My Personal Thoughts
Some places require weeks of planning. Others wait close enough to answer a sudden need for fresh air.
For my family, North Chagrin Reservation has always belonged to the second group. The drive from home usually takes about seventeen minutes, and much of that time is spent waiting through a series of traffic lights. It is close enough that a visit never needed to become a major expedition. Whenever I felt the urge to walk, clear my head, exercise, or see what wildlife might be moving near the water, I could simply go.
Although portions of the reservation extend into Lake County, North Chagrin Reservation is part of the Cleveland Metroparks system. It stretches through Mayfield Village, Willoughby Hills, and Gates Mills, bringing together woodlands, wetlands, picnic areas, wildlife sanctuaries, trails, and historic places. Since the 1920s, the reservation has served as both an outdoor recreation area and a protected natural landscape.
For me, however, its meaning has never been limited to a map or park-system boundary. North Chagrin has been a place of solitary walks, family picnics, horseback rides, wildlife encounters, photography, and memories that reach across several stages of my life.
Close Enough to Become
Part of Life
There were many times when I visited North Chagrin Reservation alone. I would get the urge to walk, head toward the park, and follow whichever trail felt right that day. Exercise was part of the reason, but I was also curious about what I might see.
A trail never guarantees a wildlife encounter. That uncertainty is part of the appeal. A quiet stretch of woods might remain completely still, or a movement near the water might reveal a turtle, frog, heron, or dragonfly. Sometimes the reward was simply the sound of leaves overhead and the feeling that the road, traffic lights, and daily responsibilities had fallen behind me.
The reservation also became a family destination. My youngest brother Darrel, my son Jeremy, and I went there often. When my mother was alive, Darrel and I brought her as well.
Before Alzheimer’s disease and dementia changed what outings were possible for her, we sometimes spent time together at one of the picnic areas near the Nature Center, pond, and marsh. There were picnic tables, barbecue grills, and swings for children. The trails connected the recreation area to the wider reservation, so a picnic could easily become a walk beneath the trees or a visit to the water.
Those were not extravagant occasions. They were ordinary family days, and that is precisely why they matter now.
In recent years, doctor appointments, getting Jeremy to and from work, conflicting schedules, and problems with the van have made visits less frequent. The park has not become less meaningful. Life has simply placed more obstacles between us and the trailhead.
North Chagrin remains close, waiting in the same way familiar places do.
Between Sunset Pond
and Sanctuary Marsh
Sanctuary Marsh stretches behind the
North Chagrin Nature Center, creating
wetland habitat for birds, turtles, frogs,
dragonflies, and other wildlife
North Chagrin Nature Center, creating
wetland habitat for birds, turtles, frogs,
dragonflies, and other wildlife
Photo copyright: Michael A. Buccilli
The Nature Center helps orient visitors, but the marsh soon takes over the experience.
From behind the building, Sanctuary Marsh opens into a layered landscape of wetland plants, water, reeds, fallen wood, and surrounding forest. Dead tree trunks rise from the greenery, while the building itself sits partly hidden among the trees. It feels less like a carefully arranged park scene and more like a place where nature has negotiated its own terms.
That habitat has given me some of my favorite wildlife photographs from North Chagrin.
One photograph shows a Canada goose moving across the water with two goslings close behind. The adult appears watchful, while the young birds create small circles of movement in the ripples. It is a familiar spring scene, but familiarity does not make it less meaningful. Parenthood, protection, and vulnerability can all exist in a few feet of water.
A Canadian goose guides two goslings
through the rippling water
of Sanctuary Marsh
Another image captures a freshwater turtle stretched across a fallen log, warming itself above the reflected greens and blues of the marsh. I am not certain of the exact species, so it is better to let the photograph remain what it honestly records: a turtle claiming a strip of sunlight.
A freshwater turtle rests on a sunlit logabove the reflected colorsof Sanctuary Marsh
A dragonfly rests among tall blades of marsh grass, its transparent wings catching the light. Part of its body is obscured by a reed, but that makes the image feel truthful. Wildlife does not arrange itself for the photographer. The challenge is to notice what is briefly visible before it moves again.
Dragonfly with transparent wings restingamong tall green reeds besideSanctuary Marsh
A frog sits on a wet log near the waterline, small enough that it could easily be missed. That photograph reflects the way I often experience a place like Sanctuary Marsh. The most memorable discovery is not always the largest animal. Sometimes it is the tiny shape that only becomes visible after standing still.
