Explore the Historic Ashtabula Harbor

Point Park is located on a high bluff overlooking the entrance to Historic Ashtabula Harbor. For almost two centuries, people have traveled to Point Park to observe the business activity of Historic Ashtabula Harbor. This vantage point of the working harbor is one of only a few found along the Great Lakes. As you view the dock below you may see pleasure boaters out for a day in the sun, the Ashtabula Lighthouse, the operation of the Bascule Lift Bridge and a spectacular view of Lake Erie. Freighters dock along the west side of the port waiting to be loaded with coal. Railcars carrying coal on the east side of the river are dumped into a loading area where the coal is moved by a conveyor through the massive "coal arch" to the west side of the river. The coal is then moved to the dock where it is loaded into an awaiting freighter. The freighter will depart the Ashtabula River past the lighthouses, which is perched on the west break wall in the outer harbor. Point Park was originally part of the Western Reserve and Connecticut Land Company purchased by Nehemiah Hubbard. The land went to his heirs and was unsettled until the 1830’s the Hubbard Family built a family home on the site and later converted the home into a hotel called the "Ohio Exchange". By 1874, the hotel was called the "Lakeside House" and was remodeled to sixty rooms. It was later renamed the "Point Park Hotel" before it was torn down several years later. During that time, many people enjoyed meeting at the park.