Narragansett

Love of Nature

I have my father to thank for my love of nature (and my habit of getting up at 6:00 a.m. – even on Sunday mornings). Growing up, our main family recreational activity was going for a hike in the woods. I can remember many a Sunday afternoon walking down a Metroparks trail with my parents and my two younger siblings. I think our favorite trail was one we called “The Pine Forest” off Lewis Road in Olmsted Township.

My guess is many of the residents of Narragansett share that same love of nature. First of all, the street is located just a few steps away from the Hogsback Road entrance to the Metroparks. In fact, I saw a deer crossing Riverside and heading back to the Metroparks as I was leaving Narragansett at the end of my walk.

Soon after starting down the street, I also noticed two giant trees right next to each other. One was a maple tree and the other an oak tree. The sidewalk had been rerouted around the trunks of the trees to allow them to continue their upward growth. Seeing that curved section of sidewalk was a gentle reminder that many of these trees might have been here well before we were.

As I was talking a picture of the street sign, it dawned on me that this might be the longest street name so far. When I returned home and reviewed my list of complete streets, I confirmed that 12 letters (N-A-R-R-A-G-A-N-S-E-T-T) is indeed the new record, passing the previous champion Chesterland. I did peek at the rest of the list and there is one other street in Lakewood with 12 letters (see if you can guess it).