Forest Hill Park (11/6/2016)

Sunday, November 6, 2016
Yesterday we canvassed for Ohio Together to get out the vote (GOTV) with Jan & Kirby who traveled from the state of Washington to help tip the scales in this swing state of ours.
This morning we had time off before starting to canvass again at noon.
We took a walk through Forest Hill Park, and heeded the caution that animals were not allowed. Gus had to stay home. However, we saw many people with their dogs! It turns out that the Cleveland Heights section of the park does not allow pets, but East Cleveland does allow dogs on a leash.
The Forest Hill area was once the estate of John D Rockefeller, who later sold it to his son, John Rockefeller, Jr.  In 1939, John Jr donated part of the land to the cities of East Cleveland and Cleveland Heights, stipulating it be used for public recreation. The park opened in 1942.
Across the street, the land was developed by John Jr as a residential and commercial subdivision called Forest Hill. We have already written a post about the 81 French Norman style "Rockefeller homes."

Maple fall foliage

Sumac fall foliage

Blacksmith shop

View towards Lake Erie from the hilltop behind
the site of the mansion; now a sledding hill

John D Rockefeller purchased the property in 1873 to open a "water cure resort" based in a Victorian mansion. It quickly went out of business and the mansion became the summer home, "The Homestead," of the Rockefellers, both when they lived in Cleveland and after they moved to New York City in 1884. John D did not return here after his wife died in 1915. The mansion burned down in 1917.

Jan and Kent stand at the top of the hill

The site of the mansion (the three benches mark the top of the hill)

A steel footbridge (1939-1940, designed by Wilbur Watson and Associates
with architects F. B. Walker and A. D. Taylor) faced with Euclid bluestone;
the bridge was built with Works Progress Administration (WPA) funds;
later a wire "cage" was added to prevent suicides

Footbridge detail

The man-made lagoon and boathouse

Kent and Jan in a fishing dock

Dollar spot fungus on a rock?

Abandoned apartment building on the edge of the park

Dugway Brook East Branch disappears into a culvert under the park

Falls of Dugway Brook, a bluestone brook
through the local feldspathic sandstone

Layers of bluestone

Waterfalls over layers of bluestone

Dugway Brook detail

Layers of bluestone of a cliff

Yellow path