Historic district draws family to town

A new house is coming to the Richfield downtown historic district, to be built this year on Broadview Road, across from Olesia’s Taverne of Richfield.

To help in the effort to clean up Richfield’s central historic district the Richfield Town Trust organized an effort to remove dead trees and shrubs on property just south of the post office. Pictured are Town Trust members Jim Smith, Mark Parker, Ralph Waszak and Mike Lyons. Recipients of Town Trust grants helped in the clean up. Photo by S. Serdinak.

Ashley Carroll, like her husband, a pharmacist from Pennsylvania, followed spouse Luke’s career to the Cleveland area. They rented a home while Ashley looked for a community where they wanted to live and where their two young daughters would attend school. She was anxious to succeed in her quest because the family had been uprooted from its hometown and left extended family behind.

A trail runner, Ashley discovered Richfield because of her frequent runs in Cuyahoga Valley National Park. She searched for an area that was close to the park and had a community feel.  She wanted to live somewhere that was walkable. 

One day she came across the word “revere” in her devotional reading. She took that as a sign that they should live in the Revere School District.

After that, everything fell into place. She found a rental home in Richfield so she could enroll the girls in school and start planning for their permanent home.  

One morning, she was driving her daughter to Bath Elementary and saw Colonial Pharmacy. She stopped and met owner Bob Kerek. Things clicked and Kerek hired her to work in the pharmacy.

Then she found a small lot in the Richfield Historic District that would check off the box of walkability to parks, the library and local businesses.

She and Luke purchased one-third of an acre on Broadview Road and have designs for a 2,300-square-foot Cape Cod style home that will fit perfectly on the lot. They have received permits from Richfield Village and hope construction will begin this summer.

“I don’t know if all of this would have happened if I hadn’t been given an answer,’’ Ashley said. “I was feeling hopeless.”

The last new house built in the central area was in 2002, when the Tedesco family removed a house that had burned and built a colonial-style home, also on a smaller lot, less than a half mile south on Broadview Road. ∞

Featured Image: Ashley and Luke Carroll are building this home for their family in the Richfield central historic district. Photo submitted.