Today we’d like to introduce you to Corey Ringle.
Hi Corey, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
In 2009, Girl Scouts of Northeast Ohio announced a program change to focus more on financial literacy and less on camping and outdoor skills. We were encouraged to form a Friends Group to promote and enhance the camp experience (GSNEO encouraged all the camps to do the same). In 2009, the Friends of Crowell Hilaka was formed to promote camping and outdoor programming at Camp Crowell Hilaka. Despite our best efforts, eventually, the camps closed in 2011/2012, but we continued to reach out, including to the Western Reserve Land Conservancy, to protect the land from development. The conservancy put an option on the property and encouraged us to reach out to the local government to see if the community would want to buy and manage the land as a public park. In August of 2014, the Richfield Joint Recreation District was formed. Knowing that we only had one chance to go for the bond and levy, we purposely picked a lower amount, understanding we would need to continue to fundraise to fill the gap in funding to save the park’s history.
Our motto was Ohio’s Hidden Treasure, as many couldn’t visit the all-girls camp and were not familiar with all the history behind the fence. After months of late-night researching case studies and strategic plans, weekends going door to door, and hosting open houses; we were successful in convincing a community that was never allowed to camp there and was already 30% parks to invest in preserving the land and history. In November 2014, the community voted yes on a bond and levy to purchase and maintain the land. The park was renamed Richfield Heritage Preserve, and we evolved alongside, now called Friends of Richfield Heritage Preserve, but our mission remains to protect, preserve, enhance, and promote.
Our Historian, Lynn Richardson, went all over the country to visit with the various families that once lived at the park. She collected photos, diaries, stories, patents, etc., from the Oviatts (the pioneers that settled the land 1836-1919), Jim Kirby (the inventor that lived there from 1919-1937 and built his home, hydroelectric water wheel, dance hall on springs, and patented self-clarifying lake), Neals (owned a local moving and storage company, hobby farmed apples, and built the beautiful Normandy style brick homes on the North end of the property), and the Girl Scouts who camped there for generations for a very pivotal time in women’s history (1937-2012). Many of the homes were camped in by the scouts and well-loved for 75 years!
We have a variety of volunteers who focus on fundraising, historic home preservation, invasive species removal, and native plant restoration. We have an outreach that has brought in amazing partners from Baldwin Wallace, Cleveland State University, Ohio Buckeye Trail Association, Ohio Horseman’s Council, Ohio Natural and Protected Areas, Ohio Invasive Plant Council, and many more wonderful partnerships during our brief 9-year tenure as a park.
We’ve hosted events (for both fundraising and friend-raising), open houses, and programming to get the community enthusiastic about the story of the park.
I’m a registered architect and many of our volunteers have a construction background. We worked to develop a plan to stabilize these homes. There were buried sill plates that had deteriorated over the years, and the rot had spread to the floor joists. We created a plan to dig a swale to redirect groundwater around the homes. Once the homes showed signs of reduced moisture, we lifted the healthy floor joists using dropped beams and adjustable posts, replaced the sill plate and rim joist, and installed new floor joist bolted back to the healthy wood. Recently the RJRD accepted our offer to restore Amity House for rentals. A brick Normandy-style home was restored, including the bathrooms and kitchen, patched and painted plaster walls, refinished floor, and exterior improvements, including tuckpointing, new wood trim, and posts/live edge siding at the porches. We hope for more opportunities to restore these beautiful homes tucked throughout the park along the winding trails.
We developed an invasive species task force and native plant restoration team to remove invasive plants and replace them with native flowers and trees. We drew in partners at the state level to create a plan and implement. Every spring is a garlic mustard pull that has proven to reduce the amount hidden throughout the woods. In the summer, we create programs that draw in volunteers statewide from ONAPA (Ohio Natural and Protected Areas) and OIPC (Ohio Invasive Plant Council). In the late fall we focus on barberry removal. We track the progress year to year on a segmented map and are happy to report a measurable difference!
We hope to continue to tell the story of the Oviatts and their role in the Network to Freedom and relationship to John Brown, Kirby and his ingenuity and creativity, the Neals and their roll in farming and the local community, the Girl Scouts and the development of young women into leaders and women of character and confidence. Preserving the land and sites tells a story of our shared history and the fascinating people that called this place home. We love that young people come for a hike or to fish and ask questions about the places they discover while hiking at the park. They come for fun, but leave learning about the history, the hydroelectric, etc.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Our current enemies are time and entropy! 🙂 It’s an uphill battle against invasive plants, preservation, and stretching our resources. While we are blessed with passionate volunteers and generous donors, we can always use help sharing our story to draw in more support.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
When I was young, I camped at Crowell Hilaka. I loved the historic homes and wanted to be an architect from the start. After receiving my Master of Architecture from Kent State, I wanted to return to the camp that inspired me to encourage more young women to go into Architecture and Engineering. I wanted to teach programming about the hydroelectric water wheel, how sprung floors work, the history of architecture, and building science. When I learned they were closing the camp that made me the person I am today, I was devastated, but I met a wonderful bunch of women who were equally passionate about this property and its history. Since then, we’ve grown and diversified our board and volunteer team to support the public park, Richfield Heritage Preserve, that can inspire many more! It’s made me a better architect and person. I hope everyone has an opportunity to be so involved in their community and grow because of their volunteer efforts.
To be licensed in the state of Ohio you need 80 hours of community service in the area of architecture/construction, after 15 years, I feel confident I got my hours in! 🙂
Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
It can be discouraging sometimes when you don’t have what you need to be successful (time, resources, volunteers, donors, etc.). But keep telling the story; keep your passion; people can see that passion. We’ve had so many small miracles, and I think it’s because we put ourselves out there and tell our story every chance we get. Sometimes we look successful, but behind the scenes, there are a million asks and a few yeses, but the more you put yourself out there, the more success you’ll have.
Contact Info:
- Website: friendsofrhp.org
- Instagram: friendsofcrowell_hilaka
- Facebook: facebook.com/crowellhilaka
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-gG_iL0jfo3c7td7_i-Olw
Image Credits
Beth Sanderson
Chris Naizer
