Gorge Trail - Mary Campbell Cave
by Dennis Lundell
Title
Gorge Trail - Mary Campbell Cave
Artist
Dennis Lundell
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
At the end of Summit Metro Park's Gorge Trail is the Mary Campbell Cave, or as it is sometimes known, Old Maid's Kitchen.
The name come from it's most famous resident. As the plaque in the cave reads:
"In Memory of Mary Campbell
Who in 1759 at the age of twelve years was kidnapped from her home in Western Pennsylvania by Delaware Indians. In the same year these Indians were forced to migrate to this section where they erected their village at the big falls of the Cuyahoga. As a result Mary Campbell was the first white child on the Western Reserve and this tablet marks the cave where she and the Indian women temporarily lived. Later, in 1764, she was returned to her home.
Erected by the Mary Campbell Society Children of the American Revolution of Cuyahoga Falls, 1934"
For scale, the upper ceiling of the cave is about 25 feet from the ground, while the lower ceiling (dark area near the ground) is just high enough to stand up in in spots.It only goes into the rock cliff formation for 50 feet or so, making it more of a shelter than a cave.
Since archeologists have found no evidence for Native Americans having used the cave, making the Mary Campbell connection likely only a legend, the park district is in the process of changing the name to Old Maid's Kitchen, which was a common name for rock shelters like this in the 1800's.
Uploaded
December 14th, 2022
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