Auroraadvocate.com - Kaleidoscope: Lakes provide lots of fun in Guernsey

by Ken Lahmers

Editor

When it comes to recreational opportunities on the water, Guernsey County is a wonderful place to go.

In the north central portion of the county is Salt Fork State Park, which includes one of eight Ohio state park lodges, and in the southern part/northern Noble County is Seneca Lake, part of the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District.

They were two of the places I visited on my 330-mile Aug. 9 trip to Guernsey, where I lived and worked at the Cambridge Daily Jeffersonian from March 1977 to April 1979.

Salt Fork derived its name from a salt well used by Native Americans near the southeast corner of the park. It contains 17,229 acres of land and 2,952 acres of water.

A vacationer could easily spend a week or two at the park, which has camping, boating, fishing, hiking, horseback riding, nature programs and a golf course. The lodge is a good 5 miles off U.S. Route 22.

My mom and stepdad spent a half-week there on their honeymoon in 1984.

I've never stayed or eaten there, but in 1977 and 1978, when I worked in Cambridge, I rode with a Daily Jeff carrier to the lodge and campgrounds several times.

With 3,550 acres of water, Seneca Lake is the third largest inland lake in Ohio and one of eight under MWCD's jurisdiction. The others are Atwood, Charles Mill, Clendening, Leesville, Piedmont, Pleasant Hill and Tappan.

Seneca boasts 4,060 acres of land area. It offers swimming, fishing, boating, picnic shelters, hiking, a nature center, amphitheater and 500-plus campsites.

The closest town is Senecaville, only about 2 miles to the northwest, which has about 450 residents.

The Old National Road

One of the most important pieces of history in Guernsey County is the Old National Road (now U.S. 40), which runs from Fairview on the east to New Concord on the west.

It was built through the county in 1827, along parts of what once was Zane's Trace, a trail cleared out of the wilderness in 1796.

U.S. Route 40 is designated as an All-American Road and National Scenic Byway. Guernsey County has two visible S-shaped bridges along the route.

At the one west of Cambridge, an old milepost marker tells travelers it is 186 miles from Cumberland, Md. -- the start of the Old National Road -- 6 miles from Cambridge, 2 1/2 miles from New Concord and 56 miles from Wheeling, W.Va.

When I lived near Cambridge, both of the apartments I rented were near that bridge. I drove by one of them and found it still in pretty good condition.

That apartment was a former strip motel, which went out of business when Interstate 70 came through Guernsey County in 1968. Two motel rooms were converted into each unit.

Just to the west of the S-shaped bridge lies New Concord (population about 2,650), hometown of former astronaut and U.S. Sen. John Glenn and home of Muskingum College.

It's a charming village. I covered many sports events at the college and John Glenn High School. In the 1978 football season, JG's football team went 10-0.

The state's second all-time leading boys basketball scorer -- Jay Burson -- played for the Little Muskies from 1981 to 1985. His dad was a longtime Muskingum College boys basketball coach.

A few miles east of Cambridge on U.S. 40, I visited Old Washington (population 265), where several buildings dating back to the mid-1800s still stand.

Buckeye Trail High School was located there, and I covered its girls basketball team when it won the state title in 1979.

I was sad to learn the old high school was razed in 2005, and a new complex of elementary, middle and high school buildings stands just north of town.

I enjoyed returning to the county fairgrounds on the east side of town. The fair runs Sept. 8 to 14.

Hopalong lived there

Many area oldtimers remember the cowboy character Hopalong Cassidy, who appeared in 66 movies from 1935 to the early 1950s, and then a television series.

He was portrayed by William Boyd, who was born in Hendrysburg in Belmont County, Ohio, but lived in Cambridge from 1895 until his family moved to Tulsa, Okla., in 1902.

He was Cecille B. DeMille's first choice to play Moses in "The Ten Commandments," but feared his Cassidy identification would hurt the movie, and thus Charlton Heston got the role.

Boyd died in 1972. Since 1991, the Friends of Hoppy group has conducted an annual festival in May in Cambridge. There's also a Hopalong museum there.

As I drove through downtown Cambridge, I came across a mural painted on an old building showing Cassidy on a horse. It's right across an alley from the police station.

Other spots I visited

I looked up a 600-acre farm I worked on during my college years in the summer of 1972. I wasn't sure I could find it, but did on Frankfort Road just north of Route 265 near Salesville (population 150).

Hilan Holderbaum owned the farm then. He also owned a farm across the street from where I grew up in New Philadelphia, where he built a housing development.

Every day during the summer of 1972, Hilan, his son-in-law, two other college students and I rode back and forth between New Philly and Salesville to work on the big farm, which included a stately 14-room brick house.

Five miles from Salesville is Quaker City (population 560), the home of the annual Ohio Hills Folk Festival. Its elementary school was razed two years ago after all grade levels in the school district were moved to Old Washington.

Other towns I passed through during my journey were Lore City, Byesville -- I wrote about riding a scenic railway there last week -- Pleasant City, Buffalo, Derwent, Opperman and Cumberland.

I made a stop at Donk's Pit Stop in Buffalo for a cold beverage and watched a cornhole tournament for about a half-hour on a large wooden deck outside, and got an ice cream cone in Pleasant City.

I went out to Buffalo Mine and Trail Run roads, where old underground coal mines operated in the early 1900s, but there's hardly anything left to see except the former Trail Run company store.

A walk around downtown Cambridge, visits to the city's old industrial zone and B&O Railroad depot and dinner at USA Steak Buffet completed an enjoyable trip before I headed back up I-77.

Anyone who wishes to visit Guernsey County also may choose to check out the National Museum of Cambridge Glass in Cambridge and "The Living Word" religious outdoor drama.

E-mail: klahmers@recordpub.com

Phone: 330-688-0088 ext. 3155