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Life on the farm brings expected and unexpected hardships that affect families physically and emotionally. While most farmers have loved living and raising their products in the Cuyahoga Valley, the region's climate and wildlife present certain difficulties. Farmers' incomes and food supplies remain subject to storms, predators, and human energy. Flooding, frost, water shortages, pests, and disease—compounded by family struggles—make farm life challenging.
Explore the sections below to hear real farmers talk about some of the challenges they faced throughout their lives and careers.
This research grew out of the 2011 Farming in the Valley oral history project. To learn more and explore related topics, visit the main page.
A flood in the 1930s washed away Bolanz Road.
NPS Collection
Flooding
Farming in a floodplain requires a certain acceptance of natural forces. The Cuyahoga River and its tributaries normally flood throughout the year, especially during the spring. The effects are not all bad. Stormwater washing into the floodplain deposits sediments that replenish the soil.
Periodically, devastating floods sweep the region and beyond. The most famous is the Great Flood of 1913. It swept away homes, barns, livestock, and more. The Ohio & Erie Canal was so overwhelmed that some structures had to be dynamited to release the water. The canal never recovered.
Urvan Murphy and his family survived the 1913 flood, but the rising waters damaged their home and fields. The historic Murphy Farm was located between the Cuyahoga River and the canal, just south of present-day Station Road Bridge Trailhead.
In this century, Cuyahoga Valley farmers continue to deal with high water and crop loss. With increased land development and more numerous severe storms, water now pulses more rapidly into streams that feed the Cuyahoga River. The increased flow can threaten downstream communities. Despite this hardship, farmers find help from their neighbors and work together to rebuild homes and businesses.
Flooding and Help from Friends
2011 Oral History Project: Earl Foote, a Valley View farmer, talks about the flooding challenges he faces almost every year.
First speaker: Well probably in the fifty-plus years that we have farmed we have probably had fifty floods. Not every year but some of the times we've had as high as four floods in a year. But in '06 we had one that was seven foot deep in our retail business and two foot deep in our house that we lived in. The house was raised up by the federal insurance company and so forth, so this last one that was last week, we didn't get flooded. But if we hadn't we would have had a foot of water on our main floor then. Got a lot of nice friends in people. When we'd have friends . . . er, a flood. '04? That was it? Second speaker: Pretty big one. First speaker: There was people came from all over. Customers came in and helped shovel mud. My relatives and a couple churches that people came down. We were at a point where, in '06, we were going to probably tear down the house, we'd had that much damage in it. Second speaker: Yeah . . . First speaker: By the time we decided for sure that's what we were gonna do there were so many people in there scrapin’ wallpaper off the walls and scrubbin’, and we just couldn't walk away from it then.
Cuyahoga River
2011 Oral History Project: Henry Fortlage, who grew up in Independence, talks about the Cuyahoga River and why it is prone to floods.
The floods that we get now are common. I mean, I remember the river floods every year. They make a big . . . the paper makes a big thing about it and everything. It's the Cuyahoga River. You have understand it. The Cuyahoga River starts way up east of here in, what, Geauga County? Makes a big U, comes down through Akron, Cuyahoga Falls, Akron, comes right back. So when all the storms come from the west, right? So they blow through the Cuyahoga Valley here, and then they get out there in Geauga and they hit it again, and so it gets a double whammy so . . . so the river will flood pretty easily. And it's probably prone to flooding now more because, so much development the water doesn't soak in. The streams and tributaries will catch all the storm sewers, storm drains, and it's almost instant flooding, you know, for them. It hits the river and the river can't handle it so quickly. It used to take a little while for it to drain out but . . . I always judged how high the river is is by going down to the hillside road. If it's a couple feet under the deck of the bridge, it's pretty high. ~laughs~ I've never seen it any higher than that.
Water Shortage
In the valley lowlands, groundwater is not easily accessible. Most buildings in communities such as Peninsula need to obtain potable water from outside sources. Often this is stored in an outside cistern. In seasons with very little rainfall, this can be both expensive and in high demand. Throughout the 1900s to the present day, water haulers have helped valley residents overcome the shortage. Plans are underway to connect the Peninsula area to Hudson water lines.
With a lack of predators, deer are frequently seen grazing in farm fields.
Like all farmers, those in the Cuyahoga Valley face challenges from wildlife. Deer, raccoons, coyotes, and other animals affect crops and livestock.
More than any other wild animal, deer threaten most crops, eating vegetables before they have a chance to fully grow. Within the last half century, the deer population has grown dramatically, creating more pressure on those who make a living off the land.
Hawks and Racoons
2011 Oral History Project: Alan Halko, who operated the former Spring Hill Farm and Market in Brecksville, talks about how hawks and raccoons threaten his chickens.
“Predation, for one thing, is uh . . . You know, we have a lot of hawk uh, a lot of hawks there. And certain times of the year they like to get chickens. So . . . ~laughs~ And raccoons. I’ve had raccoons wipe out twenty chickens in one night. The hawks take ‘em randomly here and there, usually in the colder weather.”
Deer Problems
2011 Oral History Project: Gerald and Marilyn Polcen, who no longer farm in the valley due to the rising deer population, talk about a creative method for warding off deer from their fields.
Marilyn: “There was land that you could plant, but, you know, it doesn’t pay to fence it. Fencin’ costs a lot of money, and these deer are very creative. They’ll crawl under fences, they’ll jump over ‘em . . .”
