It did not take much convincing to talk me into spending a beautiful Friday afternoon in Burton, Ohio. My oldest daughter has a slight obsession with the tiny town that started when she attended a retreat in the area.
Taking Cheshire Street into town, we headed directly towards the Village Green, a tree-lined oval reminiscent of New England also known as the Village Park. The street name reflects the original home of many of the founding families, Cheshire, Connecticut. The first family arrived in 1798 with more settlers arriving in the early years of the 1800s.
It’s hard to miss the log cabin on the southern end of the loop. The Log Cabin is a working sugar house built in 1931. Maple syrup was always the heartbeat of Geauga County and is highlighted in the Village Park. The first maple grove was planted in 1874 within the Village Park and in 1944 even more maple trees were planted.
Even though the village is known as Pancake Town USA, we had another destination in mind. My girls, with much bravo and exaltation, have discovered coffee shop beverages. While part of me finds coffee shops extravagant and overpriced, the other part of me loves the idea of slowing down and supporting local businesses.
So, with those contradictory feelings, we entered Coffee Corners. Inside the antique-clad cafe, we compared beverage names with more syllables than an Elizabethan sonnet. With a maple latte in my hand and a Buckeye mocha in hers, my daughter and I opted to walk one loop around the perimeter of the Village Park.
As the leaves crunched under my feet and the wind gently picked up, I realized that while the coffee price was steep, the moment was priceless. We walked by historical homes and quintessential shops while we planned our next few stops of the day.
Apparently, the theme of the day was nostalgia because we picked two places we’d visited numerous times before. First on the list was the West Woods in Newbury Township, a part of the Geauga Park District.
After parking past the nature center closer to the trailhead, we started on the Ansel’s Cave Trail. The trail is a fairly easy loop with the distance coming in just under 2 miles. The only strenuous part is descending near the cave and then climbing back up. The elevation change is about a total of 200 feet.
The trail is a favorite of mine, but I was still surprised as we walked farther into the woods. The end of August in Geauga County was marked by a series of tumultuous storms. Several tornadoes were reported to have touched down and caused extensive damage to trees, powerlines and some homes. As we hiked, we witnessed the damage firsthand. Many large trees were uprooted. Other trees looked like matchsticks broken in half. The breakage demonstrated the voracious power of the swirling wind.
We made our way down to the cave and stopped to admire the sanctuary created by rock outcroppings. The rocks are part of the Sharon Conglomerate, a type of rock sediment found in Northeast Ohio and Pennsylvania. Like a potter leaves finger grooves in a hand-thrown mug, the large boulders have sections of crossbedding. The grooves reminded me of ancient waves or a river moving slowly through time. Honeycomb weathering looked like rock bubbles had burst, leaving open spaces behind.
The cave is not really a cave, but rather a series of rocks providing enough shelter for various people groups throughout history. Legends say Civil War soldiers, escaped slaves on the Underground Railroad and bootleggers sought solace within the cliffs of Ansel’s Cave.
After returning to our car and looking at our route home, we still had time for our second stop of the trip. We knew we would drive right past Punderson State Park in Newbury Township. We could squeeze in one more short hike with lake views.
The most popular trail at the park is Punderson State Park loop trail which is just over 5 miles in length. We only had time for the boardwalk which is my favorite part anyway. The 700-foot floating boardwalk hugs the western bank of Punderson Lake. It provides equal views of the exquisite manor and the lake.
Water-lilies and giant hydrangeas competed for our attention as we strolled along. The only other people on the trail were fishing from the boardwalk. A few other visitors were relaxing in the Adirondack chairs at the top of the steps leading to the boardwalk.
As usual, I was in awe that I was still in Ohio. With one tank of gas and an afternoon to fill, we simultaneously drifted back in time and back to nature.
