35-year-old turtle big hit at Nature Center event

January 3, 2015 at 9:55p.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

Seven-year-old Auriel Hilton and her brother, Chase Cortner, 5, watched intently as an Eastern box turtle freely walked past them.

“What color is its eyes?” Marilyn Williams asked the two Youngstown children.

“Orange and red!” replied an excited Auriel, a Youngstown Community School second-grader.

The turtle, estimated to be 35 years old, was one of several attractions to which the youngsters were drawn during Saturday’s Discover the Ford Nature Center gathering at the 42-year-old center on Old Furnace Road in Mill Creek MetroParks.

The four-hour program was to allow participants to see the facility’s offerings and more fully appreciate the park, including its many hiking trails, noted Williams, a park naturalist.

Read more about the day's events in Sunday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.