Cuyahoga Valley National Park
Cuyahoga Valley National Park is in Cuyahoga County and Summit
County, Northeast Ohio. It is the only national park in Ohio.
According to the US National Park Service, the Cuyahoga Valley
is the 5th most frequently visited park in the National Park
Though it is a short distance from urban environments, the park
is worlds away. The winding Cuyahoga—the "Crooked River"-was
named by Mohawk (Native American tribe)—gives way to rolling
floodplain, steep valley walls and ravines, and lush upland
forests. Cuyahoga Valley National Park is a refuge for flora and
fauna, and provides both recreation and solitude for Northeast
Ohio's residents and visitors.
Cuyahoga Valley National Park History
The park has a rich cultural legacy as well. Exhibiting a
historical view of the heart of the industrial revolution,
visitor centers provide background on the remains of the Ohio &
Erie Canal, which traveled through the valley connecting the St.
Lawrence Seaway and the East Coast to the Gulf of Mexico in the
19th and early 20th centuries.
Sustainable farming ventures help preserve the valley's
agricultural heritage. The park offers an array of displays of
19th and early 20th Century sustainable farming while catering
to contemporary interests with art exhibits, outdoor concerts
and scenic railroad tours. It includes compatible use sites not
owned by the federal government, including several Metroparks in
Cuyahoga and Summit Counties, Blossom Music Center, and the Hale
Farm & Village. In the mid 1980s, the park hosted the National
Folk Festival.
