Camp Tuscazoar- Dover, Ohio
April 4, 2009
My family has always loved a good festival! Some of my fondest family memories are of jumping in hay bales at the Algonquin Mill Festival, camping out and listening to tribute bands at a Harvest Festival and enjoying ice cream at the Utica Ice Cream Festival. This year we decided to travel to many festivals around our state to get to know a little about each community that holds these celebrations. Along with the festivals we visit annually, we hope to get to a few new ones, too. Although most of these excursions will only be day trips, I’m going to include them in my blog to promote tourism within our own state. Traveling doesn’t have to be spending a certain amount of time in a destination that is a certain distance away. Traveling within the state is a great way to save time and money while spending tourism dollars at local businesses and organizations.
The Camp Tuscazoar Maple Days Festival is one that my family and friends have been visiting for the past four years. Featuring great hiking and all-you-can-eat pancakes with homemade maple syrup, this event kicks off the outdoor season and we all look forward to it. Maple trees within the camp are tapped and connected by miles of tubing. All the sap is collected and made into maple syrup on site. A local Boy Scout troop serves pancakes and sausage to accompany the syrup.
We all decided to meet in the campground parking lot. Although previous years have been cold and rainy, we had a perfect day. The turn-out was huge. The group consisted of my brother Michael, my friend Diana, my sister Joanna and her boyfriend Troy, my friends and sisters Janet and Jean and Jean’s boyfriend Bob, my friend Jan and her dog Carly and me. We decided to take a hike before eating breakfast and headed down the hill to the Dover Dam. There hadn’t been too much flooding this year so it wasn’t a very exciting sight. 
We continued down the trail and then headed off the beaten path and into the woods. We climbed a hill, hopped a stream and followed logging trails to the Zoarite Iron Mines, a mine established around 1817 by German settlers. An old stone wall probably used as a loading dock still exists in the middle of the woods. After resting at the mine, we continued on to Buzzards Roost, an outcropping of rocks that sits hundreds of feet above the Tuscarawas River. Once a Native American look-out, it now overlooks the Dover Dam and the river valley below. The views are breathtaking- each year this spot is the highlight of our hike.We’d hiked a few miles and were ready for some food! We all headed back to Kimble Hall to enjoy some pancakes and maple syrup. The $6 all-you-can-eat breakfast is a hit with everyone. We always head up for seconds of the fluffy pancakes that are served with sausage links, apple sauce and coffee, water or punch. After filling up on breakfast, we walked off a little by climbing the hill to the parking lot. We were all beat but enjoyed another great year at the annual Maple Days Festival.
Maple Days 2010
Maple Days 2011
Maple Days 2013
