ENJOY NATURE, HISTORY — John Boileigh and Flora VerStraten-Merrin of Friends of Beatty Park are looking forward to the two free historical walks they’ll be involved in at Beatty Park on Lincoln Avenue in Steubenville. The walks are scheduled for 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Oct. 24. VerStraten-Merrin and Linda Hilty will lead the tours that are open to the public, and Boileigh will have an archaeological and nature display and will be on hand to answer questions before, in between and after the tours. -- Contributed

STEUBENVILLE — Volunteers with Friends of Beatty Park will be finalizing plans Monday as they prepare for two free historical walking tours at the South End facilities later this month.

Monday’s meeting at 5 p.m. in the first pavilion is where volunteers will assemble to touch base on what’s been in the works for the past two months for the walking tours scheduled for Oct. 24. One tour begins at 10 a.m., the other at 1 p.m., according to Flora VerStraten-Merrin, who is spearheading the Friends of Beatty Park volunteer group.

“The event is really already planned and organized — this is just last-minute stuff that we’re doing like who’s doing the parking, who’s going to be set up with the donation table, who’s going to be driving the golf carts for the handicapped, things of that nature,” she explained.

No registration is necessary to participate in what is a walk, not a hike at the park located on Lincoln Avenue. Golf cart rides will be available only for those unable to walk to the locations. Volunteers will be on hand to direct and assist with parking in the first parking lot near the entrance and the second parking lot by the playground.

There will be a food truck to purchase lunch and cold and hot drinks. Free homemade cookies will be available.

For a donation, event participants will be eligible to win a framed photo taken in Beatty Park; a painted scene in Beatty Park; a hand-carved walking stick whittled from a branch in Beatty Park; or a large homemade fall wreath. All of the prizes have been donated by local artisans.

Participants are advised to dress warm in layers and to wear comfortable walking shoes.

VerStraten-Merrin said she and Linda Hilty have done a lot of research to put together the walking tour that they will lead — a walk that will be entertaining as well as informational. The tour will be casual and include the opportunity for interaction in addition to time for questions and discussion along the way.

Signs along the stops will include historical features that still exist and some that are gone.

“I’m having historic yard signs made so historic locations that are gone or have changed will be walking to them,” she said. “There will be a picture of them, and I’ll describe what it used to look like and then the historical information. There’s some awesome historical information about Beatty Park. It was formed in 1797 and was called a nature preserve. It was owned by Union Cemetery from 1854 to 1929. It didn’t become Beatty Park until 1930 when the city bought it. And there’s a historic building in there that I’m going to be talking about in length concerning some very large historical figures for our country who were in the park,” she added.

Volunteer John Boileigh, meanwhile, will be stationed at the pavilion along the way on the tour near the restrooms, food truck and donation area with prizes.

“John is setting up an archaeologcial and nature display and will be there all day answering questions before and in between and after the tours,” VerStraten-Merrin said.

“Beatty Park is coming alive,” the local history enthusiast said of the park punctuated with the beauty of autumn. “It is a breath of fresh air — a place to escape the stress of COVID-19 and lose ourselves in nature.”

“This is a pretty full circle event for me,” commented VerStraten-Merrin, who grew up in Steubenville’s South End and has many fond memories of having attended the park, walking there with her sisters, Cathy and Marianna.

“Growing up in the park and it being forgotten in the collective for the last 30 years and to be in the park and see the parking lot full and people hiking and children laughing and playing” brings her joy and “thinking that we just started this last November so we’re only 10 months into revitalizing the park.”

That activities are being planned there now and in the near future are cause for encouragement.

“This is really an emotional feeling for me, and I plan on talking in first person during the tour about my great-grandfather in one of the historical locations at the park where Major McKinley in the Fighting McCooks met after the Civil War,” she said.

Because the tours are outdoors, social distancing is easy to do, according to VerStraten-Merrin, and “I have a mic so a group of people will be able to hear me. Anyone needing handicap help will need to register because we only have two golf carts to put people on to get them to a couple locations if they can’t walk.”

For information about the tours, VerStraten-Merrin can be reached through the Friends of Beatty Park Facebook page or by phone at (740) 632-4453.

The Friends of Beatty Park held two successful nature walks at the park this summer.

They also were planned by the Friends of Beatty Park, and Boileigh “made it informative, fun and interesting,” she noted.

“The first walk was Aug. 13, and it was 94 degrees but that didn’t slow our group down,” VerStraten-Merrin said. “With the thick tree canopy in the park, it was about 10 to 15 degrees cooler. The second nature walk was held Aug. 29, and the group had perfect overcast and cooler temperatures, with a group of more than 40 attending. We quickly are learning that people are not only interested in learning about nature, but are also wanting to get out and into nature,” she said.

Boileigh, who works for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and is a botanist, naturalist and archeologist, walked the group of nearly 50 nature lovers through the park, pointing out many notes of interest along the way.

“He discussed the creek bedrock, the flowers, plants and trees along the way,” she said. “We learned about frogs, toads, snakes and animals that are in the park such as white tail deer, wild turkeys, raccoons, squirrels, chipmunks and fox to name a few. The group learned about how to age a tree from the rings and why some of the rings are thin and some are thicker.”

They also discussed and learned about the varieties of birds and trees found in Beatty Park in addition to invasive and noninvasive plants.

VerStraten-Merrin offered brief information about some of the historical locations throughout the walk.

“Our group is hoping to invite school children for nature walks in the spring of 2021 as well as those children homeschooled. We want to create a place for children to come and learn about nature in an outdoor classroom setting such as our beautiful nature preserve,” she explained.

Volunteers hope to plan nature walks each season of the year.

“The reason for this is because Beatty Park looks and feels completely different each and every season of the year,” VerStraten-Merrin noted.

“In the early spring, I took walks in the park, while working on the hiking trails and from one week to the next, there would be completely different wild flowers growing and that’s when I had the idea that nature walks for each season would be interesting and informative and fun. I have been on the trails in each season now since we began restoring the park to its natural beauty back in November of 2019, and each season is breathtakingly beautiful. When the autumn leaves turn and begin to fall, there is no place more crisp and beautiful in the entire city. In the spring, the wildflowers grow abundantly. On the purple trail, in the spring, there is an entire hillside of beautiful Yellow Woodland Poppies,” she continued.

“I have done a lot of trail walking this spring and summer throughout the Tri-State Area, and I haven’t found these poppies anywhere else. In the summer when everyone’s lawn appears to be brown and dead, take a walk down through Beatty Park, and you will find it green and blooming. The springs still are even slowly flowing in the heat of an August drought. I have walked the park and its four natural trails in the winter with my husband and up through the cemetery, along the red trail and when the snow has just fallen, and it is clean and crisp, and all one can see is the white and variegated shades of greens from the moss on the fallen trees and branches and the ice along the stream. It is so peaceful and beautiful in the winter. Of course my favorite is the spring with many wild flowers — changing almost weekly, from early spring to summer. Some of the varieties are blankets of violets, dutchman’s breaches, flocks, sweet williams, blood root, myrtle, poppies, day flower and many more we have yet to identify by name,” she noted.

Add to that the birds there to be enjoyed, notes VerStraten-Merrin. “We have spotted many varieties of birds, including cardinals, red tailed hawks, owls, blue birds (not to be confused with blue jays), and many other birds of Ohio can be heard and seen as you walk further into the park and up the trails.”

Civic, school or community groups interested in taking a nature walk can contact VerStraten-Merrin so she can plan according to their needs. “They can be simple walks or beginner or more advanced hikes on one or more of the four trails in the park — for adults and children of all ages.”