Gully Brook Park

Gully Brook Park protects a valley, stream, wetland and forest. Its unique natural features, ravines and wild places are intertwined with local history. Today, visitors can enjoy more than a mile of improved trails and the chance to reconnect with nature. Explore Gully Brook and listen for the songs of winter wrens or chickadees. Watch for the footprints of raccoons, the flash of a dragonfly or enjoy the beauty of a young forest ever-changing.

Park History

Gully Brook, its tributaries and hemlock ravines were once known far and wide for their interest and beauty.

In 1916, a group of local gentlemen began to meet and discuss the recently published essays of naturalist author John Burroughs, and Burroughs Nature Club began. Club meetings featured renowned guest speakers and explorations to places with interesting plants, birds or other natural history.

Local people became familiar with the outstanding natural areas of northeast Ohio and Gully Brook was a frequent haunt. Enjoying the abundant spring wildflowers or the shade of a record-sized slippery elm tree, hiking or studying nesting hawks and owls were some of their early pastimes. These naturalists actively worked to conserve Gully Brook and other favorite places including Gildersleeve Mountain (Chapin Forest Reservation), Pymatuning (State Park), Halle Ravine (Penitentiary Glen Reservation), Otis Springs (Hach Otis State Nature Preserve) and Mentor Headlands and Marsh (State Park and State Nature Preserve). As early as 1925, Willoughby’s newspaper called for a public “natural woods preserve for future generations” at Gully Brook.

The construction of Interstate 90 during the late 1950s dramatically changed the character of Lake County. In the Gully Brook valley, family farms were divided, streams were diverted into culverts and wild plant and animal communities were changed.

In 1990, the Lake Metroparks Openspace Opportunities Master Plan (1990-2010) identified Gully Brook as property that should be protected by Lake Metroparks. In the 1990s, Willoughby Natural Areas Conservancy supported the conservation of Gully Brook. With federal and local funding, the park was completed and opened in 2011. Today, more than a mile of Gully Brook and its watershed are protected within this park, providing a refuge for a variety of plant and wildlife species.