Ottawa to Oswego

Driving from Ottawa, IL to Oswego, NY | Fallen Timbers National Historic Site | Cuyahoga Valley National Park | March 2023

Our time in Ottawa finally wrapped up, but not without an unexpected extension. Our original plan had us traveling all the way to New York over a day and a half, which we planned over the Ontario peninsula. But our prolonged stay in Illinois opened up our travel time to two and a half days…at least until the weather turned poor for Friday. A big winter storm was going to cover everything North of I-80 with heavy wet snow – and while Ottawa would be clear, Ontario was distinctly not.

So we scrapped our plans and built a new trip that would be less snowy. We waited out the worst of the weather on Friday, and swapped my sleep schedule back to days. On Saturday we headed East following I-80, but once in Indiana we left the tollway and started out on new roads, following US-30 through new counties. In Fort Wayne, we took US-24 through Ohio and a couple more new counties until we reached Maumee where we made our one stop for the day at Fallen Timbers National Historic Site.

This small battle was the culmination of the Northwest Indian War, a minor war during the 1790’s between the young US Federal Government and the Western Confederacy, comprised of indigenous tribes of Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan as well as several displaced tribes. After the Revolutionary War, the Treaty of Paris established US control of all land South of the Great Lakes. And as the US grew, settlers crossed the Appalachians and invaded the Ohio River creating tensions with the native population. President Washington, correctly fearing that the British would use the situation to regain control of the Northwest Territory, sent out several military expeditions to bring peace to the region. The first two expeditions ended in failure, but in 1794, Revolutionary War Hero Major General Wayne formed the ‘American Legion’, razed multiple villages, and established lots of forts (including Fort Wayne, Indiana).

In August, 1794, the American Legion confronted the unified tribes along the banks of the Maumee River. The area had recently been destroyed by a tornado (giving the name Fallen Timbers) and the British had recently built a fort (Fort Miami) down river. While initially favorable to the confederacy, Wayne was able to turn the tide of battle by bringing his field howitzers to bear. The British, again at war with France, were unwilling to engage and stood by as many of the native leaders died in battle. The loss of so many leaders on the side of the confederacy lead to most of the tribes suing for peace and signing the Treaty of Greenville, ceding most of modern Ohio to the American government. This treaty would last for most of two decades until Tecumseh formed another coalition to fight the US government in parallel with the War of 1812.

We stopped at the monument along the Maumee River, which was believed for over a century to be the site of the battlefield, and then walked North over the highway to the actual battlefield. It wasn’t until the 1990’s that an archaeology dig was conducted and confirmed the actual location of the battle. There seemed to be a visitor center at the battlefield, but it was closed, maybe permanently. Fortunately, the NPS stamp was staged outside and only a little worse for the wear. We walked the loop trail which was very wet from yesterday’s storm but a nice stretch of the legs, if a little underwhelming. Overall, this NPS site was a nice stop, but nothing terribly exciting; next time we might visit the earthworks that make up Fort Miami.

From Toledo, we followed I-90/80 to Cleveland where we had a hotel near the airport, courtesy of all the hotel points we’ve been racking up throughout our extended stays.

On our second day of traveling, we decided to bite the bullet and visit Ohio’s only National Park: Cuyahoga Valley. We’ve been putting this visit off for a while, mostly because in our opinion Cuyahoga Valley is nothing more than an inter-city greenway connecting Cleveland and Akron. And we would LOVE to say that our visit changed our mind. But, while there is scenic beauty in what we saw, ultimately our opinion is best reflected in the Ford Administration’s statement that ‘The Cuyahoga Valley possesses no qualities which qualify it for inclusion in the National Park System” (of course Ford also signed the bill that made it into a National Recreation Area).

But we can’t change what is or is not part of the NPS, we just make the most of what we can. After snagging a new county, we wound our way to the Virginia Kendall area and hiked the Ledges Trail: one of the more popular trails in the park. The trail circles around a sizeable outcropping of rocks and short cliffs. The weather was nice and it was fun to be out walking and we even passed by a sizeable ranger led hike.

We then went to the Visitor Center to grab our NPS stamps and learn a bit more about the park: we think that taking the scenic railroad might be one of the better means to see the park, but kayaking and biking might also be a viable option should we ever return. We made one last stop at the Station Road bridge which had great views of the taller Brecksville-Northfield bridge. Based on how long we had left to drive, we decided to press on, saving the rest of the scenic sites for the next time we’re in the area. We snagged one last Ohio county and then followed Interstates for the rest of our route, catching glimpses of Lakes Erie and Ontario finally ending at our new job site in Oswego, NY.