Gerald: “I don’t know if you’ve heard that before from any farmers, but it’s a big problem. I tell ya, I used to . . . we have a pickup truck camper . . . in Brecksville, when I was farmin’ over there, growin’ corn over there, used to take the truck and camper in the middle of the field, take my half Lab and half Golden Retriever (she’d sleep with me). I would get up every half hour, shine a light and if we seen the deer, I’d just say ‘Sam-sam, go get ‘em.’ It would . . . she would go out, just run the deer into the woods, turn right around, come back, get back in the camper, we’d go to sleep again. I mean, great dog.”
More Deer
2011 Oral History Project: Carl Boodey describes how the large deer population has affected the valley landscape and contributed to tree loss.
“You cannot farm in the valley no more with the deer. Only thing you can do is like the goats, or graze stuff, but the deer just eat everything up. I did see the woods change a lot. The deer ate lot of the foliage out and about. It’s hard. No new trees. The trees . . . I lived right across from a big woods on Hines Hill. The trees would get up two years old, about a foot, and they’d eat ‘em right to the ground.”
Family Struggles
Unlike flooding and wildlife pressures, family deaths and other personal loss create painful and unpredicted hardships for farmers. For many women, the loss of their husband meant that they needed to solely manage the farming operation while raising a family.
Selling the Farm
2011 Oral History Project: Elizabeth Thalman, who lived with her husband in Richfield, talks about the challenges her family faced after her husband suffered an injury. Unable to manage the farm, Elizabeth's family sold the property for the Richfield Coliseum development.
“My husband, he got hurt on the turnpike. He worked on the turnpike after we couldn’t make a go of it anymore. He got a job there, and he got hurt there. They had these great big Trojan wheels on a tractor, and he was holding the tire and two men were holding the rim, and they dropped it on his foot and crushed his foot. And after that he didn’t—he couldn’t work no more. I mean, he was disabled, so we had to quit farming then. And when Mileti came along and wanted to buy it, so we just sold it to him. ”
Changing Landscape
The landscape of the Cuyahoga Valley has witnessed centuries of changes as farmers struggled to use the land to feed and support their families. Over time agriculture intensified, technology advanced, and properties exchanged owners.
Land for the National Park
2011 Oral History Project: Hazel Broughton, who grew up in Everett, describes residents' fears and concerns about their homes and farms during the creation of the national park in the 1970s.
Well in 1975, when Park Service first came, their idea was a little radical for the times. They really rubbed people the wrong way, because they came on strong, they said what they were gonna do, and it didn't sound like we, as residents, had much choice. I can only say for myself. Some people carried a grudge, probably still do, I don't know if they're still alive. I haven't. They treated me fairly. However, the scare tactics that, I don't know if it was just gossip or if it was planted . . . who knows. But they came across kinda strong saying, you'd better sell your house. You'd better sell to us. You better move, because you don't know who's gonna keep your roads up. You don't know who your police department's going to be. You don't know who your fire department's going to be. Your emergency squad. It's all going to be under par. Well this was really strong for 1975, for the simple reason here we were, all of us that lived in Everett – What are we going to do? Are we gonna have to sell? Well, we didn't have to sell. We could have taken life estate, but with those things that they had mentioned, it gave us a fear. A fear of what's going to happen if we stay. So, most of us, we would talk when we would see each other: What are you gonna do? Well most of us hadn't made up our minds. My neighbors that were directly across the street, they decided to take seven years. They would live there seven years. One of my friends up on Northampton Road, she took live estate. She did live there until practically the end of her life. On looking back, I think—and I believe most people would agree . . . the strength of what they came on with was a scare tactic enough to make people want to leave. Because if you had to worry about all these things, and not know, your decision was, I'm gonna move. We knew we had a deadline. Once they came and approached you, you had so long to decide what to do. You could either stay, or you could go. Now, of, course it's not the same park, but I hold no grudges because I felt that I was dealt with okay. I am glad the park has developed it. The trails are wonderful. I have walked them, and I think the relationship that Peninsula has with the park now is very good. The things they have developed for people from the cities to come in, for kids. Look what they can learn! They come and see the blue herons. They come and see the eagles. You know. There's places they can fish. But I think the park has been good, and I'm glad that they're there, because they preserved a lot.
Farming Fades
2011 Oral History Project: Martin Johnston, a farmer from Valley View, talks about the decreasing number of farms in the Cuyahoga Valley.
In the '50s there used to be, all parts of the valley was farmed, every bit of land you could farm. But as time went on, obviously there was less farmers because it was more beneficial to go work in the steel mill or the automobile factory. Well in our village, Valley View, the land went for a commercial activity, in some respects. And people got older, didn't farm it. There was two of us farmed in the valley, quite a bit of the land. Foote's . . . well, three of us technically: Foote's, Walter's, and Johnston's. Walter's phased out. Things have changed when the park got it. Deer population was growing and, because the rules and regulations of the park and the deer, people backed off from farming it. Today it's hard to farm in the valley with the deer population as such.
Later generations of landowners were sometimes members of the same family and sometimes not. Some new owners continued to plow the land, while others pursued different goals. During the establishment of Cuyahoga Valley National Park from the mid-1970s through the mid-1980s, the federal government purchased many properties. The park brought new hopes for preservation, but also new challenges related to increasing tourism and shrinking local tax bases. Local residents expressed concerns about what would happen to their properties, neighborhoods, and way of life.
Learn More
Explore the links below to learn more about some of Cuyahoga Valley National Park's historic farms, and hear stories from residents who experienced many of these changes and challenges.
