The OTET begins at Edgewater Park on Cleveland’s west side. Here’s a view of the “Cleveland” sign when approaching Edgewater Park from the west
The Ohio to Erie Trail (OTET) meets Lake Erie at Edgewater Park on Cleveland’s west side. Canada is 54 miles due north across Lake Erie.
The OTET heads east toward downtown and eventually makes its way down to the “Flats”, the lowland where the Cuyahoga River empties into Lake Erie. This is the area where the industrialization of Cleveland began.
A few streets away from the Carter Road Bridge is Merwin Avenue, where John D. Rockefeller incorporated the Standard Oil Company in 1870.
About ¼ mile east of the Cater Road Bridge, the OTET turns south as the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath begins. At this point, the towpath runs parallel to the Cuyahoga River.
According to the ‘net, the 308-mile O&E Canal headed south from Lake Erie and sequentially passed though the Cuyahoga, Muskingum, Licking, and Scioto valleys on its way to Ohio River at Portsmouth, creating America’s first inland waterway link between the Great Lakes and the Gulf of Mexico.
Horses on the “towpath” pulled boats travelling the canal to transport farm produce, materials, and people starting in 1834. By mid-century, however, the canal and its towpath were pushed into obsolesce by the more-efficient railroads.
Today, the northern 110 miles of the O&E Canal is part of the Ohio & Erie Canalway National Heritage Area created by Congress in 1996, and the northern-most 60 miles or so of the towpath are part of the OTET.
Particularly in the Flats area, the last 150 years of industrialization have obliterated all remnants of the actual canal and towpath. “Towpath” in this area is more of a name and a concept than a functional description.
When continuing south from Cleveland, a more historically-accurate view of the canal and towpath emerge. Here is a canal lock, which was used to raise or lower the canal boats to adjust to changes in canal elevation. The towpath used by the horses to pull the canal boats is adjacent to the canal
The towpath itself is appears to be a hard-pack of finely crushed limestone and sand. I comfortably rode the towpath with 28 mm tires on a touring bike
Here’s a guy who was out getting some exercise on the towpath while his cat and dog watched
Co-workers Cindy and Scott joined the ride on the way to Akron. Cindy arrived on the first seat-less cycling device I had ever seen.
According to the ‘net, Akron became known as “The Rubber Capital of the World” when Goodrich, Goodyear, Firestone, and General Tire were all headquartered there. During the 1910’s Akron was a boomtown, America’s fastest growing city with a 200% increase in population. Goodyear built the Goodyear Heights neighborhood and Firestone built the Firestone Park neighborhood for their workers.
However, like many other American industries in the Rust Belt, the tire and rubber industries have experienced major decline, and by the 1990s, Goodyear was the last major tire manufacturer based in Akron.
This is a monument dedicated to the rubber workers of Akron.
Google maps identifies “Hotel Matthews” as a hotel, but the entire structure is only 10′ x 10′.
According to the ‘net, George Washington Mathews was born into poverty in Georgia, and stopped in Akron in 1919 on the way home from a boxing match in Toledo. Enamored with the booming “Rubber City,” he returned to Akron and opened a barbershop and the adjoining hotel, which was listed in the Negro Traveler’s Green Book as one of three hotels in Akron that were “black-friendly” at the time. As such, the hotel became the anchor of the Howard Street district. During the 1940s, ’50s, and ’60s, Howard Street was the hub of Akron’s African American and jazz culture.
The hotel, along with many other businesses on Howard Street, was bulldozed in the early ’80s to make way for the Inner belt Freeway. The “hotel” shown above is actually a monument to George Mathews and the Howard Street district.
We ended the day watching the Akron Rubber Ducks on the “Oh, No, Not another Left Turn” NASCAR night at Canal Park. The Ducks won, and there was a July 4th fireworks display after the game.
Canal Park offers a “Not your Routine Poutine”, which, by my observation, at least includes pork, bacon, cheese, French fries, and a few greens, all under a covering of gravy.
For some reason they had run out of gravy that night, so I had the healthier version as shown.