Still a Plum: Plum Creek Park Celebrates 40 Years

By John Gladden, Communications Coordinator

It’s telling that among Medina County Park District’s first three parks to open to the public were a former gravel pit (Green Leaf Park in 1972) and a former township landfill (Plum Creek Park in 1980).

It was as if to say to this upstart park system: “Hey, we’ve got this land … it’s got a few issues … it’s not good for much else. Why not see what you can do with it?”

The fact the park district took on those challenges is a testament to the fearlessness and dedication of park commissioners, staff, Friends of the Parks, and volunteers, who willed these parks into existence with very few resources other than their own resourcefulness.

This year, as Medina County Park District marks its 55th anniversary, that former landfill turned park celebrates its 40th anniversary with a new primitive trail that opens up more of the park for exploration, and with the start of the Plum Creek Greenway — an exciting joint project that will connect the park to the city of Brunswick.

The park district originally leased 28 acres of what’s known today as Plum Creek Park South from Brunswick Hills Township in 1972. A landfill on the site was in operation from 1955–67. In 1978, the township and park district entered into a 99-year lease on the property for $1 per year.

The adjacent Plum Creek Park North came into being with a 50-acre purchase from the Herman Mayer estate in 1977, through grants from the Land and Water Conservation Fund and Letha House Foundation.

As a side note, the park district’s financial resources were sparse — its first tax levy wasn’t approved by voters until 1989. To demonstrate it had the matching funds required to apply for the $75,000 LWCF grant, the park district listed the $75,000 value of Theda Schleman’s 67-acre Lafayette Township farm, which she had donated in 1976. Schleman Nature Preserve and Buckeye Woods Park would not open to the public until almost a decade later, but it was Theda’s timely gift that helped make Plum Creek Park a reality when it opened on Aug. 9, 1980.

The Mayer property came with a small building that filled a big need for the young park district as its first nature center. Formerly a family retreat, the new Trailside Nature/Visitor Center gave naturalists and visitors a warm, dry place for programs. Heated by a Ben Franklin Stove, it housed a weather station, a honey bee observation hive, and an office. It hosted senior citizen groups, students, Scouts and the park district’s “Junior Naturalist” program. Now a reservable lodge, the former nature center sits next to a picturesque half-acre pond, surrounded by pine trees planted by the Mayer family.

By 1986, Plum Creek was MCPD’s busiest park and the site of community Easter egg hunts and Halloween bonfires, in addition to bringing in hundreds of visitors a year for park programs. Township trustees briefly entertained a suggestion of selling the original 28-acre parcel, but in the end, decided residents were receiving a lot more benefit from the park at $1 per year than they would if the land was sold for a one-time lump sum. Today, Plum Creek Park offers restrooms, a playground, picnic shelters, fishing, and a paved 0.5-mile all-persons trail.

Additional property has been added to the park over the years, including 15 acres in 1990 and 74 acres in 1995. In 2002, the park district had the opportunity to purchase an adjacent 68 acres of mature forest and meadows slated to become a residential development. Once again, the park district faced a challenge of raising matching dollars to apply for a grant to buy the property. Teaming up with Medina Summit Land Conservancy (a forerunner of today’s Western Reserve Land Conservancy) and Friends of Plum Creek Park, more than $100,000 was raised to complete the purchase with a Clean Ohio Fund grant.

A recently opened primitive trail designed by the park district’s natural resource staff may be the crowning jewel of the now almost 300-acre park. It’s so new, the trail doesn’t yet appear on park maps, but it’s well-marked for hiking. Located off the Tulip Tree Trail in Plum Creek Park North, it arcs approximately 1.9 miles west and then south to Foskett Road. It’s an out-and-back trail, not a loop, so walking its entire length is almost a four-mile commitment — five miles if you count traveling the Tulip Tree Trail to and from the parking lot.

For those who are up for a workout, it provides a rewarding experience. By design, primitive trails get visitors closer to nature. They are typically narrower than traditional trails, with more challenging terrain. In addition to woodland views and sweeping vistas across adjoining farm fields, a recent hike on a hot summer day yielded sightings of a barred owl, wild turkeys, hairy woodpeckers, and a raccoon chilling in a creek.

And there’s more. The city of Brunswick has started survey and design work for Phase I of the Plum Creek Greenway, funded by the Clean Ohio Trail Fund. It’s a 10-foot-wide paved trail that will extend from the existing paved trail near the Plum Creek Park South parking lot to the city’s Mooney Park, located just north of Sleepy Hollow Road. The city plans to begin construction this fall and complete the trail in the summer of 2021. Future phases of the trail will extend to Brunswick Lake Park and points north.

The park district will build the portion of the trail inside Plum Creek Park — widening and paving a section of the current natural-surface Tulip Tree Trail. The park district hopes to follow the same construction timeframe as the city, to keep the projects in sync.

After four decades, this park is still growing, still providing new ways to experience nature, and still a plum, in more ways than one. Happy birthday to Plum Creek Park.

For more, visit www.MedinaCountyParks.com.