Chippewa Lake Park

Location: Chippewa Lake, Ohio

Date Visited: September 24, 2013

Chippewa Lake Park was the first abandoned place I visited. After months of researching different abandoned places, this was the one that I made my goal to go see. Amusement parks have always been my favorite type of abandoned place, so finding one near my house made the choice for my first exploration easy. After plans for a
different trip fell through, I somehow convinced my father to supervise me while I took the two hour drive to the park. (I only had a driving permit at the time.)

Chippewa Lake Park began as Andrew's Pleasure Grounds, a picnic ground and beach, in 1875. In 1898, the Chippewa Lake Park became an amusement park and stayed that way until 1978, when it closed for good. It then stood abandoned and largely untouched for nearly 30 years. In the first decade of the 21st century, most of the buildings, such as the ballroom, were destroyed by fire. Most of the rides have also been demolished within the past few years. By the time I visited, most of the park was gone, but I still managed to find some remnants of the long-closed Chippewa Lake Park.

Chippewa Lake Park in it's prime.

Once we made it to the driveway and passed the sign, we were surprised to find that the gates were wide open. I drove right through the gates, which were plastered with "no trespassing" signs, but no one seemed to care, not even the county workers who were in the area and probably watched me do it. It was proving to be a pretty easy first exploration.

The old sign to the park. There are actually houses on the old driveway!

Once I was past the gates, I drove up the hill and parked in an area where my car would be a bit more hidden. We then got out of the car and started exploring. Our first stop would be the remains of the old ballroom and several other buildings that had burned down. It's difficult to tell which building was which, as they are all pretty much simply piles of debris now.

Building remains.

More building remains.

The twisted metal frame of the old ball room.

An old stove from what must have been a kitchen.

Another stove of sorts.

Some type of shelving.

An old fuse box.

The bathroom was probably the most intact area of the building. Here are the urinals.

Hand dryer.

Some interesting looking toilets.

Probably an entrance to one of the buildings.

Our next stop was the Ferris wheel, one of the most famous remains of the park and the piece I wanted to see the most.

There was a tree growing through the middle of it, but it appeared to have been chopped down.

My favorite part of the park.

We then walked along the old, cracked pavement to view a couple of the other few remaining pieces.

It's strange to think that this path used to be filled with people.

This old, yellow pickup truck has seen better days.

Someone used to drive this, but not anymore.

While this pole probably had speakers that used to play music, the park is eerily silent now.

The tumble bug cars are no longer on the track.

Another tumble bug car.

I believe this is the tumble bug track.

Nature trying to take the park back. Unfortunately, the track is in the way a bit.

 A cement structure with lots of cables. I'm not quite sure what this was to.

Found some old saw blades. Someone must have been looking for scrap metal.

Not quite sure what these poles and electric box of sorts were to, either.

After exploring awhile, we ran into the county workers. To my surprise, they politely informed us that they would be closing the gates soon and they didn't want my car to get trapped in the park. While we were a bit disappointed that we didn't have more time to explore, we were thankful for the heads up.

As we headed back to the car, we ran into a lady walking her dog. She wasn't nearly as friendly. She questioned us and then threatened to call the police if we didn't leave. Fortunately, we were already on our way out, but we definitely picked up the pace. 

Overall, it was a very interesting and exciting first exploration. While the getting into trouble part made me not really want to do it again, that feeling eventually faded. The experience marked the beginning of a new hobby that would take me on many more adventures.