Huntington Reservation (Bay Village)

Today on Mike on a Bike errrr....Mike on Foot we will be exploring the Huntington Reservation in the city of Bay Village. If you are confused on why a city is called Bay Village, don't worry you are not alone. (it should be called just "Bay" now right?) Anyway my wife Sarah and I were at the Avon Lake dog park with our Wiener Dog Minnie and we decided to go exploring together! So maybe this post should be called Mike and Sarah on Foot Together with Their Wiener Dog Minnie....on second thought, that may be too long.

Anyway, we decided to take a walk through the Huntington Reservation in Bay Village, which is located on the lake in Cuyahoga County, just East of Lorain County.

The Huntington Reservation was purchased in 1927 from the original owner John Huntington. John Huntington brought over many unusual botanical specimens from Europe, many of which remain in the park today. The park is now run by the Cleveland Metroparks and features two parts, the beach area and the creek/wooded area. Today we walked through the wooded area by the creek. (Cleveland Metroparks)

Satellite Imagery of the park from Google Maps.

Porter Creek Bridge

We began our trek under the Porter Creek bridge which runs (you guessed it) over Porter Creek. This is one of the few ways you can get to the trails in the park.

The Porter Creek Bridge was built in 1937 (Bridge Hunter)

Sarah and Minnie in front of the bridge.

Sarah showing off the bridge at a distance.

Taken from the top of the bridge at the end of our trek. This is looking down at Porter Creek Road.

The road that runs underneath the bridge is called Porter Creek Road. You can see the creek on the left in the bottom two pictures. Lake Road is the road above on the bridge. It is the same road that the Bascule Bridge in Lorain is on.

The Woods and Creek

We then went south on one of the trails that took us along the creek. For being such a small dog our Minnie does like to explore off leash.

Porter Creek

Selfie! (Not sure what happened to the color.)

Then we stumbled on something I almost forgot was here and the history nerd in me got all excited. One of the few remaining structures left from the Lake Shore Electric Railway.

Lake Shore Electric Railway Trestle

I honestly don't know what my fascination is with the street cars that used to run in the area. Maybe it is because I don't live in a place that still uses electric street cars or because it was a major part of local history that no longer exists, who knows? All I know is that the trestle that crosses over Porter Creek is one of the few remaining structures left from the long defunct railway system. With my wife and dog in tow we went to check it out.

Picture taken today.

Picture taken in 1925, right after construction. The woods used to be John Huntington's farm. (Thomas Patton)

It looks as though the trestle was once painted white. This picture taken in 1938, the last year the street cars ran.
(Dennis Lamont)

Now the trestle is faded gray. I guess that is what 89 years will do to paint.

The road underneath is Porter Creek Road. I'm glad that they left the trestle when they built the road.

1936. (Drew Penfield)

On top of the hill. In the foreground is the bridge abutment.

Unknown Year. (Harry Christiansen)

Newspaper article about the new trestle.
(Dennis Lamont)

Click the images for larger versions.
(Dennis Lamont)

2014 Google Maps aerial view of the trestle.

You may have noticed that I stated this trestle was built in 1925, nearly 30 years after the street cars starting running on the railway. If you skipped over the newspaper articles above (shame on you) here is a brief summary. In the 1920's older street cars were replaced with newer models. The traffic on the railway also increased. This posed a problem for the already aging wooden trestles that ran the length of the railway. This particular trestle in Huntington was replaced with the still standing concrete trestle without even disturbing the traffic on the tracks above. To do this one of the two tracks on the bridge were closed and the street cars were diverted to the other track. This occurred for 3 years while the new trestles were being built.

We then continued on through the woods along the old "right of way" for the LSE and headed back toward the bridge where we started.

Taken on the way back to the car from the other side of Porter Creek. The road is to the left.

Well, even though it was a bit different than my other posts I hope you enjoyed this one anyway. I wonder how long that trestle will remain there. I am hoping that since they are in the Metropark it will stand for a long, long time. I promise my next post will be from a bike ride. Thanks for reading.