In 1975 the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) completed a project review of the proposed Old Woman Creek natural estuary. The plan was to buy over 500 acres of land from property owners to establish the first national estuarine sanctuary on the Great Lakes.
Funded by ODNR and matching federal funds from the Office of Coastal Zone Management of the Department of Commerce, the Old Woman Creek National Estuarine Research Reserve estuary was dedicated in 1980 as a part of the ODNR system of state nature preserves.
The reserve is managed as a cooperative partnership between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. It is also a dedicated State Nature Preserve, managed by the ODNR Division of Natural Areas and Preserves.The Visitor's Center provides numerous interactive exhibits for the public and houses the Center for Coastal Wetland Studies, which conducts ecological research.Ohio’s Old Woman Creek National Estuarine Research Reserve encompasses more than 500 acres of freshwater marshes, swamps, forests, and beach along Lake Erie. As one of the last freshwater estuaries in the area, the Reserve is an important spawning ground and nursery for fish and habitat for migrating waterfowl.The most popular legend about how Old Woman Creek got its name is that of a Native American woman named Minehonto who drowned herself in the creek in her grief over the death of her daughter, Wintasta. The tribe named the creek Old Woman in her memory.Archaeological excavations near Old Woman Creek (Shane 1981, 1992) reveal that peoples of the Palaeo- Indian (8,000 to 7,000 BC), Archaic (7,000 to 1,000 BC), and Woodland (1,000 BC to 1,600 AD) cultures occupied the creek valley and utilized its resources. (Artist Jim Glover, Woodland Indians)
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