SCIO – The owner of a Dover construction company is developing a year-round family resort at Tappan Lake in Harrison County.
Lawton Brock, owner of Brandywine Construction & Restoration, hopes to open his Tappan Lakeside Resort by mid-summer.
Work began last August on the construction of 16 cabins on the 9-acre site, located at the intersection of US Highway 250 and Mill Hill Road, across from the Lake Tappan launch pad.
The plans call for three models of cabins in the complex.
The smaller cabins will accommodate two people in an open room with a queen bed, microwave, and refrigerator.
The medium sized cabins will accommodate four to six people. These cabins will have full bathrooms and mini kitchens.
The larger cabins will be more houses, with rooms that can accommodate eight to 10 people.
In addition, the station will have a maintenance building, where people can check-in, and a recreation center with rear shower stalls, an arcade and a room for family reunions. Brock also plans to install a playground and a basketball court.
A convenience store will be built on Route 250 where visitors to the resort can purchase bait. It will also house a delicatessen and offer a full menu. Brock’s mother, Connie, will take care of it.
He noted that there is no place for visitors or residents to buy food between the lake and Cadiz.
The store is slated to open in March.
The Brock family travel a lot and he has seen the fun families have at resorts and campgrounds.
“In construction you can see the joy on your client’s face, but you really don’t see the kids, the family comes together with the innocence of what a campground brings,” he said. declared. “That’s kind of where it all started. It’s something we’ve always wanted to do.”
Brock said there is a market for people who want to stay by the lake.
He has attended meetings hosted by the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District, which operates Tappan, and lakeside residents explained that there is no room for family members when they come to visit.
Brock owns an Airbnb across the lake, which he says is doing huge business. Others have opened Airbnbs in Deersville.
“I think there is a need for this,” he said of the resort.
Tappan Lakeside Resort is not intended to be a seasonal business.
He wants to attract hunters because Tappan is one of the largest public hunting grounds in the region.
“We hope to commercialize this as well, to give hunters a place to stay,” he said. “We’ve had several hunters at our other location before, and that’s all they say is we’ve always wanted a place to stay.”
Their only other option is to stay in a hotel in Uhrichsville or New Philadelphia.
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“With the brand new (Tappan) Marina, the park being brand new, we hope it’s a good time to come in here and get on with life,” said Brock.
The resort will have an additional bonus for its customers.
“This is the last property that sees the sun by the lake (before sunset),” he noted.
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