LISBON, Ohio – Tom Thomas has climbed El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, Devils Tower in Wyoming and Red Rock Canyon in Nevada. He has scaled mountains in British Columbia, Peru and Italy.
Rock climbing has taken him to new places and new heights. But he first learned his skills at a little-known rock quarry crag off St. Jacobs Logtown Road near Lisbon.
“I cut my teeth climbing there, so to speak,” says Thomas. “I started climbing there right out of high school. … This has been my gateway to the world.”
The Logtown climbing area, which means so much to Thomas and other local climbers, is slated to become an official part of the Columbiana County Parks District instead of a secret among friends and climbers. Becoming part of the parks will mean a few more rules, but also more resources and future recreational development for the area.
“I’m just ecstatic that this is actually going to happen,” Thomas says. “It’s going to be a park, and people are going to get to come here.”
A second climbing location in Lisbon also will soon open to the public.
Mayor Peter Wilson says the climbing areas and other opportunities for recreation, including the Greenway Trail and Willow Grove Park, along the same stream, draw tourists to the village.
“In Lisbon, we’re blessed. We are surrounded by natural assets, including the rock-climbing cliffs. and the cliffs draw scores of people, especially when it’s good weather,” he says. “I’m amazed how many people come down to try them. I’ve been there when there have been more than 20 or 30 people there.”
Rock climbing clubs at nearby universities like Kent State have been known to come down for the day.
“It’s good for Lisbon, because tourists when they come down, they’re going to visit our restaurants, our bars and our shops,” Wilson says. “And the idea is for them to enjoy themselves when they are here … and it’s good for the local economy.”
A Little History
Thomas says climbing started in Lisbon in the early 1970s.
The area continued to attract more enthusiasts and slowly gained popularity, making it one of the oldest sports climbing locations in Ohio.
Thomas, who grew up in Liberty Township but now lives in Pittsburgh, started climbing in the 1990s, becoming friends with the people he met at the Lisbon location. Eventually, he became a sort of a caretaker, buying equipment for climbers.
Through the years, Thomas and another climber, Jon Mitchell, designed and sold Logtown Classic Climbs T-shirts to cover some of those costs.
Keith Hancock of Navarre, who also learned to climb at Logtown, Thomas and others have created more than 50 paths up the wall tailored to different skill levels.
Although Thomas and Hancock have both climbed more difficult routes, the Logtown location holds a special place for them.
“Climbing here introduced me to a whole different group of people who I would not have met just living in Youngstown and having an ordinary life. … It really has influenced my life,” Thomas says.
He eventually became the official crag steward, or caretaker, for the location for the Ohio Climbing Coalition, a nonprofit organization.
With the goal of transforming it into a sustainable climbing space for future generations, he reached out to the owners, the Kerestes sisters of Florida, about his plans. The sisters put the property up for sale and because Thomas could not afford to buy it, the Ohio Climbing Coalition started looking for funding sources.
That led them to the Western Reserve Land Conservancy, a Cleveland land trust that aims to preserve natural places in northern and eastern Ohio.
“The Western Reserve Land Conservancy was able to do some magic and get really close on the funding,” Thomas says.
A national climbing advocacy organization, the Access Fund, kicked in some funds and state grant money was obtained.
The Ohio Climbing Coalition agreed to match up to $5,000 of whatever the local Ohio climbers were able to raise, garnering $11,000 more.
The name of the future park has not been determined. But one name under consideration is Kerestes Cliffs, which would honor the the Kerestes sisters. Plans already call for installing three benches in the multiuse park in honor of the sisters.
“In all honesty, I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity to have climbed there for so many years that I have no problem fighting to get the landowners what they want, so all parties are happy,” Thomas says. He adds that the Kerestes sisters have held off on selling the property until all the funding he needs is in hand. That could be early 2025.
“We really love the land and our whole goal is to just preserve the access to it for other people,” Thomas says. “We’re all super excited about this and kind of on pins and needles waiting to hear what other grants we’re getting.”
About 29 acres will be added to the Columbiana County Park District once it is completed. He hopes to see walking trails, mountain biking and climbing all going on in the area near the walls.
Once the purchase is complete, the parks district would hold the easement and the members of the Ohio Climbers Coalition will continue to help maintain the property.
Eileen Dray-Bardon, chairwoman of the Columbiana County Parks District Board, which also oversees the Greenway Trail that runs past the area of the cliffs, sees it as a great addition.
“And it isn’t costing us anything because Western Reserve raised all the money to make the purchase and (even help fund signage to explain the site to visitors),” Dray-Bardon says. “I think it’s going to be pretty darn nice once we get it.”
She notes there is historic significance to the area that was once a stone quarry. The locks near Furnace Road and other parts of the Middle Fork Little Beaver Creek were built with the stones from there. The quarry also supplied the stones that built the McKinley House located at the nearby Boy Scout Camp and for construction of the Columbiana County Courthouse, built in 1871.
Wilson, the Lisbon mayor, says he has been in contact with the Western Reserve Land Conservancy, which is interested in creating a “green necklace” from the Boy Scout Camp to Pondi’s Restaurant, all along the Middle Fork Little Beaver Creek. That would include the 50-acre Willow Grove Park in Lisbon, which Wilson says needs some development and erosion prevention, for which the village does not have the money. But if Willow Grove Park was part of the conservation easement, it would improve funding options.
Supporting the Parks
The Columbiana County Parks District is seeking a 0.10 mill levy this November, which will raise about $250,000 per year to maintain park properties.
The Greenway Trail has not had any significant improvements except to culverts since it opened nearly 25 years ago, says Dray-Bardon. She hopes people will recognize the need to care for the parks systems.
The parks district is part of the Rails to Trails Conservancy and the Industrial Heartland Trail System. Those entities strive to link parts of the region and state together by bike trail.
The Greenway Trail ends just east of Lisbon at a park and ride lot, but the district hopes to extend it to East Liverpool and the Ohio River. That city is also working on its own bike trail. The county port authority recently helped fund a feasibility study to determine the course of the trail.
Pictured at top: Tom Thomas and Keith Hancock both learned to climb at the site off St. Jacobs Logtown Road near Lisbon.