Things to Do on the Land

If you're a history buff or a live theater fan, a performance of "Trumpet in the Land" could be the highlight of your vacation to the Atwood region.

If you're spending a day or two at the campground, the resort or the B&B, you will probably want to unhitch your boat and explore the area. Probably the biggest local attraction is the region we call "Amish Country", which is a term of convenience used to describe a loose confederation of several hundred rustic shops, galleries, restaurants, furniture stores, and cheese houses scattered across a county-wide area of which the little town of Millersburg is roughly the center. You can visit the web site to get an idea of the attractions, or just drive toward Millersburg, stop at the first cheese house you come to, and pick up an area map from the display rack near the door. One word of warning: this area is a maze of narrow and hilly country roads, traversed by large farm equipment and horse-drawn buggies and if you try sightseeing with your boat in tow, you will probably regret it.

Up north in the city of Canton, you will find the Pro Football Hall of Fame, which is the Mecca of football fans worldwide. During the month of August, they celebrate their annual enshrinement festival, in which the entire city practically grinds to a halt in celebration of all things pigskin, including a massive fireworks display downtown.

One of the quirkiest places you will ever visit is just down the road from Atwood Lake in the town of Dover called the Warther Museum . The museum is dedicated to the works of Ernest Warther, who started whittling working pliers out of wood and eventually advanced to carving some of the most intricate wood sculptures you've ever seen. His two passions were steam engines and Abraham Lincoln, so it will be no surprise that one of his masterpieces is an exact scale replica of Lincoln's funeral train carved out of wood. I guarantee that an hour in his museum will inspire you to pick up a knife and a chunk of wood and whittle away until you're dizzy from blood loss from your cut fingers.

In the adjacent town of New Philadelphia, you will find Tuscora Park, featuring two swimming pools, an old-fashioned merry-go-round and a little amusement park for younger children. There are tennis and basketball courts for the grown-ups and plenty of junk food available at several concession stands.

Also in New Philadelphia, you can visit the historic Schoenbrunn Village, which is a restoration of Ohio's first white settlement. The village flourished for several years as the Christian missionaries tried to carve out a living for themselves in the wilderness and "civilize" the local Indian population. Pressures from the American Revolution ultimately led to an Indian massacre (the settlers massacred the Indians and not, as you might think, the other way around) and the abandonment of the town. The village includes seventeen log buildings, a period garden, the original mission cemetery, and a small museum. If you're a history buff, it provides a fascinating look back into a moment in time when this part of the country represented the extreme edge of European expansion into the American wilderness.

Finally, no visit to the area would be complete without attending a performance of Trumpet in the Land at the purpose-built Schoenbrunn Amphitheatre. Written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paul Green, "Trumpet" tells the story of the Schoenbrunn settlement and its tragic final days. Still going strong over 40 years after its first performance, "Trumpet in the Land" is a local tradition and one of the finest outdoor historical plays in the country.

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