Princess Ledges: The Ohio Nature Preserve That Was Once Given Away as Movie Prizes

Located in Brunswick Hills, Ohio, Princess Ledges Nature Preserve is one of the most fascinating hidden gems in the Medina County Park District. Despite covering fewer than 50 acres, the preserve features sandstone cliffs, mature hardwood forests, natural springs, and an unusual history involving a failed vacation community whose properties were once given away as movie theater prizes. The park's short hiking trail leads visitors through a landscape shaped by millions of years of geological change, including an ancient shoreline of Lake Erie. For hikers who enjoy unusual rock formations, local history, and lesser-known destinations, Princess Ledges offers a surprising amount to discover.

Trail Info

Length 1.3 miles

Elevation gain 115 feet

Route Loop

Permit required No

Dogs allowed Yes

Trailhead elevation 1,181'

Water none filterable

Don't miss exploring the ledges off trail

Hiking Princess Ledges

The hike begins at the small parking area along Spruce Avenue in Brunswick Hills, where visitors will find the trailhead for Princess Ledges Nature Preserve.

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Unlike many of the larger parks throughout Northeast Ohio, this nearly 50-acre preserve has a relatively undeveloped feel, with a limited trail system that allows visitors to explore its sandstone formations and surrounding hardwood forest.

Two trails wind through the preserve: the 0.5-mile Ledge Trail, marked with yellow blazes, and the approximately 1-mile Nature Trail, marked with blue blazes. For those primarily interested in the preserve's geological formations, the Ledge Trail is the main attraction.

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As the trail leaves the parking area and enters the woods, the surrounding landscape gradually reveals the sandstone outcroppings that give Princess Ledges its name. Blocks of weathered stone rise above the forest floor, while exposed rock faces and natural fractures create an impressive landscape that feels surprisingly secluded considering its location near suburban Brunswick.

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The preserve's sandstone cliffs extend approximately 1,100 feet, making them one of the most distinctive geological features in Medina County. Although they are drawfed by nearby Whipp's Ledges, Worden's Ledges, and The Ledges in Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Princess Ledges have a story of their own.

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What makes Princess Ledges particularly fascinating is that its sandstone formations tell a story stretching back hundreds of millions of years. The rock originated from ancient sediments deposited long before the modern Great Lakes existed. Over enormous stretches of geological time, those sediments hardened into sandstone, and subsequent erosion gradually exposed the resistant bedrock.

Water penetrating natural fractures, along with repeated freezing and thawing, helped shape the cliffs and separate large blocks of stone from the surrounding formations. Today, the resulting landscape features weathered rock walls, deep crevices, and enormous sandstone outcroppings scattered throughout the forest.

However, one of the most surprising geological details is that these cliffs once stood along an ancient shoreline of Lake Erie.

Following the retreat of the continental glaciers roughly 12,000 years ago, the Great Lakes underwent several dramatic changes in water levels and drainage patterns. During one of these prehistoric stages, the waters of an ancestral Lake Erie extended farther inland than the lake does today, and the sandstone cliffs at Princess Ledges once marked part of that ancient shoreline.

While the preserve's geology is impressive, its human history is arguably just as interesting.

During the 1920s, the land surrounding Princess Ledges was subdivided into residential lots as part of a proposed vacation community known as the Strongsville Heights Allotment.

The Parkway Homesite Realty Company, the developers of the allotment, envisioned a neighborhood of small summer cottages where residents of the growing Cleveland metropolitan area could escape the city and enjoy the wooded countryside.

Unfortunately, the same sandstone formations that make Princess Ledges such an attractive hiking destination today proved to be a major obstacle for development. With bedrock lying close to the surface, excavating foundations and constructing roads was considerably more difficult than developers had anticipated.

The development struggled, and the economic collapse that followed the stock market crash of 1929 further diminished interest in the properties. The ambitious vacation community never materialized, leaving the landscape divided into numerous small, undeveloped parcels.

Perhaps the strangest chapter in the property's history came when some of these unwanted lots were reportedly given away as prizes at local movie theaters. Rather than purchasing land for a vacation cottage, a lucky moviegoer could potentially leave the theater owning a small piece of wooded property in Brunswick Hills. Other lots were raffled away at park festivals.

Although the proposed development disappeared into history, its legacy would complicate efforts to preserve the land for decades.

The failed Strongsville Heights Allotment also became the setting for a tragic incident during the Great Depression. According to an article published in The Plain Dealer on January 13, 1931, 55-year-old John Schmidt was living in a shack on the former development when he took his own life following a dispute over a $5 fine. Schmidt had been fined by Justice Don Wood in Valley City on an intoxication charge after an argument with Roy Rice, for whom he had been working, during which he allegedly threatened Rice with his own shotgun. After being allowed to leave to raise money for the fine and court costs, Schmidt returned to his shack, where Constable Arthur Hauck later discovered his body while attempting to collect the payment. His remains were taken to Lodi while authorities awaited burial arrangements from his two sons, John and Grant Schmidt, who lived in Cleveland. The incident offers a sobering glimpse into life on the struggling Strongsville Heights development during the early years of the Great Depression, when the once-promising vacation community had largely failed to materialize.

As the hike continues beneath the sandstone formations, another interesting piece of local history helps explain the preserve's unusual name.

Despite what visitors might assume, Princess Ledges wasn't named after royalty or an Indigenous legend. Instead, the name originated with a young girl named Lynne MacPherson, who spent part of her childhood exploring the property when it belonged to her family.

Lynne enjoyed playing among the sandstone outcroppings and gave different formations imaginative names. She called the largest rock formation "Princess," a nickname that eventually became associated with the surrounding ledges. When the land was later protected as a nature preserve, the name Princess Ledges was retained, preserving a small piece of the property's family history.

The surrounding hardwood forest also adds to the preserve's appeal. Mature oak and tulip poplar trees dominate portions of the woodland, while seasonal wildflowers emerge across the forest floor during spring. The park is also recognized as a worthwhile destination for birdwatching, particularly during spring migration when warblers move through Northeast Ohio.

The fact that Princess Ledges exists as a public nature preserve today is the result of a lengthy land acquisition effort that began more than half a century ago.

In 1973, the Medina County Park District began acquiring parcels within the former Strongsville Heights Allotment, recognizing the geological and ecological importance of the sandstone formations.

However, purchasing the land was anything but straightforward. Because developers had divided the property into numerous small lots during the 1920s, ownership had become fragmented among individuals and families, some of whom had acquired their parcels decades earlier.

Park officials spent years locating property owners, negotiating purchases, and gradually assembling the individual lots into a protected natural area. The process continued for approximately three decades before Princess Ledges Nature Preserve officially opened to the public in 2005.

Today, the preserve encompasses approximately 49.5 acres, protecting the sandstone cliffs, natural springs, and surrounding forest from the residential development once envisioned for the property.

It's a remarkable transformation for a landscape that developers once struggled to sell and eventually resorted to giving away.

Although Princess Ledges Nature Preserve is considerably smaller than many of the hiking destinations throughout Northeast Ohio, it offers an impressive combination of natural beauty and unusual history. Its sandstone cliffs are remnants of an ancient geological landscape, while the surrounding forest conceals the story of an ambitious vacation community that never came to fruition.

The preserve's short trails make it an excellent spot for hikers looking for an interesting outing without committing to several miles of walking. Whether visiting to photograph the sandstone formations, admire winter ice formations, or simply explore a lesser-known corner of Medina County, Princess Ledges is a reminder that some of Ohio's most fascinating hiking destinations are hidden in places you might least expect.