Save the Gorge: A Fairlawn company that wanted to build a hydro plant in Gorge Metro Park scrapped its plans June 12, 2009. The project would have led to the construction of roads, the destruction of old growth forests, the loss of sensitive habitat for numerous rare and endangered species, poor water quality and the destruction of park views and aesthetics.
The Akron Beacon Journal reported June 14, 2009: "A long and heated battle over adding hydroelectric facilities to a Cuyahoga River dam between Akron and Cuyahoga Falls appears over." MORE
In 1759, a 12-year-old girl was captured in Pennsylvania by Delaware Indians and reportedly brought to a cave in present-day Gorge Metro Park, where she lived as a child of Chief Netawatwees. Young Mary Campbell, for whom the cave is named, unwittingly became the first white child in what was then the wild frontier of the Western Reserve. Mary later settled with the tribe in a village along the banks of the Cuyahoga River, not far from the cave. She was released in 1764 after a treaty ended the French and Indian War.
Thousands of years before Mary's adventures, the Gorge was cut when glacial debris blocked the former route of the Cuyahoga River (near present-day downtown Akron) and caused the river to find a new course. Today, the rushing water flows over a shale riverbed, between ledges made of Sharon conglomerate sandstone. Oak, blackgum, tulip and yellow birch trees are common in the woods that cover the valley walls.
This 155-acre Metro Park was made possible in 1930, when the Northern Ohio Traction & Light Company, the predecessor of Ohio Edison, donated 144 acres of land to Metro Parks. Previously, the area hosted a park of a different sort – the High Bridge Glens Amusement Park, which opened in 1882 and featured a thrilling rollercoaster and a dance hall. |