13. Northern Boundary of the Park

The path you are on today stops at a fence, but it continued north in 1876, curving at a ridgeline leftover from when Lake Erie was much larger.  North of the ridge, the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad cut across Congressman Garfield’s farm. A temporary stop “of the Swiss cottage style” was constructed during the 1880 Presidential campaign to allow thousands of visitors to get off the train and walk up the farm path to Garfield’s front porch. The crowds of visitors walked the path through vegetable fields, woods, and the orchard to reach the house. If you listen closely a train can still be heard today, although it does not carry passengers.