Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 17, 1990 TAG: 9005170011
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MADELYN ROSENBERG NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: DUBLIN LENGTH: Medium
Maintenance crews at Claytor Lake State Park have been working hard this week hauling sand and cleaning up driftwood to ready the park's public beach for visitors.
Work crews spent Monday and Tuesday smoothing out 300 tons of sand that were hauled from Wytheville to the 150-yard beach.
"We have to replenish it every year," said Richard Johnson, the park's superintendent.
The park's stables also will be opening Saturday - for the first time in five years.
The concessionaire stopped providing trail and pony rides when insurance rates skyrocketed, Johnson said. "You just couldn't make any money off of it. Now there's affordable insurance and we're getting the horses back."
People should be happy to hear it, Johnson said. "Those horses are real popular. We get calls about them every summer."
Carriage rides also will be available.
Many of the park's other facilities, which include nature trails, camp sites and boating docks, are open all year.
And crews have been working all year to renovate some of those facilities.
Two docks were replaced during the winter for about $225,000 and three new picnic shelters have been constructed.
One of the park's 12 cabins was made handicapped-accessible.
Johnson said officials decided to try renovating the cabin after one of the park's long-time visitors was confined to a wheelchair. "She wanted to know if it was possible to make one of the cabins accessible. It turned out to be a lot easier than we thought it would be."
And it cost less then they thought it would - about $2,000.
Workers poured extra concrete on patios and sidewalks leading to the cabin so there are no steps. They also widened doorways and installed handrails near the toilet and in the shower. A bench in the shower folds down so people in wheelchairs can sit while they bathe.
The cabin also can be used by people who are not disabled, Johnson said.
The renovations were part of a pilot project for the State Park program. "If it works here, and it turns out to be practical, the division will probably put one in every park, or at least every region," Johnson said.
The park has 12 cabins that can be rented for $243 a week through early fall.
Johnson said all 12 have been rented through the end of the summer. "Most people make their reservations in March or April," he said.
Other renovations projects at the park will begin at the end of the summer or in early fall.
The visitor's center will get a face lift, and the park's 50-year-old bath house will be almost completely renovated.
"It won't even look like the same building," Johnson said. The project will cost about $250,000.
The beach will be open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. throughout the summer. The stables will be open from 10 a.m. to sundown. A fee for trail rides will be set by Saturday.
Admission to the park is $2.50. Admission will be free every Wednesday during the summer, except for July 4.
About 325,000 people visited the park last year.
by CNB