“We are little behind on the opening date,” admitted Susan Chapin, the lodge’s sales and catering manager.
But, she said, “We’re excited to showcase our facility.”
Chapin said the Hueston Woods Lodge came under new management in 2012 by U.S. Hotels and Resorts, out of South Dakota, which also manages Ohio lodges at Shawnee and Burr Oak state parks. She said the cabins have also been renovated since that management change.
“We are now in the process of having the lobby renovated,” she said, adding other additions came along with the room renovations. “We added an exercise room with up-to-date equipment.”
The grand opening of the lodge in 1967 was highlighted by a front-page story in the Hamilton Journal and Daily News of July 10 that year, featuring a photo of Ohio Gov. James A. Rhodes who was on hand for the opening two days earlier.
The story quoted Rhodes as calling the $3 million property “the showcase of Ohio” and saying “It is the best we have to offer.”
He went on praise the quality of the project comparing it to another effort out west.
“Compared to Teton Lodge (in Grand Teton National Park, in Wyoming), this place, with its ‘Trailblazer Room,’ makes the Teton Lodge look like a toolshed,” the governor joked.
Morris Taylor, who was credited with “saving” Hueston Woods, and his wife were pictured with Gov. Rhodes in a photo accompanying the newspaper story. The story explained the property was threatened by the lumberman’s ax in the 1930s but Taylor purchased the property and held it in trust until the state could find the funds to purchase the land in 1941.
HOW TO GO
WHAT: Hueston Woods Lodge 50th anniversary
WHEN: Noon to 4 p.m. Aug. 27
WHERE: Hueston Woods Lodge, 5201 Lodge Road
MORE INFO: www.huestonwoodslodge.com
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