The Cuyahoga Valley Rail Road runs through the park. It takes you scenic tours. It was to be our destination for the day. Sadly, this is what we arrived to. This was expected as we knew we were running way late.
The Park follows the Ohio and Erie Canal that ran, oddly enough, from the Ohio River to Lake Erie. It was a major thoroughfare for barge traffic in the 1800s. It was dug by hand. Teams of mules pulled the barges up and down the canal. There were 41 locks along it's length. Here an old lock is partially filled with water.
As with many trade routes, businesses sprang up along them. This is the only mill that remains operating along the Ohio and Erie canal route.
The downstream view of a lock. This was a bridge that crossed the canal. The two small pieces of wood sticking up from the water are the remains of the lower lock door. From along the lock, you can see that there is a bit more there, but that is all the is visible from this view.
The Cuyahoga Valley Rail Road yard.
Downstream from the mill. You can see the turbine that provided power to the mill. It is the rusted object beneath the left set of 3 windows. What you're looking at here is the downstream side of the mill. This is the overflow area. Water coming down the canal could be diverted around the lock, through this area and then back into the channel below the lock. This helped regulate the water in the lock and provided power for the mills to operate.
The Frazee House along the Ohio and Erie Canal. This is on a rise on the east side of the canal. It was used as a stopping point and was quite nice for it's time. It is now in poor repair and is undergoing stabilization. I'm guessing that the goal is to make it sound enough to open to the public, but I don't know that for sure.
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