Fall Cavalcade of Color - 2026 Part 1

Fall is my favorite time of year. During this particular one, I've gone out of my way to savor each day. I've enjoyed the sights, sounds and smell of autumn by going for a walk each night – usually in Mill Hollow. And for something different during this past weekend, I made the trek out to another favorite spot: Findley State Park in Wellington. The fall colors are incredible, and hopefully my photos below will do them justice.

So for those of you who perhaps no longer live in this area, let this post be your balm to ease your longing for Autumn in Lorain County.

I'm always pleased that there's some nice color around the old quarry that's located right behind my condo in the Woodlands. (Speaking of the Woodlands, I'm lucky that my condo building is up the hill from where it looks like Paul Bunyan swung his mighty axe and turned the Woodlands into the Wastelands.)

And it was late afternoon on Saturday that I paid my visit to Findley State Park. I had Picnic Point all to myself. (By the way, my picnic was a McDonalds double cheeseburger.)

 

Sunday I was right back at Mill Hollow.

On the trail, I saw this little fella. I told him, "Hey! The Woollybear Festival was weeks ago, pal!"

Mill Hollow Clippings: 1931 Charles Bacon Interview Recalled

The view last evening

We'll close out this look back at various news clippings about Mill Hollow with perhaps the most interesting article of all. 

You might remember that yesterday I posted a small article from April 1931 noting that Miss Blanche M. Jenne, Amherst correspondent for the Lorain Journal, had written a special feature for the Cleveland Plain Dealer about the old taverns of Lorain County. For that article, she had interviewed Charles Bacon, whose forefathers (including his grandfather Frederick Bacon) owned 300 acres of land around Mill Hollow.

Well, in September 1958, shortly after the land that includes Mill Hollow and Bacon Woods was donated to the Lorain County Metropolitan Park System, Blanche M. Jenne wrote a special article for the Journal recalling that 1931 interview. 

The information gleaned from her interview of Charles Bacon included a pioneer history of Mill Hollow and the various mills located there, the history of the Brownhelm Inn, and colorful stagecoach stories.

It's all fascinating information directly from a Bacon family descendant that would be hard to find today.

Thank goodness the Journal made it a priority back then, in a rapidly changing era, to document local history.

Here's the article that appeared in the Lorain Journal on September 29, 1958. Note the great photo of the hairpin curve of North Ridge Road leading down into Mill Hollow. It really was a steep angle back then, before it was altered in the 1990s.

Mill Hollow Clippings: 1920s- 1940s

The view back in early October

As I noted before, Mill Hollow seemed to be mentioned in the Lorain Journal a lot during the 1920s, 30s and 40s. 

There was a variety of reasons. That part of the county was still rugged and a great place to hunt; the hairpin curve of North Ridge Road leading down into the hollow from the east and the hill as the road exited to the west was a regular focus of county engineers; and the rich history of the area, with living descendants of the family that operated the mill, and buildings and houses dating back from stagecoach days, made it a fascinating window to the past.

Here, then, is a potpourri of articles from the pages of the Lorain Journal that each mentions Mill Hollow in some context. Articles include: the obituary of Sarah Bacon, whose father Frederick Bacon owned the flour mill and operated the tavern; an Amherst pioneer's reminisces; and the test drive of an Olds going up the famous Mill Hollow hill.

Jan. 12, 1925

April 17, 1925

June 1, 1925

June 3, 1925

Sept. 3, 1926

Nov. 13, 1926

March 31, 1928

March 19, 1930

April 23, 1930

Sept. 12, 1930

Oct. 6, 1930

Dec. 31, 1930

April 13, 1931

June 22, 1939

March 6, 1940

Aug. 1, 1941

Jan. 31, 1944

April 26, 1948

Mill Hollow Clippings: Hill Climb

Did you know that for several years during the 1920s and 30s, Mill Hollow was the location for a popular sporting event known as the hill climb?

What exactly is a hill climb, anyway?

The Old Bike Barn website provides a great history here. It notes, "The credit for inventing hill climbing goes to none other than the groundbreaking Indian Motorcycle Company. In the early 1900s, Indian would run their motorcycles up the steepest hills around the Springfield Massachusetts factory to prove that they were powerful enough to go over some of the roughest terrains. 

"These exhibitions started to gather an audience, especially since not every ride up the hill would go as planned, and the antics of falling riders were just too hard to ignore. Within a few short years, these demonstrations turned into recurring events, and manufacturers like Triumph were also muscling in on the action and looking to challenge Indian in timed events. American stalwart's Harley-Davidson joined the Insanity around 1910 and quickly began to dominate the sport. Yes, pushing a motorcycle at insane speeds up the hill became a sport."

In Lorain, the Two-Tired Motorcycle club of Lorain began holding their motorcycle hill climb at Mill Hollow in 1925. At first I thought it was on the road itself leading east out of the park. But actually the setting for the climb was a shale bank somewhere overlooking the river.

Apparently the initial event wasn't covered by the Lorain Journal, as the earliest account in the paper date from 1926.

Here are a series of articles about that 1926 hill climb.

Aug. 18, 1926

Sept. 4, 1926

Sept. 7, 1926

The Two-Tired Motorcycle club of Lorain's annual hill climb continued to be a popular sporting event. It must have been a beautiful setting. Here is the coverage from 1927.

Aug. 13, 1927

Aug. 17, 1927

Aug. 20, 1927

Aug. 20, 1927

Aug. 22, 1927

Here are some more clippings from following years.

Sept. 7, 1928

Sept. 25, 1929

Sept.28, 1929

Aug. 23, 1930

Sept. 26, 1931

April 28, 1932

May 23, 1934

Sept. 12, 1935

By 1938, the Two-Tired Motorcycle club of Lorain and Elyria decided to move the location of their annual hill climb from Mill Hollow. The new location was at the club's new hill on Route 59 west of Elyria near Birmingham. 

May 18, 1938

And the era of Mill Hollow serving as the site of an annual sporting event drew to a close.