Cuyahoga Valley National Park
— — the river that came back.
Not only on a wall.
“A national park slipped between two Ohio cities, 33,000 acres along a river that famously caught fire in 1969 and helped write the Clean Water Act. Brandywine Falls drops 65 feet through Berea sandstone. The old canal towpath runs the valley floor; beaver dams have returned to the wetlands. Quiet, recovered, working again.
Cuyahoga Valley National Park, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Cuyahoga Valley National Park stretches about 33,000 acres along 22 miles of the Cuyahoga River between Cleveland and Akron in northeast Ohio. Congress designated the area a National Recreation Area in 1974 and re-designated it a national park in 2000, the only one in the state. The river itself drops through Sharon Conglomerate and Berea sandstone, the same rock that shaped Brandywine Falls and the Ritchie Ledges. The Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail follows the historic 1827 canal alignment from end to end inside the park.
The Cuyahoga caught fire on the morning of June 22, 1969 in downtown Cleveland, oil slicks on the surface lit by sparks from a passing train. It was not the river's first fire, but it became the famous one. The image helped pass the 1972 Clean Water Act and the 1970 founding of the Environmental Protection Agency. Today, populations of steelhead and great blue heron return each spring, beavers maintain wetland complexes around Beaver Marsh, and the river runs clear enough through the park to support paddling most weeks of summer.
The Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad runs heritage diesel trains the length of the park most days from May through October, with a Bike Aboard programme letting cyclists ride one way and roll the other. Brandywine Falls is reached by a short boardwalk from the upper lot on Stanford Road. The Ledges trail circles the Ritchie Ledges, exposed Sharon Conglomerate climbing 30 feet above the forest floor. Entry is free of charge. The park is open daily; the visitor centres operate seasonal hours and the Boston Mill centre serves as the main hub.