Editor’s Note: This is one story in a series highlighting the Ashland County Parks District’s 18 parks.
ASHLAND — In the northeastern portion of Ashland County, Sprinkle’s Serenity Park offers a peaceful spot to observe wildlife.
The 103-acre park, located at 336 Township Road 581 in Sullivan, was purchased in 2011 and opened in June 2014 near Hurdle Waterfowl Park.
“At Sprinkle, you can sit and watch wildlife from the gazebo. There’s muskrats and blue heron,” said Ashland County Park District (ACPD) director Stephanie Featheringill. “It’s a huge panoramic view. And if even for five minutes, I sit down, I always see something.”
The highlight of this park may be its 22-acre marsh added by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. The more than $16,000 project would come to compliment a marsh found at nearby Hurdle Waterfowl Park.
Trails run around the park’s fields, forming an outer loop with several short cuts. Picnic tables and a gazebo are located near the parking lot.
Prior to becoming a park, the land was owned and operated as a farm by David and Ruth Shanks since 1914.David Shank had supposedly purchased a prize stallion in Iowa and led him all the way back to Sullivan on foot to insure the horse arrived unharmed, said Featheringill, relaying a story from the property’s past.
Later, the Shanks’ daughter Hazel and her husband Carl Sprinkle purchased the farm, and they raised an impressive cow, which was named “Suzanna King Pheobe.” It was known for its exceptionally high lifetime butterfat production. The cow is buried with a marked grave within the park.
Today, a portion of the family’s farm remains in the form of a 16-acre apple orchard.
Another 20 acres of the property is still farmed, and 17.5 acres features prairie grasses and wildflowers planted by the local chapter of Pheasants Forever.
