Brandywine Golf Course Acquisition and Next Steps

On September 27, 2021, the Conservancy announced it purchased the 213-acre former Brandywine Golf Course to protect habitat and create a space for all to enjoy the land and Cuyahoga River. The National Park Service completed the purchase of 198 acres from the Conservancy in December 2022 with the remaining 15 acres held by the Conservancy for visitor enhancements and park-like experiences. 

The purchase of the former Brandywine Golf Course for conversion to parkland was a first of its kind for the Conservancy. This legacy was made possible through the generosity of individual donors and recoverable grants from the Northeast Ohio community and national foundations. This includes Akron Community Foundation, Cleveland Foundation, Connor Foundation, GAR Foundation, and National Park Foundation. 

The Conservancy engaged PROS Consulting from Indianapolis, Indiana, in the fall of 2021 to complete a conceptual plan for the acreage on the west side of Akron-Peninsula Road. Input from Conservancy board leadership, Conservancy staff, National Park Service staff, community stakeholders, and partners was used to help create a vision for this area. That vision includes: increasing opportunities for river access, supporting creative programming, and welcoming new, diverse audiences to the national park. It suggested possible amenities such as accessible trails, access to the river, beautiful river vistas from pavilions and nature play spaces, space for public programming, and a bridge connecting to the Towpath Trail.

The next layer of planning is to look more closely at the site and establish a site plan built off the visions identified during the PROS Consulting sessions with community members and other stakeholders. This next step will prioritize projects and lead to concrete planning upon which the Conservancy will raise funds to activate the site.

Both the park property and the Conservancy property are currently closed to the public for safety and liability reasons. The properties are slated for remediation work starting in May 2023.

For more information about the project, please contact Director of Leadership Giving Sheryl Hoffman at shoffman@forcvnp.org or 330.657.2909 ext. 143.

Trails Now: Responding to Visitor and Park Needs

In parallel with our Trails Forever Endowment Fund, the Conservancy established the Trails Now Fund, which provides support for immediate trail maintenance and the development of new trails and visitor amenities. The Trails Now Fund assists the National Park Service in improving and maintaining trails on an ongoing basis. 

Trails Now: Bridle-Hiking Trails Fund

With nearly 30 miles of combined bridle-hiking trails, one of the Conservancy’s first Trails Now Projects was to ensure the safety and well-being for horses, riders and hikers on these popular trails. In 2021, Ray and Jan Dalton made a $100,000 gift to the Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park to address the much-needed maintenance and repairs to the CVNP bridle-hiking trails. The Dalton’s generous gift, paired with individual gifts, and volunteers from the Medina Chapter Ohio Horsemen’s Council resulted in successful repairs to the Valley Bridle Trail, Langes Run Trail, and Wetmore Trail.  In 2022, Dalton’s and the Conservancy raised an additional $175,000+ toward Perkins, Riding Run, and Valley Trails. Work completed included repairing bridle trail surfaces, installing armored crossings, repairing and cleaning trail bridges, cleaning and installing trail drainage features, trimming of trail corridors, removing trees, and improving trail signs. 

The Conservancy is continuing to support bridle-hiking trail improvements this year with your support. Please join us in the opportunity to raise an additional $50,000 for bridle-hiking trail improvements on Butler Trail and Tabletop Trail, benefiting the riders, hikers, runners, joggers and walkers of Northeast Ohio who enjoy them.

Make your tax-deductible gift to the Conservancy for CVNP today and make an impact now!

Trails Now Fund: Pedestrian Footbridges

The Conservancy began raising funds to help CVNP replace pedestrian bridges within the park in 2020. Through the support of individual donors and the Trails Forever Fund, we raised over $60,000 to assist the park in replacing Old Carriage Trail, Plateau Trail, and Stanford Trail footbridges. Wooden bridges were replaced with fiberglass truss bridges and new wood decking. These new bridges ensure safer and more secure footing across a number of creeks that intersect the trails.