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North Coast Inland Trail stretches 14 miles along former railroad
By Bob Downing
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Sunday, Oct 19, 2008
OBERLIN: This historic college town is a good place to hop aboard the skinniest park in Lorain County.
That's the nickname given to North Coast Inland Trail, a bike-and-hike trail that stretches 14 miles from Elyria through Oberlin to Kipton.
You can get on the trail at South Main Street (state Route 58) near the old Oberlin Depot and head east to Elyria or west to Kipton.
The 2.8-mile-long Oberlin Bike Path became the heart of the longer Lorain County trail, according to Dan Martin, executive director of the Lorain County Metro Parks.
It is a very straight, very flat pedal or walk through northern Ohio farms, woods, suburbia and small towns.
The trail is a popular and pretty rail-trail with 24 road crossings.
It gets 200,000 visitors a year, he said.
The plan is to extend the trail 65 miles from Elyria to near Toledo, and half of the trail is complete as it crosses Lorain, Huron, Sandusky, Erie, Ottawa and Wood counties.
The 12-foot-wide asphalt-paved trail was built over the Toledo, Norwalk and Cleveland Railroad (later part of the Penn Central system). It was abandoned in 1976.
The line was built in 1851 and was a key link on the Chicago-to-Cleveland line.
In 1866, the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern built a rail line from Elyria to Oberlin that continued west using the Toledo, Norwalk and Cleveland Railway.
The rail line hauled freight, lumber, coal, produce and passengers until it was abandoned in 1975.
Work on creating the North Coast Inland Trail began in 1988.
The Lorain County trail also provides a great opportunity to take a walking or biking tour of Oberlin's downtown historic district.
The T-shaped district — designated in 2003 — includes commercial buildings on the south side of College Street and both sides of Main Street (Route 58).
Tappan Square, a large green space, is owned by Oberlin College (the school dates to 1833). The square itself is a National Historic Landmark and many of the college buildings that border the square are on the National Register of Historic Places.
8,000 residents
Downtown Oberlin is not big; the town and the college together have about 8,000 people.
The best starting point is the Oberlin Heritage Center. It provides a look at abolition and the Underground Railroad, aluminum history, women's history and decorative arts in two historic buildings and an old schoolhouse.
Tours of 90 minutes are offered at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Meet at the James Monroe House, 731/2 S. Professor St. Tickets are $6. Call 440-774-1700 or check out http://www.oberlinheritage.org.
A walking tour of Oberlin will be offered at 10 a.m. Friday. The fee is $6. Call 440-724-1700 for reservations and information.
Oberlin also features a 4.5-mile bicycle tour, starting at the Heritage Center. Maps and tour information are available.
Oberlin is also part of a new long-distance bike trail: the Underground Railroad bike trail. It stretches 2,000 miles from Mobile Bay in Alabama to Owen Sound in Ontario. For information, see http://www.adventurecycling.org/ugrr. The North Coast Inland Trail in Lorain County opened in August 1998.
The trail was funded by a federal grant, with a 20 percent local match by the Lorain County Metro Parks.
The eastern terminus of the trail is on Industrial Parkway in Elyria. That's about a half mile north of U.S. 20. There is parking on Second Street across from York Manufacturing.
You can also get on the trail near its western end at Kipton Community Park. It is off state Route 511, a quarter mile east of Baird Road.
The trail ends on Baird Road just north of U.S. 20 west of Kipton.
A tragedy occurred in 1891 near the Kipton depot when two trains collided head-on. Eight people were killed. The accident was blamed on the station engineer's watch being four minutes slow.
Facilities along the trail in Lorain County are limited.
Rangers on trail
The Lorain County trail section is monitored by two full-time rangers and is maintained by part-time staffers and community volunteers and groups.
At its eastern terminus, there are on-the-street routings to Elyria parks.
Lorain County is looking at extending the trail at that end two miles north along the Black River to Lorain.
That $5 million project could be completed in 2010-11 if $1 million in federal funding can be arranged.
For trail information, contact Lorain County Metro Parks, 12882 Diagonal Road, LaGrange OH 44050; 440-458-5121 or 800-LCM-PARK. You can also check out http://www.loraincountymetroparks.com.
Work is under way to complete 65 miles of the North Coast Inland Trail between Elyria to Walbridge in Wood County.
The players involved in developing the North Coast Inland Trail are Lorain County Metro Parks, Erie Metroparks, the Sandusky County Park District, Wood County Parks and Toledo Metroparks, along with the Firelands Rails to Trails Conservancy in Huron County.
Sandusky County has built an 8.5-mile section from Fremont to Clyde. On Oct. 12, it dedicated a 10.5-mile leg that runs from Fremont west to Lindsey and Elmore in Ottawa County, said park Director Steve Gruner.
He said the park district offers the only safe bicycle route across Sandusky Bay/the Sandusky River: an old railroad trestle in downtown Fremont.
The park district still has five miles of trail to build between Clyde and Bellevue.
For information, contact the park district at 1970 Countryside Place, Fremont, OH 43420; 419-334-4495 or 888-200-5577. You can also check out http://www.scpd-parks.org.
In Huron County, the trail is open from Norwalk to Monroeville (3.3 miles) and from state Route 547 and Williams Road west of Monroeville (1.6 miles).
For information, contact Firelands Rails to Trails at 44 E. Main St., Norwalk, OH 44857, or check out http://www.firelandsrailstotrails.org.
At its western terminus at Walbridge in Wood County, the North Coast Inland Trail will link with another long-distance trail: the Wabash Cannonball Trail. It could also link with downtown Toledo.
The Wabash Cannonball Trail runs along an old Norfolk Southern Railroad bed for 63 miles in Lucas, Henry, Fulton and Williams counties in Northwest Ohio. It features 16 bridges. The line was abandoned in 1990 and purchased in 1994.
For information, go to http://www.wabashcannonballtrail.org.
Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.
OBERLIN: This historic college town is a good place to hop aboard the skinniest park in Lorain County.
Get the full article here.
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