Beaver Creek (Lorain County, Ohio)

Beaver Creek is a large creek in Lorain County, Ohio, USA.[1] It flows through the township (and the village) of Amherst, and through the western end of the corporation-limits of the City of Lorain, and into Lake Erie.

  • The entire Beaver Creek watershed is composed of two main branches (originally called "Big Beaver" and "Little Beaver"), and several small tributaries.
  • The area at the mouth/outlet of this creek has been historically known as "Oak Point". [The extensive sand beach to the immediate west of the mouth, has been called "Hole-in-the-Wall" — named for the former access routes onto the beach, via a bygone passageway there through the railroad-embankment — and also via an existing legal-right-of-way through the "Claus double-tunnel" at Quarry Creek, although presently the "Hole-in-the-Wall" beach no longer extends that far westerly. (There have been unsuccessful past local-governmental proposals to restore the whole length of the Hole-in-the-Wall beach, and re-open that "Claus double-tunnel" to the public.)[2] ]
  • Beaver Creek has an important history in the early pioneer-settlement of this land-area of Ohio ( including the "Beaver Creek Settlement" of 1810, and, in particular, the later development of the village of Amherst.[3] In fact, those same pioneer-settlers are said to have named this creek solely in honor of their former homeland in western Pennsylvania, ( and therefore it is uncertain if there were also a significant number of beaver inhabiting this creek, which some local-historians have later asserted).
  • Prior to the arrival of the pioneer-settlers from their former Beaver Falls (PA) area, this creek seems to have been known as the "Riviere en Grys".[4]
  • Beaver Creek's main branch follows these basic co-ordinates:[5] 41.2814393 -82.2882163 / 41.3750450 -82.2393232 / 41.4361526 -82.2498785
Beaver Creek passing under the tunnel and rail tracks by the old spring in downtown Amherst, Ohio

See also

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References

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  1. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Beaver Creek
  2. ^ State of Ohio, Coastal Management Program: Environmental Impact Statement, Part 2; 1997; p.M-5
  3. ^ History of Lorain County, Ohio. Williams Brothers. 1879. p. 25, 44,207,208,210, 221,229,326,327,329,332, 342.
  4. ^ 1778 map by Hutchins
  5. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Beaver Creek

41°26′13″N 82°15′09″W / 41.4370°N 82.2524°W / 41.4370; -82.2524