Amherst Beaver Creek Reservation

913 North Lake Street, Amherst, Ohio 44001

This park features 108 acres of mature woodlands and floodplains, a 1.4-mile paved loop-trail and day-use area with reservable shelter, playground, soccer field and visitor's center. Whether you're looking for a place to have a picnic, let the kids run free or just want to walk the paved trail from creek bed to pine grove, come and check us out! For one of the smallest of the metro parks, this reservation has a surprising variety of both natural habitats and activities.

HIGHLIGHTS

The Day-Use Area

Just inside the entrance you'll find the day-use area—a great place to set up a picnic, let the kids play on the playground, watch a game of soccer or toss a Frisbee. The visitor's center features a rustic, open-beamed ceiling, gas fireplace and offers natural and recreational programming at pre-scheduled times. An attractive wooden deck behind the building offers a view of the Beaver Creek below and all the wildlife and wildflowers you'd expect to find in a this little escape to the natural world. The meeting room is reservable for both private and community use.

The Loop Trail

The .75-mile loop trail takes you back where you started, but the trip is well worth it! In a short distance this charming trail starts high along a ravine that overlooks the Beaver Creek and gradually descends to the water's edge. Farther along you'll ascend to a large cathedral-like grove of pines that rise like spires into the sky. On the way back you'll cross the creek again at a second scenic bridge that will certainly make you pause before heading back to the car.

NATURAL HISTORY

Cliffs, Pines and Wildflowers

Over the last 10,000 years since the retreat of the last glaciers, the Beaver Creek has carved this area into a diverse range of uplands, rolling hills and 30 foot cliffs. Spring wildflowers grow abundantly throughout the area and include spring beauty, cut-leaf toothwort, adder's tongue and jack-in-the-pulpit. Hardwoods are typical of the region and include a variety of oaks, maples and ash. The southern uplands is marked by large groves of red pine, Norway spruce and red cedar, none of which are native to the area but were planted over 50 years ago.

Aquatic life is plentiful as well and includes fish, frogs, turtles, crayfish and insect nymphs along the creek bed. You should also see resident mallards and an occasional blue heron as well. Fishing for steelhead in the spring has become a popular activity along the Beaver Creek as well.

HISTORY

A Three-Way Effort

Amherst Beaver Creek Reservation has the distinction of being the first joint effort between a city and a metro park in the state of Ohio. The City of Amherst maintains the park and the visitor's center while Lorain County Metro Parks manages the park's Natural Resource Management Program. Two-thirds of the funding came from the Metro Parks and the City of Amherst, with private donations making up the last third. This three-way effort raised the 1.8 million dollars needed to make this park a reality. It opened its gates to the public on July 1, 2001.