A Visit to the Madeira StoryTrail

Photos and Story by Mary Casey-Sturk

Madeira’s Nelle V. Hosbrook Bird Sanctuary and Park is also home to a StoryTrail. A StoryTrail is where families can read and enjoy a picture book while strolling through a park. This park has the bonus of having several specimen trees (many are labeled), benches, wildflowers, and the chance to spy any number of birds in this 2-acre park located on Miami Avenue across from the Madeira Branch Library.

For lovers of wildflowers, make sure you take a look at the Spring Wildflower Survey sign that helps visitors locate specimens, including Virginia Bluebells, Yellow Trout Lily, Dwarf Larkspur, and more. The sign also includes their scientific names. 

In the spring of this year, the Madeira StoryTrail displayed tree art created by second-graders at Madeira Elementary School. Led by teacher Beth Smith, this is the first public art installation at the StoryTrail. 

Who was Nelle V. Hosbrook?

The following is shared with permission from the Madeira Historical Society.

By Regina Villiers. Originally published May 13, 1992 in The Suburban Life, added January 15, 2014.

When Miss Nelle Hosbrook died in 1975, she realized she couldn’t take her beloved woods with her, but she took legal steps to prevent the area from ever becoming a parking lot. She willed her woods to the city of Madeira with the agreement that they remain as they were and be turned into a bird sanctuary.

Today, not quite as they were, but much the same, they stand there, a block from the business section of Madeira, a quiet monument to an unusual lady.

Miss Nelle lived on that spot for nearly a century, in a house built by her father, John A. Hosbrook. It was part of a 100-acre farm owned by her grandfather, John L. Hosbrook. Next to it was the farm of his brother, Mahlon. Mahon’s farm, a fruit farm, had something most unusual: a huge pear orchard.

Miss Nelle was born Dec. 5, 1878, one of twins. Her twin lived only one day. Miss Nelle lived to be 96, though some who knew her would insist she was 97. Even now, she would be highly incensed that we are discussing it at all, because she never told her age. Once, when someone asked her point-blank how old she was, she drew her slight figure to its tallest and fixed an icy stare on the questioner. “That’s a subject I never discuss,” she said.

Miss Nelle’s great-great grandfather, John Hosbrook, a soldier in the Revolutionary War, was one of the first settlers in Madeira.

Daniel Hosbrook, her great-grandfather, was the first teacher in Madeira. Miss Nelle also grew up to be a teacher, a teacher of music, and she became an organist of the Madeira Presbyterian Church.

Miss Nelle is a legend around Madeira, and numerous stories float about depicting her personality. Time has tempered the stories, but in truth, she was one spunky, independent woman who did as she pleased and said what she thought, to the point of bluntness.

She once would not allow a U.S. postman to come on her porch for weeks, while a Carolina wren nested in her mailbox.

Visit the StoryTrail

The StoryTrail is a collaboration between the Cincinnati Public Library, Madeira, and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. For the art show, Madeira City Schools was an additional collaborator.  The Library hosts programs at the StoryTrail and also offers activity kits to be used there. Check in advance for availability. 

When a book is on display (stories change periodically), you can head into the adjacent Madeira Branch of the Library and grab a free StoryTrail Kit. 

Whether you are visiting for the StoryTrail, the wildflowers, the trees, or the birds. Any time spent in the lovely Nelle V. Hosbrook Bird Sanctuary and Park is time well spent.