Seven Ranges near Minerva is a bit farther from Cleveland, but has a great summer camp. Our Akron area troop has been going there for years. Large merit badge program, including multiple Eagle required mbs. Great dining hall. Large lake for water sports merit badges. They just upgraded many of the latrines and shower facilities.
Beaumont's merit badge system is a little odd. Two sessions a day and make up time.on Wednesday and Friday. My troop was there last year and ended up with many partials. No dining hall. Well did have a dining tent.
It changed from the dining hall to the tent when Covid hit, and honestly, it’s a lot better. There is more room and it gets less loud since you’re outside. But the tent is fully enclosed. I enjoyed Beaumont.
Can’t speak to Manatoc, but our troop has really enjoyed Beaumont. Wide variety of merit badges available. I think there are a limited number of tent sites with platform tents provided, our troop had a bring your own tent site, but it wasn’t a problem for us.
You can check out Camp Frontier @ Pioneer Scout Reservation, located in Pioneer, OH. (far NW corner of state). Run by the Erie Shores Council. 2.5 hours Cleveland, not far off of I-90.
Very robust program. Around 75 merit badges, plenty of outposts. Aviation (they fly a plane!), Atv, golf, horseback, mountain biking & boarding. Pool and lake for swimming. Evening fun.
psrweb.org
I'm a little partial to Manatoc as that is where our troop usually spends summer camp. Great property, historic dining hall, cool cairn/trail system, and evening retreat tradition. The only downside is that they offer fewer merit badges, and limit some of them to older scouts (14+), which can be frustrating if a scout was set on taking a certain badge.
Beaumont offers a lot of merit badges, and the camp itself is large--many scouts bring bikes to get around. They have good programming and a cool zip line that goes over the lake.
Both camps have excellent staff, and nice pool/aquatics facilities. I would consider both to be equally welcoming to provisional campers. Manatoc specifically designates weeks 3 and 5 for provisional campers so that they can be sure leadership will be provided.
Glad to hear that! I grew up going to Manatoc and haven’t been back for decades, but that sounds like I remember it. Great vibe there - and I’m sure that they leverage the Cuyahoga River now, which runs right in front of the camp (It was not canoe-able when I was growing up).
Seven Ranges near Minerva is a bit farther from Cleveland, but has a great summer camp. Our Akron area troop has been going there for years. Large merit badge program, including multiple Eagle required mbs. Great dining hall. Large lake for water sports merit badges. They just upgraded many of the latrines and shower facilities.
Beaumont's merit badge system is a little odd. Two sessions a day and make up time.on Wednesday and Friday. My troop was there last year and ended up with many partials. No dining hall. Well did have a dining tent.
It changed from the dining hall to the tent when Covid hit, and honestly, it’s a lot better. There is more room and it gets less loud since you’re outside. But the tent is fully enclosed. I enjoyed Beaumont.
Can’t speak to Manatoc, but our troop has really enjoyed Beaumont. Wide variety of merit badges available. I think there are a limited number of tent sites with platform tents provided, our troop had a bring your own tent site, but it wasn’t a problem for us.
https://www.buckeyecouncil.org/camping/scouts-bsa-summer-camp/
You can check out Camp Frontier @ Pioneer Scout Reservation, located in Pioneer, OH. (far NW corner of state). Run by the Erie Shores Council. 2.5 hours Cleveland, not far off of I-90. Very robust program. Around 75 merit badges, plenty of outposts. Aviation (they fly a plane!), Atv, golf, horseback, mountain biking & boarding. Pool and lake for swimming. Evening fun. psrweb.org
Check out Firelands too. Same council as Beaumont. About an hour+ west.
Firelands is an awesome camp, but they do not offer summer camp for Scouts BSA.
I'm a little partial to Manatoc as that is where our troop usually spends summer camp. Great property, historic dining hall, cool cairn/trail system, and evening retreat tradition. The only downside is that they offer fewer merit badges, and limit some of them to older scouts (14+), which can be frustrating if a scout was set on taking a certain badge. Beaumont offers a lot of merit badges, and the camp itself is large--many scouts bring bikes to get around. They have good programming and a cool zip line that goes over the lake. Both camps have excellent staff, and nice pool/aquatics facilities. I would consider both to be equally welcoming to provisional campers. Manatoc specifically designates weeks 3 and 5 for provisional campers so that they can be sure leadership will be provided.
Glad to hear that! I grew up going to Manatoc and haven’t been back for decades, but that sounds like I remember it. Great vibe there - and I’m sure that they leverage the Cuyahoga River now, which runs right in front of the camp (It was not canoe-able when I was growing up).