Editor’s Note: In the coming weeks, Ashland Source will highlight some of the few places that remain open to the public — the Ashland County Parks District’s 18 parks. So long as individuals maintain appropriate social distancing, people may enjoy the outdoors, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said in his Sunday, March 22 press conference.
ASHLAND — The Cooke Family Wildlife Conservation Park is one of the Ashland County Park District’s 18 parks where beaver can be spotted.
Once, beaver built a dam that flooded the back half of the park, ACPD director Stephanie Featheringill recalls. The situation has since been addressed and the entire park reopened.Â
The 163-acre park, located at 4774 State Route 13 North in Shiloh, features a three-acre, catch-and-release-only fishing pond — a space ideal for social distancing.Â
The park is also ideal for horseback riding and bird watching. Purple Martin houses have been erected on the property to attract the largest swallow in North America, which is surprisingly not purple. It’s a dark black-blue in color.Â
The park is situated about 10 miles west of Ashland and along the Blackfork of the Mohican River. Â It features more than three miles of hiking trails through a unique mixture of terrains — prairie grasslands, hardwood forests, pine forests and wetlands.Â
The marsh within the park is home to birds, mink, muskrat, amphibians and a wide variety of native sedges and unusual plants, Featheringill said. It’s possible to hear leopard and pickerel frogs in this area.
The land was first developed by two Cooke brothers as a hunting retreat. Â Portions of this part are open to public hunting access and restricted at various times of the year. Â The river is available for fishing with a State of Ohio license.Â
Recently, Cooke Park served as the venue for the ACPD first ever Maple Syrup Day. The event is intended to be held annually every March.Â
