For thousands of years, Native Americans followed a north-south trade route through here. The Cuyahoga River allowed travel by canoe to an eight-mile portage trail to the south-flowing Tuscarawas River which eventually led to the Ohio River.

Though the river routes were shallow, they were suitable for the needs of Native Americans and early explorers and traders. However, settlers and farmers who needed a safe and dependable way to take their products to market, found the swift spring currents treacherous. The solution of the early 1800s, the Ohio & Erie Canal, generally followed the same ancient river routes.

Begun in 1825, the first 38-mile section of the Ohio & Erie Canal connected Cleveland to Akron by 1827. The 395-foot rise from Lake Erie to the Portage Summit in Akron required 44 lift locks. In 1832, the entire 308-mile canal to the Ohio River at Portsmouth opened and shortened the trip across Ohio to four days. Business boomed. Within one year of the canal's opening to Akron the amount of wheat shipped through Cleveland increased from 1,000 to 250,000 bushels. By 1840, 2.2 million bushels arrived in Cleveland by canal. Ohio quickly grew in population and wealth, going from near bankruptcy in 1819 to the third most prosperous state in two decades.

By the late 1800s, expanding railroads and the canal's poor management caused its decline. The great flood of 1913 finally ended canal operations. Today, this 20-mile Towpath Trail follows the part of the Ohio & Erie Canal within Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area.

Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area (CVNRA) preserves 33,000 acres along 22 miles of the crooked Cuyahoga River between Cleveland and Akron, Ohio. In the early 1960s, spreading development threatened to take over this valley. Individual citizens joined forces with state and local governments to save the greenspace and historic features. Their efforts crossed paths with the National Park Service which was then establishing urban recreation areas as a way to bring national parks to people living in cities. In 1974, Congress created CVNRA as an urban park of the National Park Service. The National Park Service manages the park in cooperation with others who own property within its boundaries, including Cleveland Metroparks and Metro Parks, Serving Summit County, both of which administer several units within CVNRA. Together they protect the natural landscape, preserve remnants of the area's human history, and provide a place where you can relax, play and learn new things in a beautiful outdoor setting.