Blue Creek is a quiet country retreat where visitors can walk a looped trail through a wetland and around a quarry pond, drop a fishing line or launch a kayak at a larger quarry.

The trail begins near an old hog barn on Schadel Road. On Providence Road (behind the Whitehouse village offices), the former Nona France quarry is also open for kayaking, stand-up paddleboating, or fishing from shore or small boats. Both areas are open for daily use, from 7 am until dark.

Located on the edge of the Oak Openings region, Blue Creek was the site of limestone quarries in the mid- to late-1800s. In 1917, the city of Toledo bought the land to build a prison farm.

The property features glacial grooves, a pond, a wetland, and an oak savanna. A focal point is a 20,873-square-foot barn with a gambrel roof and plank frame built in the late 1920s. The barn and other outbuildings were part of the Toledo House of Corrections, also known as “The Workhouse,” a jail where the inmates tended to the farm.

Blue Creek is operated in partnership with the Village of Whitehouse, Nature’s Nursery, and the Lucas Soil and Water Conservation District. In addition to the small park area, Blue Creek is home to a wildlife rehabilitation center, a youth recreation complex, demonstration farm fields, and the Metroparks native seed nursery.