BUCKEYE LAKE – The local historical society is aiming to put a sternwheeler back on Buckeye Lake as a tour boat.
The donated, 88-foot Queen of the Lake III will be reconstructed at the Buckeye Lake Yacht Club Boat Yard, 5532 Walnut Road, where it’s being displayed Thursday, said J-me Braig, director of the Greater Buckeye Lake Historical Society.
Braig says it’s a throwback to sternwheelers used for tours there decades ago. A smaller pontoon boat has been used for tours in recent years.
The sternwheeler is expected to launch for tours, dinner cruises and special events in spring 2018, according to a report in the Newark Advocate.
Drawing back visitors is important to businesses that suffered the economic impact of the water being kept low over the past year while workers started a project to replace the lake’s deteriorated dam. If the weather cooperates, officials plan to let Buckeye Lake fill more this summer to accommodate boating and fishing.
The newspaper reported the Queen of the Lake, operating out of the Buckeye Lake Amusement Park, provided tours of Buckeye Lake from 1955 to 1973. A boat named the Queen of the Lake II started in 2008, providing tours of the Cranberry Bog area.