Paine Falls and Indian Point

I recently had the opportunity to head out to the eastern part of Lake County and visit a few of my favorite parks out there for hiking and taking a few photos, Paine Falls and Indian Point. The parks are relatively close to each other, within a couple of miles, and are far enough off the beaten path that you really get that feeling of “solitude” while you’re out there.

Colonel Hendrick Paine, nephew of Edward Paine, founder of Painesville, moved his family from Parkman, Ohio, in 1818 to this little valley. It became known as “Paine’s Hollow.” Paine built a log cabin on the terrace on the north side of the valley. With the planning and financial help of his son’s (Elazer A. Paine) father-in-law, Samuel Phelps, Paine carried out the industrial development of Paine’s Hollow. He first built a sawmill.

In the years that followed, many other industries came to the Hollow. By 1840, valley businesses included an iron forge and furnace, a tannery, a shoemaker, a blacksmith shop, and a wagon maker. An ashery was built to produce lye for soap and potash production. The area also included several houses and a school for local children.

By 1850, surrounding forests had been felled and prosperity began to decline. With the lumber supply gone and new technological advances, water power was no longer needed. The area fell to ruin and many of the settlers moved to neighboring cities. In 1974, the area was named Paine Falls at which time it was dedicated as a park by Lake Metroparks. (Courtesy of Lake Metroparks website)

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places by the National Park Service, Indian Point has one of the earliest architectural works in this part of Ohio. A tribe from the Whittlesey Culture lived here; a Whittlesey structure was built on the 100-foot ridge between Paine Creek and the Grand River. Two parallel mounds of their earthworks can be seen. The Whittelsey were an early people who lived from 900 AD to 1650 AD in stockade villages on high bluffs overlooking rivers and lakes. Because they had no contact with Europeans, the name of their tribe is unknown. The culture is named after the archaeologist who discovered the tribe.

Charles Lyman bought several acres at the Point in 1901. He had camped here often. In the years before World War I, he used the area as a military camp for high school boys. More than 150 youngsters attended Lyman’s Camp Wissolohican during its seven-year period of existence. Lyman began carving the names of campers into a Totem Stone, which can be seen along the trail near the point. Later, the point became a Finnish camp, Kaleva Lodge. During this time, a stone hut was built and used as a sauna, intact until the 1970s, when the park system dismantled it. The property was purchased from John Phelps in 1964. A plaque was erected here, in honor of James and Edna Phelps, his parents. (In 1802, part of the property had been deeded to his ancestors by the Connecticut Land Company.)(Courtesy of Lake Metroparks website)

For more infromation and directions to Paine Falls and Indian Point, please visit:

Indian Point Metropark

Paine Falls Metropark

Thanks for stopping by,

Sean

(Images acquired with Canon Eos 40D, 28-135 IS Lens and 72mm Polarizing Filter)

Fairport Harbor and the Lighthouses

Some of my favorite images from in and around Northeast Ohio are from Fairport Harbor.

Fairport Harbor is home to two lighthouses: the Fairport Harbor West Breakwater Light in Painesville Township, operated by the United States Coast Guard and the Grand River (Fairport Harbor) Light operated by the Fairport Harbor Historical Society. 

Fairport Harbor is also a popular destination for seasonal activities. Fairport Harbor Lakefront Park, operated by Lake Metroparks features a beach, playgrounds and picnic areas. Nearly a dozen protected marinas and launch facilities provide ample opportunity for boating and fishing.

If you’re ever up this way looking for some great photo opportunities I highly recommend a trip to Fairport Harbor. The two lighthouses offer some great chances for photos at virtually anytime of day and the beach is very nice as well with play areas for the kids and relatively shallow water extending a good ways into the lake.

Thanks for stopping by,

Sean

(All images acquired with Canon Eos 40D.)

Mascots and Pepe the Free Range Pinata

Mascots: those sometime beloved, sometimes creepy characters used for product endorsements to push everything from auto insurance to burgers.

In the beloved catagory I think most would say the Gecko is a relatively benign character, cute but not over the top, non-threatening and quite proper with it’s slightly British accent. Probably the biggest reason for it’s success is the clever word play with company name. Insurance is just another one of those things we pay for. It’s a living expense, but who would you rather get it from, a huge iconic corporate logo where you’re just a number, or a company mascot that’s not above having a little fun with it’s own name. I think in most cases the Gecko wins because oddly enough it humanizes an utterly inhuman product.

