.

Caring for Horses (22 seconds)
Carol Haramis, who owns and manages Heritage Farms in Peninsula with her husband, describes how she was responsible for taking care of horses when she was a child.





Did You Know?

Drawing of a mule driver on the Ohio & Erie Canal.

A young James A. Garfield, 20th President of the United States, worked briefly as a mule boy on the Ohio & Erie Canal, an important cultural resource within Cuyahoga Valley National Park.