Brushwood Lake

Brushwood Lake is a three-acre pond in the Brushwood Area of Furnace Run Metro Park, set among mature beech-maple woods. It was made by diverting Furnace Run Stream. Make it a short fishing or picnic stop, or pair it with nearby Old Mill Trail, an easy 1.4-mile walk. The Brushwood Area is at 4955 Townsend Road in Richfield; it has restrooms and picnic tables, but no food service is listed. Swimming isn't offered.

The lake's fish list includes black crappie, bluegill, channel catfish, common carp, largemouth bass and yellow perch. Ohio requires a fishing license for anglers 16 and older. Winter can bring ice skating on the lake and cross-country skiing partway around it, depending on conditions; skate only when signs say the lake is open. For a winter photo, use a wide frame with the low tree line above the broad ice.

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Brushwood's swimming area was one of two public-park swimming areas in Summit County open to African Americans. It operated for only a few years; erosion and sedimentation led to swimming closing in 1956. The name Furnace Run recalls the iron-smelting furnaces that once operated along the Cuyahoga River.