A small frog sits near the waterline,one of the quieter discoverieswaiting in the marsh
The strongest wildlife presence in the series may be the Great Blue Heron standing on a fallen log. Its long legs, gray-blue body, pointed bill, and patient posture suit the marsh perfectly. The bird appears almost motionless, yet a heron’s stillness is rarely inactivity. It is attention sharpened into posture.
Great Blue Heron standing on a fallen logsurrounded by green marsh water,aquatic plants, and woodland
These images come from different visits, and the article should not pretend they all appeared during a single walk. Together, however, they reveal the reservation as I have come to know it over time: layered, unpredictable, and full of lives moving at their own pace.
Trails on Foot and
on Horseback
Walking the reservation as an adult brought back a much earlier connection to its trails.
During high school, my cousin and I belonged to a horseback-riding club. On a couple of occasions, members of the club rode together through North Chagrin Reservation. Not every member was able to attend every outing, but these were organized club rides, and the trails became part of my teenage experience of the park.
North Chagrin continues to include bridle trails, and one trailhead provides parking suitable for horse trailers and access to designated riding routes.
There is a different rhythm to experiencing a trail from horseback. The view is higher, the movement belongs partly to another living creature, and the landscape passes through the steady pattern of hooves. I could not have known then that I would return years later on foot, carrying different responsibilities and watching the woods through the eyes of a photographer.
That is one of the quiet powers of a familiar park. The land stays in place while the visitor changes.
As a teenager, I followed the trail with my cousin and fellow club members. Later, I walked alone for exercise and the possibility of seeing wildlife. Still later, the reservation became a place to visit with Darrel, Jeremy, and my mother.
The same network of trails connected all those versions of my life.
Picnics, Playgrounds,
and Summer Afternoons
North Chagrin is not only a wildlife destination. It is also an everyday community space.
During the summer, picnic tables and grills become gathering places for families, friends, celebrations, and casual cookouts. The reservation’s picnic areas sit close enough to the trails that visitors can eat, rest, let children play, and then wander back into the woods. Cleveland Metroparks maintains multiple picnic areas throughout the reservation, including locations with tables, grills, parking, and other basic amenities.
What I remember most is the ease of it.
We did not need a complicated itinerary. Food, a picnic table, a place for children to swing, and the nearby trails were enough. The reservation supplied the background: trees, birds, open space, and the possibility of a walk after eating.
Parks often appear in travel writing as destinations to be conquered. Trails are measured, landmarks are checked off, and photographs become evidence that the traveler arrived.
North Chagrin asks for something quieter. It works best when treated as a place to spend time rather than a list to complete.
The Modest Beauty ofButtermilk Falls
Buttermilk Falls is one of the smaller features within the reservation.
It is not a roaring waterfall that dominates the landscape. The overlook is modest, and the cascade is easy to miss if someone arrives expecting something monumental. Yet that smallness suits North Chagrin.
A wooded viewing deck overlooks the creek as the water moves across layers of Cleveland Shale and Chagrin Shale. Nearby trailheads connect visitors with the Buttermilk Falls Trail, the All Purpose Trail, Hickory Fox Loop, and other wooded routes.
The falls do not require a borrowed photograph or exaggerated description. They belong in the story as they are: a small cascade found along the way, a brief change in sound and texture within a much larger park.
Not every beautiful place needs to thunder.
Squire’s Castle and the
Estate That Never Was
On the eastern side of North Chagrin Reservation, Squire’s Castle rises from a broad grassy clearing near Chagrin River Road.
Its stone towers, arched entrance, narrow windows, and surrounding forest give it the appearance of a structure transported from another time. The nearby parking and picnic tables make it easy to visit, and the open lawn has become a familiar setting for family outings and photography.
Homecoming portraits, prom photographs, engagement sessions, and wedding pictures are often created around the castle. On some days, the lawn feels like an outdoor studio, with photographers guiding people toward stone walls, arches, and patches of flattering light.
Despite its name, Squire’s Castle was not built as a completed castle residence.
Feargus B. Squire, an executive with Standard Oil, purchased approximately 525 acres in the Chagrin Valley in 1890. He planned a country estate called River Farm Estate. The structure now known as Squire’s Castle was built during the 1890s as a gatehouse and caretaker’s quarters, modeled after English and German baronial architecture. A larger main residence was planned but never constructed.
The gatehouse was more elaborate than the shell visitors see today. It once contained finished rooms, woodwork, plaster walls, leaded-glass windows, living areas, bedrooms, a kitchen, and a library. After the property changed hands, it was acquired by the Metropolitan Park Board in 1925 and became part of what developed into North Chagrin Reservation.
Today, the interior is open and largely empty.
Visitors can walk through the rooms, stand beneath the arches, look through the window openings, and imagine the building as it once appeared. The missing floors and interior details make the structure feel unfinished, but that incompleteness is part of its character.
