Deep Lock Quarry Panel

This exhibit stands where a connector branches off the Towpath Trail to Deep Lock Quarry.

NPS/Arrye Rosser

Quick Facts

Location:

Park at Deep Lock Quarry Metro Park, 5779 Riverview Road Peninsula, Ohio 44264. Walk downhill to the Towpath Trail. Accessible access via Lock 29 Trailhead.

Significance:

Deep Lock Quarry is a unit of the Summit Metro Parks. It preserves an early Berea sandstone quarry that provided block for the Ohio & Erie Canal locks and millstones for the precursor to Quaker Oats. It shipped products locally and internationally.

Designation:

Buckeye Trail; Ohio & Erie Canal District; Ohio and Erie Canalway National Heritage Area; Ohio to Erie Trail

Amenities

3 listed

Audio Description, Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Wheelchair Accessible

This wayside exhibit is along the Towpath Trail near Lock 28, also known as Deep Lock. A connector trail leads to nearby Deep Lock Quarry Metro Park. Berea sandstone was mined here by a series of Peninsula quarries, operated through the years by various owners. Blocks were used to build the Ohio & Erie Canal. When that was completed, stone from the quarry was shipped out via the waterway. At one time, the quarry sent a canalboat a day to Akron or Cleveland. Ferdinand Schumacher used the Berea to create millstones to grind oats. His company, American Cereal Works, in Akron became Quaker Oats. Quarry products were sold as far away as Japan, Germany, and Russia.

Initially, masons and stoneworkers carved and shaped blocks using only hand tools and simple machines such as derricks. In time, drills and powered machines made the work easier. Imagine the sandstone dust and never-ending pounding these workers endured to carve the stone.

To explore Deep Lock Quarry Metro Park, cross the footbridge. If you bear left, the paved, multipurpose connector leads up a steep hill to the trailhead parking lot. It has restrooms. If you turn right, the Quarry Trail is unpaved and 1.4 miles. Be aware, there are sharp drop-offs, so watch your step.

The wheelchair accessible route to this exhibit is north or south along the Towpath Trail.

Tags: cuyahoga valley national park, ohio, midwest, transportation, transportation history, national register of historic places, nr, historic district, cultural landscapes, ohio and erie canal, canal, towpath trail, ohio to erie trail, industrial heartland trail network, ohio and erie canalway, quarry, quarrying, geology, sandstone, lock