PHOTO BY CHUCK HOVEN

Sunday, October 5, 2025; Snake Hill Trail, Ward 11 City Council Candidate Nikki Hudson, and Alex Manuk, co-founder of Friends of Snake Hill, hike the trail.

by Chuck Hoven

   (Plain Press November 2025) Ward 11 Cleveland City Council Candidate Nikki Hudson joined with Friends of Snake Hill to hike the Snake Hill Trail on Sunday, October 5^th.

   The hike, sponsored by Hudson and the Friends of Snake Hill, was billed as an opportunity “to learn about this well-loved local green space and trail and meet your neighbors.”

   The group met at the trailhead at 3800 Muriel Avenue in the Edgewood Neighborhood just west of the intersection of Memphis and Pearl. The trailhead is located in the southern part of the new Ward 11. Hudson said that while out walking through that section of the ward, she saw a sign referencing the “Historic Snake Hill.” She googled the name and found the Friends of Snake Hill online.

   Hudson, who will be the next City Council representative for the area, (her only opponent has withdrawn from the City Council race) says she found that the efforts by the Friends of Snake Hill to advocate for a plan for long term care of the trail, met three of her primary areas of interest: history, connection to green space, and grass roots organizing.

   Alex Manuk and Eric Greifenstein of the Friendsof Snake Hill said they hope that the Cleveland Metroparks will take over maintenance of the trail and make it part of their trail system. The trail is a path from their Edgewood Neighborhood to Brookside Park.

   Friends of Snake Hill make regular trips down the trail to pick up debris from people dumping garbage into the gully. Their efforts received a big boost when they were joined by Lennie Stover, known for his advocacy for the Red-Line Greenway.

   Stover said, “I couldn’t believe how gorgeous and beautiful this property was.” Stover used a small tractor with a loader to help make improvements to the trail. The part of the trail at the bottom of the gully had a swampy area. Stover created a culvert to divert the water and filled in some of the swamp with stone.

   Stover also hauled in a heavy bench from Hinge Town donated by Graham Veysey. He said the bench was so heavy, it had to be cut in half to move half of it to the trail. The bench, is painted red. It has black lettering saying, “Snake Hill Trail”, and offers a restive spot partway down the trail.

   The trail traverses a deep gully that lies behind the Brookmere Cemetery on the east and houses on the west. The Edgewood Neighborhood lies to the south with named streets such as Muriel Avenue, Pensacola Avenue, and Clybourne Avenue. It is a rather secluded area which residents say has few visitors. Brookside Park is to the north of the trail.

   Stover says the trail was originally a path for workers going to and from a factory at the bottom of the hill.

   Phil Kidd, a City of Cleveland planner who joined in the walk, looked up the name of the company. Kidd uses Cleveland Historical Maps in his effort to run along all the streets of Cleveland. He looked up the name of the factory that used to sit at the bottom of the hill on the Brookside Park side of the trail. He said a 1927 map listed it as Fanner Manufacturing Company, an iron and steel works.

   Friends of Snake Hill hope that now that the trail is cleaned up and walkable, that the Cleveland Metroparks will step in and pave and maintain the trail. They say the Metroparks, which already owns the land, has expressed interest in making the trail a permanent part of its trail system.