Wolfinger Cemetery is guarded by a row of giant oaks. The cemetery is small, old, but still active. It is surrounded by Secor Metro Park, and is visited, respectfully, by people who come to the park seeking quiet and serenity. (Trees gallery)

Secor Park lies beyond the western suburbs of Toledo, in an area that once was part of the great Black Swamp. Remnants of the swamp are preserved here in the wooded portion of the park. There is also a small area of restored tall grass prairie. Wolfinger Cemetery, a small cemetery that dates back to the 1830's, when real settlement first began here, is completely surrounded by the park, and accessible from it. This cemetery is still active, though burials are infrequent. Although hiking trails can be rendered nearly impassible during wet weather, winter offers good cross country skiing along these same trails.

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arctangent > Secor Metro Park, Toledo: A permanent pond filled with dark water, the result of tannic acid leaching from the oak leaves that fall into the pond each year. Secor Park contains one of the few remaining remnants of the Black Swamp that covered most of NW Ohio after the retreat of the most recent glaciers. (Landscape gallery)

arctangent > Wolfinger Cemetery is guarded by a row of giant oaks. The cemetery is small, old, but still active. It is surrounded by Secor Metro Park, and is visited, respectfully, by people who come to the park seeking quiet and serenity. (Trees gallery)

arctangent > Before mine, only deer tracks on this path.

A path through the restored tall grass prairie in Secor Park, Toledo, Ohio.

arctangent > Taken January 8, 2009 (uploaded January 13)

I spent a couple of hours at Secor Park. My walk on this overcast day took me over a small bridge (pedestrian and park service vehicle traffic only) that spans a drainage ditch. Since Secor Park sits on land once included in the Great Black Swamp, the only way to keep the trails dry enough for daily use is to have these ditches throughout the park, and throughout the surrounding farm land, for that matter.

I liked the part frozen, part snowy aspect. The woodland that now crowds the banks of the ditch make it seem more like a natural stream than a manmade construction.

Look closely and you'll see evidence that the water level in the ditch was recently several inches higher than it was when I took the picture.

Wolfinger Cemetery is guarded by a row of giant oaks. The cemetery is small, old, but still active. It is surrounded by Secor Metro Park, and is visited, respectfully, by people who come to the park seeking quiet and serenity. (Trees gallery)