Ohio’s National Park: Cuyahoga Valley

History and conservation efforts come together in this unique national park

A popular place for being enveloped in the serenity of the park’s nature, Ledges Overlook is a stopping point along the Ledges Trail. NPS

Once the hunting and fishing grounds of the Delaware, Catawba, Iroquois, and Shawnee Native American tribes, Cuyahoga Valley National Park is one of only three large parks in the Great Lakes Basin. Designated as a national park in 2000, the area has a history of human habitation that dates back to Neolithic times. It’s a unique landscape where humans and nature have interacted to shape an outdoor playground featuring natural, man-made, and private attractions.

The park is a 51,000-square-mile natural wonderland that is cut in half by the Cuyahoga River and connects Akron, Cleveland, and Northeast Ohio in the heart of one of the United States’ most heavily industrialized regions. Reclamation efforts have returned the valley to its pristine natural state.

The Lenapé Nation

Long before Cuyahoga was a national park, it was home to the Lenapé. Considered the original tribe of the Native Nations of the upper Ohio Valley, the Lenapé (or Delaware) were pushed farther and farther west into this region by successive wars and the expansion of the European nations on the continent. Their agricultural, hunting, fishing, and trading activities greatly enriched their intricate society. However, pressures from the Europeans and the demand for furs made the tribes refocus on hunting and widespread commerce involving the fur trade.