Bill Yeck Park
About the Park
Bill Yeck Park is a 157-acre natural area along 1.75 miles of Sugar Creek.
The park is treasured by hikers, bird watchers, and nature enthusiasts and
harbors many rare species of plant life, providing a home to a variety of
animals in every season. Fossils from the Ordovician period can be found in
Sugar Creek which flows through the park. The park connects with other
parks and wildlife areas creating a large corridor of green space that
extends from St. Leonard Center to the Little Miami River. This unbroken
wooded area makes the park's wildlife abundant and varied. The Park District
offers environmental education programs for all ages throughout the year at
Bill Yeck Park. Parking is available along Rooks Mill Lane, at the
Wilmington-Dayton Road entrance, and the adjacent Forest Field Park. A belt
swing and infant swing are located in the park at the end of Parkhaven
Point.
Another
feature of the park is the Tricentennial Time-Trail. Established during the
Centerville-Washington Township bi-centennial in 1996, the time trail is a
tract of land representing 100 years of natural succession. Each year
another unmowed section is added, creating a trail showing how a field turns
into a forest.
Features
- Hiking Trails
- Parking Lot
- Picnic Tables
- Portable Restroom (Wilmington entrance)
- Sled Hills
- Stream
History
Bill Yeck Park was originally named
Sugar Valley Park. The name was changed in 1996 in honor
of William S. Yeck, the Father of the Park District.
Bill's main interest was in nature parks and he spent a
lot of time in this park.
As you hike through the park, you may find evidence of what this area was
like in the 1800's. Standing on the observation deck at Rooks Mill Lane,
look across the creek to see the former location of the J. Murphy sawmill
which was built around 1830. Look up at the flat area on the other side of
the creek to see where the mill race used to power the mill was located.
Hike the yellow trail and discover the Abner Stevens well and cabin site,
once situated by a lost road that ran from Sugar Ridge Lane along the creek
to the 1817 Neil-Tucker Grist Mill north of the Park. The well's
above-ground wall was rebuilt in 1984. In the far northwest corner of the
park is another abandoned well on the Thomas Miller property whose dwelling
was located here in 1851.
Note: History courtesy of Pat
Aldrich,
Centerville-Washington Township Historical
Society
Photo Gallery
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