The Falls at Chagrin Falls

Friday was a beautiful day in the Cleveland area. The sky was blue, the weather was mild and the leaves are lovely. I took a short stroll around the Triangle in Chagrin Falls. Enjoy!


The falls are a perfect place for couples taking pictures.


Here's a closer picture of the falls itself.


On the other side of the street is the "pre-falls". The wall or dam makes a pretty pond before the river starts cascading over the rocks.


Feeding the ducks is fun for both the young and the experienced.


The bridge over the river had nice planters with flowers.

Copyright 2007 James D. Fisher
All Rights Reserved.

Cuyahoga River Bridges

Here are some images of the terrific bridges over the Cuyahoga River. They were taken on a hot evening while cruising up and down the Cuyahoga on Captain Wayne's boat. Each bridge utilizes a different filtering effect in order to enhance its features using Adobe Lightroom. Enjoy.

Copyright 2007 James D. Fisher
All Rights Reserved.

Have you been to Ashtabula lately?

I hadn't for a long time. I'm not sure why we ended up here today. It's a town that still focuses on shipping, especially coal, but not much else is going on. It has a great beach park east of the city with plenty of swimmers, sun-bathers and Frisbee flipping. The main street leading to the river focuses on tourist shops.

My wife, Mary, lived in Ashtabula while doing a journalism internship during her college days. We saw the apartment she lived in and it looked pretty good. The town has nice bluff which overlooks the river. It's next to a maritime museum.

The name Ashtabula is Iroquois for "river of many fish". I hope that is true today the way we've damaged so many of our fresh water rivers during the industrial era.



Here's a view of the Ashtabula river from the bluff. This would be a great place to sit in the evenings and watch the river traffic with all the lights. Maybe some evening we'll come back and get some night shots.


The most noticeable thing on the river is the conveyor belt that is suspended across the river. Material, mostly ores, coal, stones, are lifted over the water through the conveyor. My father, Paul, worked for the company, Dravo-Wellman, which built the conveyor. He was the project estimator and helped develop the conveyor spec.


Looking the other way from the bluff is this busy jack knife bridge.



It uses a gigantic, concrete counter-weight to lift the bridge.


This picture is toward the end of the main drag going toward the river. As you can see it has that early 20th century construction and charm.

There is always something quirky and charming about Midwest towns. Their pasts were often prosperous but their future seem unsettling. Will they get swallowed up by time and neglect or can they make a new present? Ashtabula, we're pulling for ya!

Copyright 2007 James D. Fisher
All Rights Reserved.