Quail Hollow Park is a county park in Stark County,

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, in the United States. The park was opened to the public in 1975. It was previously a privately owned family farm and later a hunting camp. Quail Hollow Park is open for year-round recreation and features trail that are open to

hiking Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...

, mountain biking and cross-country skiing, a small pond for

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

and

ice skating Ice skating is the self-propulsion and gliding of a person across an ice surface, using metal-bladed ice skates. People skate for various reasons, including recreation (fun), exercise, competitive sports, and commuting. Ice skating may be per ...

as well as group camping (advance reservation only) and picnic facilities.

History

The land in and around Quail Hollow Park was inhabited by various Native American tribes. The last tribe to call the area home before being forced out by the encroachment of Anglo-American settlers in the Ohio Country were the Lenape, also known as the Delaware. The first permanent settler in the area was Conrad Brumbaugh. He cleared some land and began farming in the area in 1820. The homestead remained in the Brumbaugh family until 1914, when it was purchased by Harry Bartlett Stewart. Stewart was the chairman of the board of the

Akron, Canton and Youngstown Railroad The Akron, Canton and Youngstown Railroad was a Class I railroad which operated in the state of Ohio. The company was founded in 1907 and opened its mainline between Mogadore and Akron, Ohio in 1912. Later reclassified as a short-line railroad, t ...

. Initially the Stewarts used homestead for a hunting camp before eventually expanding the home and making their permanent residence on what they called the Minnie Taylor Farm, named for Mr. Stewart's wife, Minnie. Harry Stewart passed the land onto his son, Harry Bartlett Stewart, Jr. The Stewarts continued to improve the buildings on the Minnie Taylor farm. The original house was expanded into what they called a manor with

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but a ...

and Federal architecture influences. The Stewarts remained at Minnie Taylor farm until 1975 when the sold it to the state of Ohio for half the appraised value. The land was purchased from the Stewarts with financial help from the

United States Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the ma ...

. Quail Hollow State Park was established on May 15, 1975. It became Quail Hollow Park in 2016, when the State of Ohio and the Stark County Park District made an agreement for Stark Parks to manage the park as part of the county park district.

Ecology

Quail Hollow Park is in a rich agricultural area. Northeast Ohio is part of the

Interior Plains The Interior Plains is a vast physiographic region that spreads across the Laurentian craton of central North America, extending along the east flank of the Rocky Mountains from the Gulf Coast region to the Arctic Beaufort Sea. In Canada, it en ...

region of North America. The land is largely flat with a few hills that are a remnant of the last

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gre ...

. Small glacial lakes, known as

kettle lakes A kettle (also known as a kettle lake, kettle hole, or pothole) is a depression/hole in an outwash plain formed by retreating glaciers or draining floodwaters. The kettles are formed as a result of blocks of dead ice left behind by retreating g ...

are spread throughout the region. These lakes formed when the glaciers gouged out a depression in the land and large clumps of ice broke off the receding glaciers filling the holes and creating lakes. One of these kettle lakes has shrunk into what is best classified as a bog at Quail Hollow Park. This bog provides a habitat for and abundance of plants and wildlife.

Poison sumac ''Toxicodendron vernix'', commonly known as poison sumac, or swamp-sumach, is a woody shrub or small tree growing to 9 metres (30 feet) tall. It was previously known as ''Rhus vernix''. This plant is also known as thunderwood, particul ...

grows in the

sphagnum ''Sphagnum'' is a genus of approximately 380 accepted species of mosses, commonly known as sphagnum moss, peat moss, also bog moss and quacker moss (although that term is also sometimes used for peat). Accumulations of ''Sphagnum'' can store wa ...

bog. There is a remnant tall grass

prairie Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...

in the park that supports

sneezeweed Sneezeweed is a common name for several plants in the family Asteraceae and may refer to: *'' Achillea ptarmica'', with white flowers *'' Hymenoxys hoopesii'', with long yellow petals, native to western North America *Various species of ''Helenium ...

, blazing star and various other prairie plants. The mixed tree forests of the park provide habitat for

white-tailed deer The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known as the whitetail or Virginia deer, is a medium-sized deer native to North America, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru and Bolivia. It has also been introduced t ...

spring peeper The spring peeper (''Pseudacris crucifer'') is a small chorus frog widespread throughout the eastern United States and Canada. They prefer permanent ponds due to their advantage in avoiding predation; however, they are very adaptable with respect ...

wild turkey The wild turkey (''Meleagris gallopavo'') is an upland ground bird native to North America, one of two extant species of turkey and the heaviest member of the order Galliformes. It is the ancestor to the domestic turkey, which was originally d ...

, chorus and green frogs,

raccoon The raccoon ( or , ''Procyon lotor''), sometimes called the common raccoon to distinguish it from other species, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest of the procyonid family, having a body length of , and a body weight of ...

garter snakes Garter snake is a common name for generally harmless, small to medium-sized snakes belonging to the genus ''Thamnophis'' in the family Colubridae. Native to North and Central America, species in the genus ''Thamnophis'' can be found from the sub ...

blue gill The bluegill (''Lepomis macrochirus''), sometimes referred to as "bream", "brim", "sunny", or "copper nose" as is common in Texas, is a species of North American freshwater fish, native to and commonly found in streams, rivers, lakes, ponds and ...

and red foxes.

Recreation

Quail Hollow Park is open for year-round recreation. There is a primitive campground that is open to large groups such as the

Scouts Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement employing the Scout method, a program of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activities, including camping, woodcraft, aquatics, hiking, backpack ...

and church youth groups. The campground is remote and is without running water or trash facilities. All water and trash must be carried in and out. The park has 19 miles of trails open to hiking, mountain biking and cross-country skiing. Careful observers will see some wildlife along the trail along with a variety of plant species. There are eight

nature trail An educational trail (or sometimes educational path), nature trail or nature walk is a specially developed hiking trail or footpath that runs through the countryside, along which there are marked stations or stops next to points of natural, techn ...

s in the park. Quail Hollow Park has a five mile horse trail. Shady Lane Pond is open to fishing with a valid Ohio fishing license. The picnic area and playground are near Shady Lane Pond.

References

External links

Quail Hollow Park
Stark Parks
Quail Hollow State Park
Ohio Department of Natural Resources {{authority control State parks of Ohio Protected areas of Stark County, Ohio Protected areas established in 1975 Nature centers in Ohio