[ Description of the Park | Features and Facilities | Maps | Upcoming Events ]
Park Description
The 65 acre park, named after the old Village of Fernbank and the Fernbank Dam, lies between River Road and the Ohio River in Sayler Park. An entrance opposite Wilkins-Short Road in the 7100 block of River Road leads into the Fernbank Dam Site. In 1971, the Park Board purchased the final link, through a Federal Open Space Grant, that turned Lee Park, the Fernbank Dam Site, and River Park into a continuous 1 1/4 mile-long park along the Ohio River. The 21.25 acre Lee Park was acquired by both gift and purchase. A gift of 5.25 acres in 1912 by Milton Sayler and others was supplemented by a purchase that same year. The first parcel of River Park was purchased in 1913 and two others in 1951, making a total of 15.808 acres. Part of Lock and Dam 37 (27.53 acres) was operated as part of the park under a sublease from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources which, in turn, managed the land through a lease from the U.S. Department of the Interior. Under the Legacy of Parks Program, this property was transferred by deed to the Board of Park Commissioners in 1974.
Park visitors enter between posts reminding them that this once was United States government property, Lock and Dam Site #37, then park their automobiles on what was once the floor of Army Corps of Engineers buildings. In a grove of tall silver maples, tables placed near the river provide a place to picnic while watching barges and boats.
Upriver from this picnic area, a grass slope gives way to a concrete bank at the water's edge. Here visitors fish for white and striped bass, catfish and carp, sauger and bluegill.
At the top of the bank, park benches overlook the river and its traffic. Behind them a footpath leads the visitor further downstream, past a field ideal for impromptu games of toss and frisbee.
Past that field lies old River Park, the section of Fernbank best suited to family picnics. Swingsets, cement slide, baseball diamond, picnic tables, grills, drinking fountains and restrooms are located here. Visitors to this part of the park should use the second entrance into the park opposite Thornton Road.
Visitors who watch for birds will be well rewarded. Kingbirds, orioles, killdeer, indigo buntings, swallows, and wood ducks, as well as more common species, nest here regularly. Vultures and other large raptors often follow the river in their flights. Fernbank is the one city park where chances of seeing migrating shore and wading birds are good.
Although the park lost over a hundred trees in a tornado in 1974, new ones have been planted and many majestic veterans survived the storm. Maples, sycamores, ashes, bald cypress, oaks and walnuts provide shade. Scattered large mulberries provide, in season, fruit for the birds.
On March 25, 2003, the Hamilton County Park District and the Cincinnati Park Board signed an unprecedented "Parknership" agreement for the management and enhancement of Fernbank Park. The Hamilton County Park District will contribute approximately $2.7 million in enhancements to Fernbank Park and will also assume maintenance, operation and ranger patrol of the park.
Visiting Fernbank Park :
6601 River Rd.
Cincinnati , OH 45233
View Driving Directions
Related Press Releases
[ Description of the Park | Features and Facilities | Maps | Upcoming Events ]
