If there be two words that summarize The Rookery, they be Beautiful Desolation. For that's what this place is....especially in Autumn. From a glance you percieve the area to be barren and void of life, and yet upon a closer look you find that it is not dead, but alive. Very much alive. Teeming with Life and Beauty.
The Lord is so magnificent that He created Nature in such a way that even in its stage of yearly degeneration it contains a splendor that makes it beautiful and enchanting.
The Rookery is a 562 acre tract of land which sits upon property where the Cleveland Interurban railway once went through. Operating from 1899 to 1925 this railway took passengers from Cleveland to various points in Geauga County. At the heart of the Rookery is the Junction, a wye in the tracks where passengers from the city could either continure northeast to Chardon or wait for a connecting trolley to the Amish territory of Burton and Middlefield.
Today the tracks are gone and only the ghosts of the Past reside in this woodland. Blue Herons are now the most frequent visitors to this area, as well as the occasional "picnicker", that very rare variety of the walk-in-the-woods homo sapien.
The path known as the Interurban Trail ends abruptly and those new to the park will find themselves walking past Maple Ninth, the private TRW golf course and eventually out to Rock Haven road, where they can search in vain and not find a path to lead them back to the Rookery.
A signpost at the Junction should be posted reading " You will return ".
Ye be welcome to enter this silent oak-laden abode ....but return to civilisation at your own risk! Yes, a quick turnabout on the heels is the only way to find yourself back at the old silo, the noticable entrance to the pathway, and now home to the occasional owl.
The Rookery is located at 10110 Cedar Road, Munson Township.
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