• 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. Work is expected to be completed by Memorial Day weekend.

  • Towpath Trail Closure

    NPS has closed the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail from Hillside Road to Stone Road in Valley View. A section of the trail is not passable due to hazardous conditions caused by erosion. Towpath is expected to be open by Memorial Day, May 27.

  • 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.

Point Farm

Nathanial Point farmhouse.

Nathanial Point's farmhouse.

NPS Collection

In a line of evergreen and maple trees, on a section of land that was once an ancient terrace of the Cuyahoga River, stands the Point Farm (now operated as Goatfeathers Point Farm). Just outside Everett, it is located on Akron Peninsula Road, north of Bolanz Road. From the 1870s farmhouse, Nathanial Point, Sr. could look north to his fields, east to his barn, south to a steep wooded hillside, and west to the bank of the Cuyahoga River. For almost a century (1857 to 1940), generations of Points lived and worked here. The history of the Point Farm illustrates how, after the Civil War, dairy farming and grain production rose in significance in Northeast Ohio.

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

The Landscape (1 minute)
Helyn Toth, great-granddaughter of Nathanial Point, describes what the Point Farm looked like.

 

Business of Farming
 Nathanial Point's successful dairy business took advantage of newer forms of transportation, including the canal and railroad, which carried his products to Akron. The Point family also raised other livestock, vegetables, and grains. Beginning with three or four cows, Nathanial built up a prosperous operation that depended on the accessibility of the city, the fertility of his land, and the perseverance of his family.

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

Dairy Farming (1 minute 7 seconds)
Milk House (32 seconds)
Helyn Toth describes the Point Farm's dairy operation and how changes in transportation supported the local dairy industry.

 
Goatfeathers Point Farm.

The Point-Biro property is now the Goatfeathers Point Farm, a Countryside Initiative farm.

©Jeffrey Gibson

Changes through Time
In 1940, after the death of young Nathanial Point III, the family decided to leave their farm. Daniel Biro, a Hungarian immigrant, later purchased the property. His subsistence farm supported his four children and their families during lean times. They moved a large farmhouse from nearby Quick Road and split it in two, so everyone had a home. The Biros made additional income by selling gravel and topsoil.

During the establishment of Cuyahoga Valley National Park, the National Park Service bought the historic farm. For a time, it was used as office space for the park friends' group. By the end of the 20th century, it was rehabilitated and became a Countryside Initiative farm. The property's agricultural heritage has been restored. Terry and Cindy Smith now run the Goatfeathers Point Farm here, humanely raising pastured meat goats and heritage breed turkeys.

 
Point Farm barn.
One of the Point Farm barns is still in use today (now a part of the Goatfeathers Point Farm).
©Jeffrey Gibson

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.