Thursday, September 27, 2012

Metro Parks Serving Summit County - Deep Lock Quarry


Deep Lock Quarry is a 73 acre park within the boundaries of Cuyahoga Valley National Park.  It is owned and managed by Metro Parks, Serving Summit County and is open from 6 AM until 11 PM daily.  Metro Parks, Serving Summit County has been a partner with the National Park Service since 1974 when the Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area was established by Congress.  The two organizations coordinate closely on wide range of visitor services activities and cultural and natural resource management issues.  From the parking lot on Riverview Road near its intersection with Major Road, a 1.2 mile round trip trail leads to the abandoned quarry that produced stone for the nearby Deep Lock (#28) on the Ohio and Erie Canal.  Later, workers at a site near the quarry produced millstones for the American Cereal Works, a predecessor to Quaker Oats, in Akron.  The first part of the trail is paved and heads trackside  where the Quarry Trail branches off to the left.   In just a few minutes, a pair of millstones can be seen on the right.  After a steady climb, piles of abandoned or discarded stones appear and then the quarry face comes into view.


Millstones

Some stones are very large

Test fit before shipping

Lock wall capstones

Rough cut to nearly finished

Berea Sandstone on the quarry face

View from the top of the quarry wall
(note the person sitting on the park bench)

Deep Lock Quarry also includes Lock 28 and the towpath south of the river crossing.  It is one of four areas within the national park owned and managed by Metro Parks, Serving Summit County.  The others are Hampton Hills, O'Neil Woods, and Furnace Run.  The regulations and operating hours are somewhat different in these sections of the national park.

The Metro Parks, Serving Metro County website is http://www.summitmetroparks.org.
The Cuyahoga Valley National Park website is http://www.nps.gov/cuva/index.htm.

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