One of Portage County’s most popular local parks has unveiled its newest attraction. Nelson-Kennedy Ledges State Park unveiled the new glass walkway overlooking the Minnehaha Falls by hosting a ribbon-cutting ceremony last Friday morning in Garrettsville.
The new glass walkway sits approximately 50 feet above a gorge of the Minnehaha Falls and is shaped like an “S”, covering 100 feet over the gorge. Park Manager John Trevelline said that the project lasted two years, having wrapped construction in April and was funded through the American Rescue Plan Act.
“It is architecturally unique, and it blends in seamlessly to the surrounding environment and gives people a great safe and close-up view of the ledges that was not available before,” Trevelline told The Weekly Villager.
Prior to the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Trevelline welcomed several guest speakers from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to offer a few words commemorating the new glass bridge.
ODNR Director Mary Mertz was the first guest speaker and spoke glowingly of all of the assistance that the ODNR received in undertaking this project.
“I am so excited for all of you to see this new incredible walkway,” she said. “The towering cliffs, the huge, slumped blocks of rock you will see today, relics of Ohio’s ancient past and the rocks here at the park tell us what Ohio’s environment was like hundreds of millions of years ago.”
Mertz spoke of the various trails that Nelson-Lodges Kennedy State Park offered, which included popular tourist attractions such as the Devil’s Ice Box, the Gold Hunter’s Cave and the Old Maid’s Kitchen. She said the glass walkway will provide tourists with a new view of the Minnehaha Falls trail and that it was the first glass walkway installed in any park across the country.
Mertz recalled the day that the glass walkway was officially put in place, which required a considerable amount of strategic planning.
“There was a lot of work,” she acknowledged. “I know I came up here with some folks to watch the day they were lifting the giant crane to put the pieces in place. I was like ‘Oh it will take about 30 minutes’. About three hours later, they were continuing to counterbalance and figure out how to do it.”
Mertz told the audience of the park’s growing popularity, as just last year it hosted 1.1 million tourists. She added that the Nelson-Lodges Kennedy State Park is one of 76 State Parks that welcome tourists daily.
ODNR Chief of the Division of Parks and Watercraft Glenn Cobb took the stage next to make a brief speech.
He noted that the glass walkway project was an unusual undertaking for the ODNR, as most projects entailed fixing lodges and cabins. He then spoke of the uniqueness of the Nelson-Kennedy Ledges State Park.
“It is known for huge rock formations and meandering trails,” he said. “People come here to escape into nature and get a look at Ohio’s geological past. We want them to have the best and most unique experience possible. What could be more unique than walking directly above a gorge and looking down at the water flowing?”
Cobb offered high praise for the ODNR’s Ohio Division of Engineering’s role in creating the new glass walkway, demonstrating how much of a team effort was involved in the project.
ODNR Chief of Division of Engineering Jeremy Wenner spoke about the technical and structural planning that went into installing the walkway.
He said that the project team settled on using Nelson-Kennedy Lodges State Park as the site for the glass walkway because of the unique shapes of the rocks in the area.
“The team also spent a lot of time focusing on the shape of the bridge and how it would fit in with natural surroundings,” he added. “They had to work hard to make sure there were reliable connections to the rock and also that it would kind of blend in with the space in a really special way.”
According to Wenner, the project represented the dedicated craftsmanship, creativity and hard work that Ohioans value. He voiced how hopeful he was that the glass walkway would become a popular tourist attraction in the years to come and provide great memories for families.
ODNR Geologist and Group Supervisor Andy Nash was the final speaker and regaled the audience with his own experiences visiting State Parks as a youth.
Nash said that one of the things that he has noticed about several State Parks is the presence of the Sharon Conglomerate, a geological formation of the rocks throughout the parks. He informed the crowd that rocks were deposited approximately 318,000,000 years ago, at a time when the Appalachian Trail was first formed.
“We will see today from those mountains out into the sea and we can study these rocks and really understand the past environment as we know it,” he noted. “You will see interesting features in the rocks like little milky white pebbles, those are our courtside pebbles that help us figure out exactly where that river was coming from as it eroded that rock.”
He said that the Park offered several examples of that distinct rock formation and shared his euphoria of how the glass walkway would further allow tourists to view that pattern.
“It is really my hope that visitors to the park now, especially younger visitors will be able to get that same feeling that I had visiting those parks across Northeast Ohio,” he added. “This is probably the best place to see that and become inspired and really become our future for conservation efforts and geology.”
Following the series of guest speakers, visitors were offered a chance to view the glass walkway by being led on a brief hike up the trail where they had the opportunity to become the first ones to set foot on the bridge.
