Mill Creek MetroParks Archives

Japanese Footbridge across Calvary Run by Lake Glacier, Photo by Robert C. Trube, 2019. All rights reserved.

The Mill Creek MetroParks have numerous footbridges across creeks, ponds, and marshy areas, many constructed during the WPA years of the Depression, as well as a number more recently. One of my favorites is the little footbridge by the Lake Glacier Boat House spanning Calvary Run just short of where it flows into Lake Glacier. It is called “Japanese” in John Melnick’s The Green Cathedral (p. 105) and it is in the style of Japanese footbridges such as this one:

I seem to recall that the Japanese footbridge by Lake Glacier was built when I was a small boy but I’ve not been able to track down the construction date. Growing up on the West side, my dad and I would often go for walks down to Lake Glacier, sometimes to go for a boat ride, or we would just stop and get some pop to drink. We would then cross the boat ramp walk across the bridge and up to West Glacier Drive.

I don’t know whether it is still the case but it was a popular place to take photos of wedding parties. At least it was in the late 1960’s when my brother got married (I’m in those pictures!). By the time we got married ten years later, Fellows Gardens, especially at the Glacier Overlook, was the popular place for wedding photos. In later years, we were at a wedding there and it seemed wedding parties were lined up for photos there, at the Gazebo, and other locations.

As I recall, the blue sky was reflecting on the lake on that late April day with all the greenery of spring just bursting forth. I can imagine what a gorgeous scene it would be in the fall when the trees across the lake are in full color. I also love this photo by Reva Evans Foy capturing the bridge and the Lake Glacier Boat House in winter:

Lake Glacier and Boat House in Winter, photo courtesy of Reva Evans Foy, used with permission.

This is just one of the many footbridges in the park. I love this one for its memories, and the exquisite simplicity of its construction that so fits in with and complements the natural beauty of the park. I think Volney Rogers would have liked it…

To read other posts in the Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown series, just click “On Youngstown.” Enjoy!

Daffodils at Lake Newport April 1968. Photo courtesy of Marilyn Trube, used with permission.

It was 1932. The depth of the Depression in Youngstown. And a group of gardening enthusiasts with the Garden Club of Youngstown planted 8,000 daffodil bulbs in a meadow on the east side of Lake Newport. Was it an effort to provide a break in the gloom of the Depression? Maybe a sign that Youngstown’s economy, and the nation’s, would flourish again? Whatever their hopes, these gardeners established a spring tradition that has lasted over 80 years.

I remember my grandparents taking me to Daffodil Meadow as a child. I don’t think it was called that back then. We just talked about “going to see the daffodils at Lake Newport” and everyone knew what and where you meant. My grandmother loved flowers and one look at the meadow told me this was a place where she was in her glory. I just stared in wonder at how there could be so many of these yellow and sometimes yellow and white flowers and that the bulbs had been underground all winter.

The picture above was taken by my wife when she was fourteen years old in 1968. A visit to see the daffodils was one of the things both our families loved to do every year. Who knows but that we met as kids running among the bunches of flowers or smelling the daffodils? I seem to recall going with more than one girlfriend to see the daffodils in later years.

I wonder if someone has ever done a painting of children frolicking among the daffodils, similar to one of my favorite paintings at the Butler, “In Flanders Fields” by Robert Vonnoh? I know that it is one of the most photographed places in Mill Creek MetroParks and that you can find hundreds of photographs online. Little wonder that Daffodil Meadow was named one of the top places in the country to see daffodils in a 2009 USA Today article, according to a 2010 Vindy.com story.

The story of the Garden Club of Youngstown’s involvement with Daffodil Meadows continues. In 2015, according to a Mill Creek MetroParks article, they collaborated with the MetroParks in funding an improvement project that included additional plantings, including historic daffodil varieties, a facility sign, educational signage, and identification labels during the blooming season. This was in conjunction with their 100th anniversary celebration, which seems to be a fitting way to celebrate their presence and contribution to the Youngstown community.

The daffodils are in bloom in our front garden bed and there seem to be more and more of them each year. When I see them, it takes me back to Daffodil Meadow and all those memories of growing up in Youngstown and visiting Lake Newport each spring. And perhaps the return of the daffodils each spring point to new days of flourishing for Youngstown.

What are your memories of going to see the daffodils by Lake Newport? If you live near Youngstown, will you be visiting Daffodil Meadow this weekend?