Twin Creek MetroPark

Twin Creek MetroPark, and the view that convinced the Board to go for it.

Twin Creek MetroPark is just under 1000 acres, and is located in Montgomery and Warren Counties.  This beautiful natural area became a MetroPark in 1998.  I think the story of how it became a MetroPark is interesting and worth relating.

I suppose this story starts with a group of Native Americans that we modern Ohioans call the Hopewell Culture, or Hopewell Tradition.  We don't know what they called themselves.  The Hopewell peoples thrived in southwest Ohio and adjacent states from about 1,500 to 2,200 years ago.  They made their living by fishing, hunting, and growing of some crops.  They are best remembered for the mounds they constructed.  These often took the shape of long, low mounds now known as enclosures.  They were often built on the edges of steep slopes or ravines.  Because of this pioneers assumed they were for defensive purposes and called them forts.  In reality it appears they were for unknown ceremonial purposes.  Good examples of protected Hopewell enclosures in southwest Ohio include Fort Hill, Fort Ancient, and Fort Carlisle.  "Fort" Carlisle is located near Twin Creek near the Village of Carlisle.  A long, low mound winds along the edge of steep ravines and encloses about 10 acres.  It looks like there was likely more to this feature than is clearly visible today.  Using LIDAR technology appears to outline additional geometric figures.

Location of "Fort" Carlisle at Twin Creek MetroPark

It is largely because of Fort Carlisle that Twin Creek MetroPark took shape.  Most of these earthworks were on a privately owned 175-acre tract.  The owner wanted the mounds, forests, and natural beauty of his land preserved.  He contacted the Miami Conservancy District, and their Property Manager, Bob Riemmlin, arranged for the purchase in 1973.

In 1977 Dane Mutter, Assistant Director of the Dayton-Montgomery County Park District (now Five Rivers MetroParks) learned that a 44-acre piece of land that contained part of the earthworks was for sale.  Dane was (and is) a great naturalist and historian and wanted to protect the site.  He arranged for the purchase of the site to protect the earthworks. 

Large-Flowered Trillium are common at Twin Creek.  So far, a total of 554 species of vascular plants have been found 

These two contiguous pieces were a bit of a stepchild for both agencies until 1986.  At that time the Park District started leasing the MCD tract.  It needed some cleanup.  A tenant in the small house on the property had a passion to collect old semi-trucks and some thirty or so of them were in various stages of rust decomposition at the base of the ravines.  For the next several years the land was sort of a beautiful secret with no formal public access.   I  spent quite a bit of time exploring the "Fort Carlisle" area and came to realize that much of this beautiful area were not protected, and the site had great potential for a new Reserve.  Several additional parcels were acquired over the next few years, but to really do the job right we needed a bolder vision. The Park Board at the time was not very enthusiastic about taking on such a large new park, but the main problem was that they had never seen it.  Director Marvin Olinsky and Deputy Director Charlie Shoemaker arranged for the Board to visit the site for their annual Board tour of the parks.  Because the site was so remote and inaccessible, this was a challenge.  Charlie made arrangements to rent a large helicopter and take the Board to the heart of the area where a broad meadow overlooked the winding Twin Creek.  Commissioners Woodhull, Siebenthaler, and Leland stepped out into this beautiful spot and were convinced right away

The View from Skyview Shelter

   After that a plan had to be put together showing the land ownership of the area and a list of desired properties.  After this it came down to contacting the individual landowners to see if they were interested in selling.  I must say that this was an interesting experience.  Each owner had a completely different story and most of them are best described as colorful.  While wandering around the area (I hate to use the word trespassing) I came upon an impressive hilltop overlook.  It was in corn at the time, but it seemed to me that this would be a great addition to the new park if it could acquired.  After some negotiation it was purchased with the help of the Miami Conservancy District from the Weidle Corporation for a fair price in the spring of 1994.

In the fall of 1994 the Park District won a significant levy that expanded the scope of the agency to include protection of the beautiful river corridors along the Great Miami, Stillwater, and Mad Rivers as well as Wolf Creek and Twin Creek.  The agency changed its name to Five Rivers MetroParks in 1995 to reflect this commitment.

In 1996 the Boy Scouts decided to sell their large 250 acre Camp Hook on the south edge of MetroParks holdings.  The camp had a long tradition of providing formative experiences for young people, but the facilites were becoming obsolete.  A brief history of the camp can be found base HERE.  MetroParks purchased the camp from the Scouts in 1997.  Some components of the old camp have been retained and fixed up, but most of the obsolete infrastructure has been removed.  The site is open for camping and hiking,  and scouts still use and enjoy their old camp.  Anyway, in 1997  Twin Creek MetroPark had grown to 972 acres.

Much of this park feels like southeast Ohio with a series of ravines and mature forests

So, we had this big beautiful natural area.  But it was very hard to access and no one really knew about it or appreciated it.  One day I had a call from a MetroParks volunteer named Bob Johnson.  Bob was interested in doing some trail work and wanted to know if we had any projects.  When I threw out the idea of designing and installing a trail system for this new land base he jumped at the chance.  Bob had already designed the color-coded trail marking system in place at Germantown MetroPark and was anxious to try this at Twin Creek.  As at Germantown, Bob laid out a series of colored loops of various lengths.  With the help of staff, (particularly Assistant Park Manager Bob Slusser), and volunteers the new trail system was completed in 1998.

"Lake" George at former Camp Hook at Twin Creek MetroPark

After the installation of two small parking lots everything was ready to go, and in 1998 the new Twin Creek MetroPark was opened to the public.