Camping at Mill Hollow

Do you remember when camping was allowed down at Mill Hollow?

I’m guessing not too many people can recall those days, but my family does. We learned how to camp down at Mill Hollow, pitching our first tent down there in the early 1960s. At the time, my younger brother was still a baby. He slept in a box.

I think of those days every time I go to the park (and as the leaves begin to change colors, I’ll be down there a lot).

Here’s a great photo of campers set up down at Mill Hollow by the duck pond. It appeared in the Journal on October 25, 1969.

The photo accompanied an article making a pitch for the passing of a park levy.

Back in October 1969, the Lorain County Metropolitan Park District was asking voters to approve Issue 5, a 20-year one-half mill levy to supply funds for the development and operation of the six park land reservations that made up the system at that time: Mill Hollow-Bacon Woods; Black River Reservation; French Creek Reservation; Lake Carlisle Reservation; Indian Hollow Reservation; and Charlemont Reservation.

The Park District was still relatively young in those days, a little more than ten years old, having only been created in 1957.

Voters ultimately defeated the levy in the 1969 November election. In the last fifty years, however, County residents have realized how lucky we are to have such a wonderful park system and have supported it, allowing it to greatly expand.

As noted on the Lorain County Metro Parks website, "The Park District is supported by a 1.6-mill levy property tax, earned income and a variety of sponsors and gifts. Capital improvements are financed by maintaining operating costs below annual revenues and utilizing grants, donations, and trusts.”

The duck pond is still there.