On the other end of the spectrum we’ve got the creepy catagory, all I’m gonna say is nightmare inducing big plastic headed King. This non-speaking character is ominous with it’s creepy smile and placed in “stalker” type scenarios that remind one of the Clown for Stephen King’s “It”.  I think this company is searching for another hook as we’re starting to see a variety of different themes in commercials. All I can say is ditch the King and start over. When was the last time you saw your competitior’s clown mascot in a commercial?

Somwhere in the middle there’s a cheeky garden gnome, a cheetah that’s trying to come off as uber hip, and finally my personal entry into the mascot fray: Pepe the Free Range Pinata…

Pepe is colorful, non-threatening, has a politcally correct past, and as you can see from the photos is up for traveling, visiting the park and other historic places. Pepe’s adventures might even find his way into a children’s book series if properly persuaded…

Book 1: Pepe the Free Range Pinata details how Pepe was born free in the Southwest United States and is befriended by Louise who takes him all over the country.

Book 2: Pepe visits the Lighthouse when Louise goes to Ohio to visit her family and learns all about lighthouses.

Book 3: Pepe and Louise visit the Park and learn all about nature and different plants at the park from Ranger Dan.

And so on, and so on…

Wow, all of that to post a few photos

Thanks for stopping by,

 

Sean

Trying to find time…

The last two weeks have been an absolute nightmare. Things have gotten so crazy and I’ve found myself with very little time to do anything besides work at the computer.

Needless to say, I haven’t been able to get out and spend any amount of time taking photos with my Olympus SP-560UZ but I hope to remedy that this weekend.

There has been an upside to the debacle that has been the last two weeks, it’s given me some time to find a nice site called Imagekind that will allow folks to purchase greeting cards and various size prints of some of my photos along with frames and matting so they look like “proper” art.

I opted to sign up for the free account to try them out which provides 1 album for 24 photos or 200MB of space depending on the size of your images. So far I’ve only managed to upload a few photos, which can be found here.

Considering the limited amount of time I have today, I think I’ll re-post me previous photo compilation and see if I can actually get out for a few more this evening. (Click thumbnail to enlarge.)

Many thanks to those who’ve stopped by and taken a look at the photos posted here. I hope you get the chance to swing buy again. If you like any of the photos you see on this site please feel free to visit my albums over at Shutterpoint and comments are welcome here on the blog.

Thanks for stopping by.

Smh

Sell your photos online
Buy my art at Imagekind!

Veteran’s Park early morning…

Snuck out early this morning with the Olympus SP-560UZ to Veteran’s Park just after sunrise, before the day started to get too crazy. It was a windy, slightly chilly morning after a storm the night before. The combination of wind, sun, clouds, and the park made for some nice pictures. Hope you enjoy. (Click thumbnails to enlarge.)

That’s about all I really have time for today. If you like any of the photos you see here please feel free to visit my albums over at Shutterpoint and comments are welcome here on the blog.

Thanks for stopping by.

Smh

Weekend Wrap Up…

It’s been about 2 weeks since I acquired the Olympus SP-560UZ digital camera and with the next couple of weeks looking hectic at best it seemed like a good time to for a “summary” post.

In regards to the camera, I’ve enjoyed all the additional features Olympus has packed into this camera. The 18x optical zoom is outstanding and at 8 Mega Pixels you’re bound to get some pretty amazing shots.  With a 1 GB XD memory card you can save nearly 500 of those shots with a resolution of 3264 x 2448. It took a little time to figure out which scene modes work best with which light, but over all my initial experience has been satisfying.

It may be a week or two before I get a chance to post again so I figured I’d post my eight favorite shots to date as a testament to the quality of the camera and the fun you can have with it. So without further adieu I present my eight favorite photos since starting my hobby, hope you enjoy… (Click thumbnails for larger image.)

That’s about all I really have time for tonight. I hope to sneak a post or two in this week, but it might be the weekend or next week before I get to again. If you like any of the photos you see here please feel free to visit my albums over at Shutterpoint and comments are welcome here on the blog.

Thanks for stopping by.

Smh