Nice Frontier Trail article.

Stumbled across this on the web. A nice read. I do agree with the author's synopsis of the new Coca cola Marketplace/ Old Cedar Junction station. check it out!

http://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/201406/4097/

That is a nice article, thanks.

For those interested in what the trail originally looked like, there's a map of it hanging on a wall in the Town Hall Museum.

Nice article, I haven't seen the blacksmith in years, apparently I am hitting the trail at the wrong times. It was always a favorite of mine when I was a kid, still have my little anvil and hammer.

Wish they would open up Fort Sandusky again for people and their children to go up and look out, another favorite when I was a kid. Doesn't seem like a practical storage warehouse when it could be an additional attraction.

I wouldn't hold your breath - the lookout is probably closed due to ADA reasons.

Good point!

Which would be ridiculous. The 2nd story of a fort is by nature not a hanicap accessable place. You can't make it accessable and still be a genuine replica of a fort.

Genuine replica.

Historic buildings (not reproductions) do not have to meet ADA standards.

And even if it weren't a reproduction (er, I mean, "genuine replica"... whatever that means), wouldn't any modifications to the structure cause ADA rules to be enforced?

Yes, any modifications and ADA rules must be enforced. That also applies to any building or structure build before ADA (or new ADA rules) came into effect. Change it in any way and you must meet new ADA standards.

Plus, I'm speculating here, I can't see them allowing people to go up there like they did back when I was a kid due to no supervision. I remember hanging out up there for a long period of time and an no one ever came up to check on what was going on. Of course, back in my day we kids BEHAVED. (JOKING)

Hey! Back when we were kids, we did behave. We were afraid dad would find out if we didn't.

Nice article. I also remember cavorting around Fort Sandusky's upper level as a youngster.

djDaemon said:
And even if it weren't a reproduction (er, I mean, "genuine replica"... whatever that means), wouldn't any modifications to the structure cause ADA rules to be enforced?

What I mean is a building that is built to be an accurate representaion of what the original would have been like, not just throwing up a building and saying it's a fort, cathedral, whatever just because that's what you choose to call it. Fort Miegs in Perrysburg is a reproduction/rebuild but I'm pretty sure not truly ADA compliant. Most of the buildings I remember as probably accessable first floor but there was no way up to the second floors besides the stairs, as it would have been in the original fort.

Fort Miegs, like Fort Sandusky, was built in the 60's, prior to ADA accessibility being a consideration.

So really Fort Sandusky's 2nd floor closure is more likely not related to ADA standards. I've just always assumed they wanted storage space for the retail shop and didn't feel the fort was a big enough attraction anymore so they filled it with stuff.

It's probably just a matter of usage. If you had the tower open, you'd have to place an employee there the entire day (kids will be kids). The cost of adding a headcount probably overrides the benefit of people having fun wandering around in a tower (and it was fun as a kid).

I suppose another option with the fort is if they modified the entire structure to be a monster, commercial-grade, frontier-themed playset with slides and ladders, etc.

I think the second floor of the fort was closed when they added retail. I went up to the second floor many times as a kid, but that was when the fort itself was the show piece intended to show you what it was actually like back in the day. The retail store ruined the museum like quality of the fort to make it just another shop.

Or they could always make it into a dark ride! *Sarcasm*

Paisley said:
So really Fort Sandusky's 2nd floor closure is more likely not related to ADA standards.

Not necessarily. If the building was modified when it became a retail store, they would have been required to make the 2nd floor ADA compliant, or close it to the public. At least that's my understanding of how ADA rules work.