CLEVELAND — Jennie Vasarhelyi is an expert when it comes to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park’s history after living through most of it.

“I've been working here for almost 30 years, so I've been part of this park for more than half its life,” she said.

What You Need To Know

  • The Cuyahoga Valley National Park was first established through an act of Congress that passed on 1974.

  • CVNP 50 kicked off earlier this year and the park will host anniversary events through 2025.

  • For its 50th anniversary, the park is commemorating its historic challenges and modern renewal.

Vasarhelyi is a National Park Service spokesperson, helping visitors learn the lay of the land in northeast Ohio. The park has become more popular over the years, she said, now receiving nearly 3 million visitors each year. The valley has deep roots in the state’s history, home to the historic Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail and the Valley Railway, which has transported minerals and natural resources since the 1860s.

Friday marks the Cuyahoga Valley National Park’s 50th anniversary, and they’ll be hosting anniversary activities this month all the way through December next year. Vasarhelyi said it’s a celebration of the park’s past and connection to the community.

“This whole valley had been lived in for a long time. It was impacted by agriculture and mining, logging,” she said. “There’s been a really tremendous amount of restoration effort that have improved the natural conditions here… It’s also become a place where people from the greater Cleveland metropolitan area and from out of town can come for personal renewal.”

People from across the country are joining in on the festivities, including father and daughter Michael Gambel and Daphne Kasprzak, who are hoping to fill their National Park Passport.

“We’re going to go gallivanting and check out a bunch of national parks throughout the northeast, all the way down to Houston,” Kazprzak said.

Gambel said he doesn’t know much about northeast Ohio’s landscape as a Michigander, but he’s heard about its historical events.

“I know Cuyahoga is famous for the river, the fire,” he said. “I wonder if that was nearby, or?”

The valley and river have come a long way in the last 50 years, Vasarheyli said.

“When you think about, you know, a river on fire and then you look at this river today … it’s been designated as a water trail,” she said. “People are kayaking on it, wildlife has come back. [It’s] kind of that symbolic change from a river on fire to this beautiful natural resource today.”

As they’re celebrating CVNP 50 in the coming months, Vasarhelyi said they’re also recognizing how the park’s past has become a symbol of present-day perseverance.

“We’ve been able to restore and create a really wonderful, healthy, natural environment with wonderful historic structures that have been rehabilitated,” Vasarhelyi said. “I think [that] can give us all a lot of hope for the future. That we can we can confront the challenges of today.”