PENINSULA, Ohio — Soon, you’ll be able to camp right in the heart of Cuyahoga Valley National Park, with the opening of Valley Overlook at Camp Mueller.
The 33,000 acres of Cuyahoga Valley National Park offer something for everyone.
For Stuart Hamilton, of Canton, he prefers to bike.
“I bike and run a lot. It’s just beautiful. It’s quiet and it’s just fantastic,” he said. “It is a hidden gem.”
Michelle Gasser, of Portage Lakes, prefers to hike.
“Every winter and spring I do a bunch of hikes. I just love that it is close and I can get out and explore,” she said.
But there was one thing that they both felt was missing at Cuyahoga Valley National Park: camping.
“We can’t come camp around here. There’s no camping,” said Gasser.
Now, thanks to a Northeast Ohio family, that’s about to change.
Janet and Terry Schoen raised their five children in Brecksville. Janet said as their children were growing up, they always loved camping.
“It was something that we were cognizant of, that we were driving away from a beautiful area to go camping and we always thought it would be amazing to have camping in this area,” she said.
About 3 years ago, they started the discussion with The Phillis Wheatley Association, which owned Camp Mueller at 4451 Akron Peninsula Road, to buy the 62 acres of private property in the heart of Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
“We had heard this out of many people's mouths, ‘yeah we come here and there's really nowhere to camp, but we bring our camper and we park at so-and-so 40 minutes from here, and then we come back and forth to the park,” said Janet Schoen.
The Schoens' transaction went through about a year ago, and since then, they and their five grown children have been working to fill that void and turn the land into "Valley Overlook" campgrounds.
“It is private property surrounded by national park and the national park has a conservation easement on the property, which means we use this pretty much as is. We work closely with the national park, since they own the easement, with what we are building and what we are not building,” said Terry Schoen.
The plan is to offer three different types of camping this season: tent-only sites, furnished canvas tent cabins, and comfortably appointed cabin rentals.
There are four canvas tent cabins that are currently open for reservation starting May 15.
But the plan is to eventually have about 18 of the canvas tents, five or six cabins with kitchens and bathrooms, and various tent-only sites throughout the property.
Schoen said those camping amenities should be open in the next few weeks.
Next to the lodging, there are showers and bathrooms. Schoen eventually plans to open a communal-type camping building, too.
The Schoens are steadfast in their passion and patience so that everyone can reap the benefits and the fruits of their labor.
“We can do something that will really benefit people, and that might stay here for generations, and that’s such a neat thought, because campgrounds can do that,” Janet Schoen said.
Watch live and local news any time:
Download the News 5 Cleveland app now for more stories from us, plus alerts on major news, the latest weather forecast, traffic information and much more. Download now on your Apple device here, and your Android device here.
You can also catch News 5 Cleveland on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, YouTube TV, DIRECTV NOW, Hulu Live and more. We're also on Amazon Alexa devices. Learn more about our streaming options here.
