Kidnapped!

Back in 1759 a 12-year old girl named Mary Campbell was kidnapped from her home in western Pennsylvania by Native Americans who took her to Ohio.  She lived with them in an area near our house for about 5 years until she was eventually returned to her family in 1764.

We took a walk this afternoon along the gorge trail to Mary Campbell Cave.  It is hard to imagine how she lived in this spot for 5 years, but at the same time, you can understand why the Native Americans settled here.  There are fish in the river, other animals to hunt (back in those days), and a good vantage spot to see if anyone was coming.  

Mary Campbell Cave is more like a rocky overhang than a true cave.  But it probably provided the shelter they needed to sleep and cook.  It overlooks the river and could provide a good hiding place when the trees are full of leaves.  

One of the great parts of this trail is the man-made waterfall that used to provide power to the local area.  Kyle said that, like many of the dams and waterfalls on the Cuyahoga River, there are plans to take this down and restore this part of the river to its original state.  I suppose that is best for the environment, but  the waterfall brings a lot of visitors to this walking path.  There were tons of people - and dogs- out today!

The signs say that the trails are "primitive" in some areas that we walked. Grace kept asking about that but the tree roots and rocks sticking up were enough evidence that you need to be very careful as you walk - or run!