ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, July 14, 1996 TAG: 9607150014
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-16 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: DUBLIN
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
Two years away from its 50th birthday, Claytor Lake State Park is into a late-life growth spurt thanks to voters, volunteers and visitors.
Back in 1992, Virginia voters approved a $95.4 million statewide parks and recreation referendum that included some projects at Claytor Lake, the biggest being a $1.9 million sewer system still in progress.
Another bond-financed project for the 470-acre park is an area of exhibits built by the Virginia Museum of Natural History for an improved visitors center. The center is on the first floor of the historic Howe House, which has park offices upstairs.
The two-room basement of the 19th-century house is being converted into a Discovery Center for park visitors interested in examining aquatic life, plants, trees and the general environment of the park, which is located in Pulaski County.
Park Manager Richard Johnson is not ready to say when either of those projects will be complete, because it depends on too many things beyond his control. His best guess is next spring.
"But we're close now," he said. "We've got to get everything in place before we open it up to the public."
Volunteers are also leaving their mark on the park - which stretches along four miles of Claytor Lake's 100-mile shoreline. Local members of the Bell Atlantic Telephone Pioneers built a wooden fishing pier for use by the handicapped. The volunteers will also put asphalt on a circular trail connected to a picnic area to make the whole area wheelchair-accessible. A picnic shelter was also made handicapped-accessible.
"We're here to provide recreation and it should be for everybody. ... We looked into ways to try and fund something like this," Johnson said of the handicapped area, but without success. Now, the fund-raising and work is being done by the Pioneers volunteer group. "They did it all," he said, at no cost to the taxpayer.
That project should be complete sometime this summer. Future possibilities for it include scent gardens and touch way stations, where handicapped visitors can touch and smell flowers and trees, and guide ropes for the blind.
Garden clubs have already put flower gardens in places at the park. Other volunteers include people who want to trade such services as being campground hosts or doing light maintenance work for a chance to camp for free. The park started that program three years ago and is building a pool of volunteers willing to work for certain lengths of time.
Student interns from colleges and universities also work in the park during the summer, taking turns in administrative duties, working with the public, doing maintenance and interpretive work.
"They get to see the whole park operation. They rotate around," Johnson said. "We developed this over the last five or six years by using the input from the interns themselves. ... It benefits the park, and the interns themselves get the whole gamut of experience," he said. "They've done it all."
And the park visitors themselves contribute to improvements, since the General Assembly approved having a portion of fees plowed back into the park. Thus, the park's 12 cabins have been improved with revenue from rents, two campground rest rooms have been improved with part of the money from fees for the 132 park campsites, and concession fees paid for construction of a dock-side outdoor dining room overlooking the marina.
The marina now boasts a camp store, snack bar and gift shop as well. "We try to add to what the state park already offers," says Sue Krinsky, who has managed the concessions for three years and did the same thing at Smith Mountain Lake for three years before that. The facility also rents boats, mountain bikes and even games like monopoly to visitors.
"There's more activities going on than we could possibly provide ourselves," Johnson said.
The cabins now include heat and air conditioning, and are fully furnished. Johnson says he is hoping more New River Valley residents will rent them to enjoy the natural beauty of the park during the slower early spring and late fall months of the season, which runs from March to December. The cabins stay booked from May through September, according to the park staff, and even enjoy a healthy business in the fall on Virginia Tech football weekends.
"People travel hundreds and hundreds of miles for this, and it's right here in your back yard," he said. "And you don't have to mow the yard."
The beach, widened in recent years, is the park's main attraction, but it is far from the only one, Johnson said. "A lot of people have the impression that Claytor Lake State Park is only a beach and maybe a picnic shelter. But there's a lot more to it than that."
And he has more plans for the park's future. "I've got a list as long as your arm of the things I'd like to do," he said. But at one point, the list was even longer.
LENGTH: Long : 106 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: LORA GORDON. 1. The Howe House at Claytor Lake Stateby CNBPark along the lake front is being renovated and the cellar
transformed for use as an instructional facility (ran on NRV-1). 2.
Barbara Bane and daughter Stephanie, 4, of Richmond splash around in
the water at Claytor Lake State Park near Dublin. 3. A sailboat
(above) glides across the waters of Claytor Lake, a popular boating
spot in the New River Valley. 4. Kirk Sutphin and son Kelly, 7,
(above) enjoy lunch on the patio of the concessions stand at Claytor
Lake\ State Park. 5. Chris Coble, 14, casts his line as he and his
brother, Tim, 9, try their luck at fishing from the newly
constructed pier at Claytor Lake State Park. 6. Christopher Ryan
waits almost patiently as his father, Tim Ryan, attempts to fit him
in a dive mask. The Roanoke pair spent a vacation at Claytor Lake
State Park. color. 7. Richard Johnson, manager at Claytor Lake State
Park, stands before the Howe House at the park.