Unless otherwise posted per City Council resolution, when a park is closed, no person shall remain in or enter it other than to quietly sit or walk.
Refer to Chapter 39 of the City of Ann Arbor Code of Ordinances for park regulations and rules.
History
Ann Arbor's city parks sit on the ancestral and traditional homelands of several indigenous Native peoples. Read a land acknowledgement from the city and learn more about the early history of the land here.
A view from the Boulevard gives us a glimpse of how this area looked in 1880. In the late 1890s, the City of Ann Arbor acquired the property now known as Island Park and Cedar Bend Nature Area (at that time known together as Cedar Bend Park). The purchase was made in small parcels from several people. In May of 1905, this property was turned over to the newly formed Park Commission. Cedar Bend Park, by far the largest park in the city at that time, received the greatest amount of effort towards developments. A special sum of $500 was provided for making a drive and a general appropriation of $1,500 for the care, maintenance and improvement was made. In December of 1905, a landscape architect, O.C. Simonds, was hired to lay out the drive and its embellishments. At this time, this park was used extensively for pleasure riding, driving, picnics and swimming. O.C. Simonds noted that it was important to keep the native growth as "no landscape gardener can plant as well as nature has planted." He was passionate about preserving the river banks and nature for future generations and did extensive design work for the Ann Arbor park system (read: Notes on O.C. Simonds and Ann Arbor's Parks).
One particularly unique feature of Cedar Bend is the so called "hairpin turn" that can be found on the southeast side of the park. The sharp turn in this former road reflects a similar pattern made by the Huron River as it cuts back to the south, winding gracefully along the landscape. This 1947 aerial shows the hairpin road that used to connect vehicle traffic from Cedar Bend Drive to Island Drive.
Through the years, the landscape of Cedar Bend has changed. The site once offered spectacular views of the Huron River valley, but many of those views are now reduced due to vegetation growth. However, the timeless feel of this nature area remains. Wander down the winding trails on a quiet morning and find yourself in a towering stand of hickory and oak. Natural Area Preservation staff and volunteers continue to work to preserve native biodiversity through controlled burns and invasive species removal. The entire wooded portion of the park is dry forest, although not as open as it once was, as indicated by several large, spreading trees now being crowded by younger competitors. Unfortunately, like many of our natural areas, Cedar Bend’s native flora also faces competition from invasive, non-native plants such as honeysuckle (Lonicera), common buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica), and garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata). In all, 194 species of plants (143 native) have been recorded in Cedar Bend.
To read more about Natural Area Preservation (NAP) and their efforts to restore Cedar Bend's natural areas, view featured NAP Newsletter articles:
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Cedar Bend Nature Area brochure by Brian Glass