The castle is not particularly large. Its appeal comes from the contrast between expectation and reality. From across the lawn, it appears grand and theatrical. Inside, it becomes intimate, exposed, and slightly mysterious.
Local ghost stories have gathered around it over the years, but the real history is interesting enough without embellishment. It is the surviving gatehouse of an ambitious estate that was never fully built, a fragment of someone’s plan preserved in the middle of a public park.
Photographing a
Familiar Place
North Chagrin Reservation offers many types of photography without demanding that the photographer travel far.
At Sanctuary Marsh, the work is about patience. Waterfowl may drift into the frame, turtles may climb onto logs, dragonflies may stop briefly among the grasses, and a heron may remain still long enough to become part of the landscape.
Around Squire’s Castle, the subjects shift to architecture and human activity. Stone texture, arches, towers, window openings, portraits, and the contrast between the pale building and dark woods all offer possibilities.
The trails provide another visual language: branches arching overhead, light crossing the path, leaves changing with the seasons, hoof-worn earth, and people disappearing around a bend.
These photographs were made during different visits and at different stages of my development as a photographer. Some were edited more heavily than I would process them today. Even so, they remain valuable records of what I saw and how I interpreted the place at that time.
Photography does not only preserve the landscape. It preserves the photographer’s way of seeing it.
A Place That Holds More
Than One Story
North Chagrin Reservation is easy to describe as a collection of features: a nature center, ponds, marshland, trails, picnic areas, a small waterfall, and an unusual stone gatehouse.
That description would be accurate, but incomplete.
For me, the reservation also holds horseback rides with my cousin and our high-school club. It holds solo walks taken for exercise and peace of mind. It holds wildlife photographs made beside the marsh. It holds picnics with Darrel, Jeremy, and my mother before Alzheimer’s and dementia changed what our family could do together.
We have not visited as often recently. Responsibilities, appointments, transportation problems, and daily schedules have made spontaneous outings more difficult.
Still, the reservation remains only about seventeen minutes away.
The traffic lights are still there. The trails continue beyond the picnic tables. Wildlife moves through Sanctuary Marsh whether a photographer is watching or not. Squire’s Castle waits in its clearing, an unfinished building that somehow became a lasting landmark.
Someday soon, I hope we can return.
When we do, we will not be returning to only one version of North Chagrin Reservation. We will be walking back into all the versions we have known before, following familiar trails through memory, family, and the quiet wonder of a place close to home.
Sources and Further Reading
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Cleveland Metroparks. “North Chagrin Reservation.”
General information about the reservation’s location, wetlands, wildlife-viewing areas, picnic facilities, hiking, horseback riding, and major attractions. Accessed August 1, 2026.
https://www.clevelandmetroparks.com/parks/visit/parks/north-chagrin-reservation
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Cleveland Metroparks. “North Chagrin Nature Center.”
Information about the Nature Center’s location between Sunset Pond and Sanctuary Marsh, wildlife-viewing areas, exhibits, and educational programs. Accessed August 1, 2026.
https://www.clevelandmetroparks.com/parks/visit/parks/north-chagrin-reservation/north-chagrin-nature-center
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Cleveland Metroparks. “North Chagrin Nature Center Marsh Loop.”
Information about the paved, accessible loop around Sanctuary Marsh and opportunities to observe turtles, fish, and wading birds. Accessed August 1, 2026.
https://www.clevelandmetroparks.com/parks/visit/ten-to-explore/2023/may
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Cleveland Metroparks. “Buttermilk Falls Scenic Overlook.”
Information about the wooded overlook and the cascade’s passage across Cleveland Shale and Chagrin Shale. Accessed August 1, 2026.
https://www.clevelandmetroparks.com/parks/visit/parks/north-chagrin-reservation/buttermilk-falls-trailhead
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Cleveland Metroparks. “Buttermilk Falls Trailhead.”
Information about access to the Buttermilk Falls Trail, Hickory Fox Loop, All Purpose Trail, and nearby Hemlock Trail. Accessed August 1, 2026.
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Roy, Chris. “Squire’s Castle: The Gatehouse for an Oil Executive’s Unbuilt Estate.” Cleveland Historical.
History of Feargus B. Squire, River Farm Estate, the gatehouse’s original purpose and interior, the unbuilt main residence, and the property’s acquisition by the Metropolitan Park Board. Accessed August 1, 2026.
https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/index
Author’s Note
The family memories, personal visits, high-school horseback-riding experiences, wildlife observations, travel time, and photographs included in this article come from my own experiences at North Chagrin Reservation.
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