Summit Metroparks is trying to strike a balance between archeological conservation and community value as it renegotiates the lease on a field in Cuyahoga Valley.
A 12-acre section of Everett Field is the subject of complex, ongoing negotiations between Summit Metroparks and Szalay’s Farm & Market because Native American artifacts dating back 8,000 years have been uncovered at the field during excavations in the 1850s, 1970s and, most recently, in 2025.
Summit Metroparks has been leasing the 32-acre Everett Field to the Szalay’s family-owned farm for 95 years. The lease is up next fall.
Szalay’s Farm is known throughout Northeast Ohio for its sweet corn and produce. Its farm stand was recently highlighted in Food & Wine Magazine's list of the 12 best farm stands in the U.S.
This week, Summit Metroparks offered the Szalays a new lease agreement to share Everett Field by allowing them to continue farming 22.5 acres while the parks conserve the 12 acres of archeologically significant land. The Szalays have not yet responded to the offer, according to the Metroparks.
Lindsay Smith, chief of marketing and communications for Summit Metroparks, said the parks’ mission is conservation based.
“We are here to conserve and sustainably manage land for public enjoyment,” Smith said. “But at the same time, we want to be a good community partner. We certainly recognize the value that the Szalays have in the Valley, so we are being very careful to be good partners and work together to find a solution, rather than simply terminating the lease.”
Unique artifacts uncovered in Everett Field
The 12-acre section of Everett Field has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1993. It is part of the Everett Knoll Complex, one of the largest known precontact archeological sites in Summit County. The Everett Knoll complex extends off Everett Field into national park and privately-owned territory.
Artifacts uncovered at the Everett Knoll Complex indicate the presence of Hopewell culture. Hopewell culture is known for its impressive mounds and earthworks in Central and Southern Ohio. Less is known about the culture in Northeast Ohio.
Megan Shaeffer is the supervisor of cultural resources at Summit Metroparks. She said that the artifacts found at the Everett Knoll Complex are very unique.
“This is kind of outside the main area in Ohio where (the Hopewell) culture flourished,” Shaeffer said. “It gives us a great deal of insight into what that culture was doing here in Northeast Ohio.”
Szalay's Farm & Market serves the community
Szalay’s Farm is the last family-owned farm in Cuyahoga Valley. It’s been in owner John Szalay’s family for five generations. Now, his children and grandchildren work there.
The farm started as a vegetable farm on Riverview Road in Peninsula, but shifted to a sweet corn business as community demand for their sweet corn crop grew.
In an interview with the Akron Beacon Journal, John and his wife, Paula Szalay, recalled seeing an article that said the best sweet corn in the world is grown in the Cuyahoga Valley and in a valley in South America, because of the automatic temperature drop in these low areas.
The Szalays sell their corn to Giant Eagle and at their own farm market. The market sells Szalay’s produce, baked goods and other locally-sourced items. At this time of year, shoppers can buy pumpkins and gourds while enjoying a three-acre corn maze.
Szalay’s Farm has 140 acres of field throughout the valley, but Everett Field is their only field on high ground. This means that Everett Field is the only one that dries out quickly enough for an early harvest.
In an interview with the Akron Beacon Journal, John Szalay said Everett Field’s topography is crucial to the survival of their farm.
Everett Field’s unique topography may have been one of the factors that caused Indigenous people to gather and bury their loved ones at the site.
“We have offered (the Szalays) multiple places to use as an alternative,” Smith said. “They have declined all of the suggestions that we've given to them. There is some uniqueness to this field in their business.”
The Everett Knoll Complex is an established archeological site
The Everett Knoll Complex has been known in the community since the 1850s, when a school was built on a small knoll in the complex. While the school was being built, a burial chamber containing human remains was uncovered under the mound. More excavations were done at the site in the 1970s.
From 2021 to 2025, Summit Metroparks partnered with the University of Akron’s Anthropology Department to complete another excavation at Everett Field. Shaeffer was part of that team. She said the group found thousands of artifacts throughout the field, most of which were material left over from the creation of projectile points and other flint tools.
“The most striking thing that we found is through doing geophysical work,” Shaeffer said. “We’ve seen that there are a lot of things (beneath the surface of the ground) that are still left throughout the field.”
The team excavated two pre-contact earth ovens in 2024 and 2025. Earth ovens are large cooking pits, about 5 or 6 feet in diameter, used for slowly roasting food. Shaeffer said these ovens would roast food for several days, usually for a community feasting event.
“We know that there are more of these throughout the field based on the geophysical work,” Shaeffer said.
There are no excavations currently taking place at Everett Field. Summit Metroparks plans to work with Native American tribal nation partners on any future projects at the site.
“I think there are a lot of educational opportunities at a place like this to really highlight the Indigenous cultures and the Indigenous legacy of, not just Northeast Ohio, but Ohio in general,” Shaeffer said.
Summit Metroparks remains hopeful that they can settle on a contract that works for the Szalays and the parks’ conservation mission.
“It's certainly not us versus them. It is us with them — them being the Szalays,” Smith said. “And we're really excited about what the future will hold for the site.”
