Skip to content
  • Home
  • Parks
  • Zoo
  • Golf
  • Dining
  • About
  • Submit a tip
  • Contact the Police: 440.331.5530
  • Emergency: 440.333.4911
  • Users with low vision can activate this option to help them read text.
  • Users prone to seizures can deactivate this option to ensure that the site does not cause any blinking animations.
  • Allow content to change automatically
  • Accessibility Information
  • Cart
  • Sign In
Home
  • Visit
  • Calendar
  • Education
  • Recreation
  • Shop
  • Support
View All Results

    Where the Towpath Ends - Part 1 of 2

    Parks | Education | Blogs | Notes From The Field | March 2016

    Where the Towpath Ends - Part 1 of 2

    Posted: March 16, 2016
    Share Post
    Archive
      No data found

    Where the Towpath Ends – Part 1 of 2

    Those great philosophers, the Rolling Stones, once posited, “You can’t always get what you want. But if you try sometimes you might find you get what you need.” The Towpath Trail is the name of a transportation and recreation trail which will eventually extend from New Philadelphia to Cleveland. It basically follows an historic towpath (path traversed by animals towing canal boats) running alongside the Ohio & Erie Canal for as long as practicable. 


    image courtesy of Cleveland Memory, Special Collections,
    Michael Schwartz Library, Cleveland State University


    But planners ran into major challenges near the northern end of the Ohio & Erie Canal Reservation (OECR). Namely, the canal bed disappears and the historic route is no longer accessible. Heading north into Cleveland, planners need to be creative.


    [Towpath Trail looking north, just south of the 6 mile marker. Ohio & Erie Canal Reservation – photo DK]


    In the picture above, you’ll see a paved section of Towpath Trail with the old canal bed to the right providing a home to trees and brush. The paved path running up the hill to the right is on a slag heap, which is essentially a pile of leftovers from the steel-making process. From north of where that path intersects the Towpath Trail, the old canal bed has been filled in, except for about 100 yards of canal bed that remain between some parking lots in the area of Canal Basin Park in downtown Cleveland. Essentially, the historic towpath alongside the canal now ends about where the trail up to Furnace Ridge begins because of fill. The northernmost half mile of Towpath Trail in OECR rejoins its historic route, but the canal bed is long gone beneath tons of fill.

    PREV POST The Many Lives of the Gordon Park Bathhouse
    NEXT POST Coyote Q&A
    Stay Up To Date
    • 4101 Fulton Parkway, Cleveland OH 44144
    • 216.635.3200
    • generalinfo@clevelandmetroparks.com
    • Police:
    • Submit a tip
    • 440.331.5530
    • Emergency: 440.333.4911
    • Text Emergencies to 911 (Cuyahoga County)
    • Parks
      • Visit
      • Calendar
      • Education
      • Recreation
      • Shop
      • Support
    • Zoo
      • Tickets & Attractions
      • Programs & Events
      • Wildlife Conservation
      • Education
      • Animals
      • Buy Tickets
    • Golf
      • Courses
      • Lessons & Events
      • Pricing
      • About
      • Book A Tee Time
    • About
      • Cleveland Metroparks Organization
      • Education
      • Recreation
      • Conservation
      • Employment
      • Contact Us
    • Programs & Events
    • News & Press
    Home
    © 2019 Cleveland Metroparks. All Rights Reserved.