Deep Lock & Quarry

Riverview Road
Peninsula, Ohio

History

The deepest lock on the canal system also holds the most fascinating past. It was a loading area for stone quarried from the nearby hills. (The same stone found here was used to construct the locks as the canal was built.) The Berea sandstone blocks were loaded onto a narrow-gauge railroad line which ran to the canal. In 1879, cereal magnate Ferdinand Schumacker used part of the quarry for mill stones which eventually made Quaker Oats. During the Great Depression, a small group of vagrants and hobos called this peaceful place beside the tracks a home. In 1934, the old quarry became park of the Summit County Metro Parks. 

Hauntings

Some of the hobos may have stayed behind after death. Voices have been heard near the lock by visitors, and the feeling of being watched is occasionally sensed from many different directions.

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Photographs

Workers at Deep Lock Quarry in 1900.

Deep Lock Quarry in operation.

Deep Lock in 1985.

Documents