Saturday, August 27, 2016

More Shaker Lakes (8/27/2016)

Saturday, August 27, 2016
Took a walk to see if we could circumnavigate a couple more Shaker Lakes in Shaker Heights, OH.
The aptly (unfortunately) named Green Lake as seen from
Parkland Road; houses on S Woodland Road line the opposite shore
Green Lake from Andover Road bridge over Doan Brook/South Branch
A boxwood edged garden on S Woodland Road
At Lee Road and Shaker Boulevard is Shaker Gateway Park,
the Site of the Center Family of the
North Union Society of Shakers (1822-1889),
with a replica (1951) of the original Shaker gate
Pioneer settler Ralph Russell, from Connecticut, established the North Union Shaker community in 1822 by donating 1,000 acres of land. The Shakers dammed the Doan Brook in 1826, and soon the Mill Family or North Family was founded to operate a sawmill and gristmill in the area that is now between Coventry Road and South Park Boulevard. The main Center or Middle Family was located east of Lee Road between South Park Boulevard and Shaker Boulevard. Later the Gathering or East Family was created, living north of S Woodland Road in the area of Fontenay Road. Shaker Heights takes its name from these early residents.
The Shaker family is a unit where members lived as brothers and sisters in homes in agriculturally based communities. In fact, the people were celibate, and recruited new members or took in orphans and runaways who could decide at age 21 whether to leave or stay. Because re-population was difficult, the North Union Shaker settlement was closed in 1889, and the remaining members moved to other Shaker communities.
The land was sold eventually to the Van Sweringen brothers who developed Shaker Heights, and the first village school (1912-1914) and first village hall (1911-1931) were located at this site.
Shaker well (?) with Gus and Kent
Sedgewick Road homes were fronted by "soccer fields"
Clematis terniflora/Sweet Autumn Clematis (invasive)
Shell fungus on the ground becomes a full circle
Marshall Lake was generally surrounded by homes,
seen here from S Woodland Road
Another peek at Marshall Lake
from Parkland Road
Back at Green Lake from Parkland Road

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