PENINSULA: The Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park will host an open house April 24 to allow the public to view and comment on the plans for the new $5.9 million Boston Mills Visitor Center.
The event is 3 to 6 p.m. at Happy Days Lodge, 500 W. Streetsboro St.
The center, located on the southeast corner of Riverview and Boston Mill roads in Boston Township, will be housed in a building built in 1905 as a commercial and residential space for the Akron-Canton Bag Co.
In recent years, it has been a privately owned residence. The current owner approached the park with his desire to sell the property and the purchase was completed Wednesday. The sale price was $660,000.
The historic property will be renovated to serve as a central, one-stop resource where visitors can plan their journeys in the national park and Ohio & Erie Canalway.
The project is a partnership between the Conservancy, the nonprofit friends group for Cuyahoga Valley National Park, and National Park Service. The Conservancy is managing fundraising, planning, design and construction.
The 33,000-square-foot Cuyahoga Valley park has never had a full-service visitor center, and that’s been a desire for many years.
The facility is planned as the No. 1 stop for visitors to learn about park attractions and activities, especially for the growing number of visitors from other states and countries. It would also provide park visitors with information about regional attractions in Akron and Cleveland, offering a tourist boost for all of Northeast Ohio.
In 1995, less than 1 percent of Cuyahoga Valley visitors came from out of state. Today that is approaching 20 percent. Part of that growth is due to Cuyahoga Valley being designated a national park in 2000.
The park got more than 2.4 million visitors last year, making it the 12th most-visited of the 59 national parks in the United States.
Organizers say the center is expected to get hundreds of visitors per day and upwards of 60,000 a year. Available information will include park orientations, maps, trail locations, train schedules, bike rentals, camping, paddling options, directions and area restaurants and accommodations.