Laura Peters

lpeters@newsleader.com

STUARTS DRAFT — Heather Martin's family has been coming to Shenandoah Acres since 1972.

She and her cousins, Tiffany Pollard and Kelly Backe, just stare out into the lake Sunday afternoon, like they did many years before.

Thinking back to when their great-great grandparents first starting coming to the lake and campground in Stuarts Draft, it brings tears to their eyes.

Five generations have now become part of the Martin tradition of coming to Shenandoah Acres.

The Martins, of Culpeper, haven't come since the lake area was closed in 2002. They called each year to see if it had reopened and finally, this year, the year came.

"All of us were on the phone, calling to get cabins," Pollard said. During Memorial Day weekend, the family had rented four of the 10 cabins.

According to Garland Eutsler, the campground owner and manager, all the cabins were booked for the holiday weekend and the campground was at capacity. The new owner, whose company ShenAcres Holdings LLC purchased the property from Good Faith LLC, started renovating after the purchase earlier this year to open the lake for the first time in 12 years and the campground in more than two.

Eutsler said there were a couple of kinks to be worked out, but since starting everything in the beginning of the year, enormous amounts of progress has been made at the site.

The one word that he keeps hearing from everyone is, amazing.

He and his team have been working tirelessly to upgrade the whole facility.

The park was at full capacity for opening weekend, with 79 RV sites, 20 tent sites and all 10 cabins filled.

"It's not about us, it's about the legend of Shenandoah Acres," he said. "We feel like the stewards of this campground but we wouldn't be anything without these folks."

Family traditions

When the Martins first starting coming, they would have their camp set up on the campground far away from the lake. Once the cabins were built, the family moved their way up to the water and wouldn't have it any other way.

The family's effort to return to Shenandoah Acres was a tribute to their grandmother and their cousin, both of whom died two years ago.

"The memories of our grandmother. She is the one who really made sure that stayed alive for us," Martin said. "So, it's bittersweet for us."

Soon after arriving Saturday, the family was already planning their next trip. Over the weekend, more than 40 people from three generations of the Martin clan had showed up to take the trip down memory lane and to make brand new memories with a new generation.

"We don't even know what the beach was like," Martin said when she was growing up. "This was the beach to us."

Pollard is even spending her 12th wedding anniversary at Shenandoah Acres this year, as did many other members of her family. The park is a place where their best memories come from, they said.

"Our parents grew up here every summer," Martin said.

The family remembers the slide and zip line by the lake, which are no longer there, but they could point out exactly where it was and how scared they remember being.

Xavier Backe is the only fifth generation member who had been to the park before the lake area closed, when he was 3.

But the fifth generation is soaking up the fun and creating new memories.

"We want our children to grow up the way we did," Backe said.

The three ladies said her grandmother, who started the tradition, would be up in heaven laughing.

"She was big on tradition and she'd be like, 'they're carrying on our tradition,'" Martin said.

Opening weekend

Driving around on his golf cart Sunday, Eutsler knew every camper by name. Passing by each camp site he said hello, asked how they were doing and said he'd stop by later for some food.

Currently there is only 134 acres available for camping, they are still going to clear more land to create a space for group camping.

"It's going better than expected," he said. "They are amazed by what we accomplished, they're amazed that the place is being resurrected and being opened back up because it touched so many lives."

After Memorial Day, Eutsler and his team will close Tuesday through Friday to continue more upgrades. They still have to fix up four of the 10 cabins. Then the grounds will start opening more frequently once school has let out for summer.

The history

The camp was started by a Pennsylvania couple, Rupert and Helen Blacka, in the 1930s.

The 280-acre property's lake and resort became a summer icon for swimming with its manmade sandy beach and lake that is fed by a groundwater stream. Shenandoah Acres was considered a health resort, with its supply of fresh spring water.

The site offered camping, volleyball, miniature golf, baseball, picnics, horseback rides and overnight stays inside a small complex of cabins.

In 2005, the Blacka family sold the property to Good Faith LLC, but the company didn't reopen the lake area because of rising insurance costs. A boy had drowned at the lake in 1999, and the operator's insurer was involved in a later lawsuit.

New owners and managers have planned and used the property intermittently since then, as neighbors wondered whether the popular cooling and gathering spot would ever open to the public again, or had been shuttered for good.

In 2010, Shenandoah Acres was changed to Mountain Spring RV Resort, under the management of Jerry and Rebecca Early.

By 2011, the name was changed back to Shenandoah Acres — but was only briefly in operation.

Pricing

Daily lake access

Monday - Thursday: Adults $6; Children (ages 4 to 12) $3

Friday - Sunday: Adults $7.50; Children (ages 4 to 12) $4.50

Camping

Tents: $29 per night

Water/Electric hook ups: $39 per night

Full hook ups: $49 per night

Cabins

Singles: $75

Efficiency (sleeps up to 4): $95

2-bedroom (sleeps up to 6): $125

Putt-Putt: $3 per game