March 13th, 2019

​My father, Fred Bair purchased this Park in 1986 and at that time it was only a Mobile Home Park and Marina with docks.  I remember in 1987 my younger sister graduated from High School and we had a large Graduation Party for my sister in the campground.  At that time, it was just a field with the Mobile Home on the hill.  My family invited the entire graduating class to the event.  It was crazy.  Trucks pulled in with couches that they unloaded around the bonfire and cars played music and it was such fun.  

As years went by, my father added the campsites with shallow lines for water and tied into Licking County Sewer system to allow campers the whole experience without dealing with wastewater. Electricity was run to the campsite and it one by one became the campground most of us remember.  

It was perfect, as I had a camper, which ironically is still in the same spot. (it is leaving soon, but crazy that it is still there) my husband and I would leave work on Friday night, meet at our house, grab some toiletries or special items needed for that specific weekend and 20 minutes later we were on vacation.  It is like you could be a different person on the lake, unpretentious and friendly there are no strangers at the lake, on new friends.

For years, we did that every weekend.  Dancing at Admirals Deck, greasy breakfast at Beachcomber and golf cart rides to make sure the streets hadn't changed while we were at work. :-)  As we grew to love the lake more, we realized the lake is best enjoyed with a boat.  So my husband found two pontoons and we spent an entire winter in the barn building a boat.  Well, I watched while he built the boat.  That next summer was much more fun with tubing and water skiing and bar hopping.  

My Father was bitten with the Buckeye Lake bug since I was a little girl and while I was younger I did not appreciate the profound impact those weekend trips to the muddy, green lake would have on me today.  Those childhood memories are my most fond memories.  Weekends at their cottage on the lake included lots of swimming, boating, water skiing and card games (on yucky days), but did not include TV, telephones or games that did not include a board or deck of cards.  Winter months we would ice skate across the lake and my fondest memory is when we skated to Papa Boo's dragging my Mother who claimed she could not skate...hmm.  Not sure about that, but my sisters and I had fun and laughed the whole way there and back.  

I always end up back at the lake, even after moving to Vermont and living on Lake Champlain, I missed my muddy, green little lake.  It just wasn't the same.  In my opinion, and I believe some others would agree, Buckeye Lake offers an ambiance found in no other lake in Ohio.  We have diversity as it relates to people, food, dining experiences, bars, and boaters.   I know with my Father's passing, I am now where I am supposed to be at Buckeye Lake...Thank you, Dad! (by the way, the photo in the corner is during the summer of 2016 of my Dad looking fondly at the lake, his happy place.)