Milan Travel Park on U. S. 250

A recent view of the main building of the Milan Travel Park on U. S. 250 near Milan

I’ve driven by Milan Travel Park (shown above) on U. S. 250 near Milan for years, originally mistaking the campground for an RV store. That’s because there were usually RVs parked in front of the main building, and you couldn’t see the park from the highway anyway.

That’s why it was interesting to see the 1970s postcard below on Ebay recently. The postcard shows the campground when it was known as Holiday Trav-L-Park. Back then it had a little breathing room around it – as opposed to now, when it is crowded by motels.

Here’s another vintage postcard view of the campground.

The back of the postcard reads, “HOLIDAY TRAV-L-PARK. Clean – Friendly – Family Fun. Ohio Turnpike at Exit 7. Swimming Pool, Propane, Convenience Store, Laundry, Playground, Horseshoes. Near Cedar Point, Many Historical Sites, Lake Erie and Islands. One and a half hours from Sea World.”

Actually, the campground has an interesting history. It was originally connected with one of the best known names in the lodging business: Holiday Inn.

Although it may be hard to believe, at one time the motel chain had its own chain of campgrounds, known as Holiday Inn Trav-L-Parks®. This Holiday Inn wiki page indicates that franchising began in the 1960s.

It was a good idea to try and get some business from travelers that rarely stayed in motels and preferred the great outdoors instead. Holiday Inn positioned the campgrounds as resorts where campers could relax in comfort and not ‘rough it’ too much.

Here are some early advertisements.

There were a lot of Holiday Inn Trav-L-Parks around the country, judging from the various postcards and brochures found on Ebay. Locations were carefully selected to be near popular tourist destinations, including Las Vegas, Wisconsin Dells, Nashville, Myrtle Beach, Jamestown, Virginia Beach and of course, Sandusky. There seemed to be the most Trav-L-Parks in Florida.

As you can see, the chain had its own mascot, “Charlie Chipmunk,” who looks like a cousin to Disney's Chip ’n Dale. The cute critter was even featured in his own coloring book.

At some point, however, Holiday Inn decided to spin off the campground business, resulting in the truncated name, “Holiday Trav-L-Park” for the remaining parks, such as the one on U. S. 250. “Holiday Trav-L-Park” still seems to exist as a brand.

A few of the campgrounds became affiliated with the K.O.A. campground chain.

Anyway, today the Milan Travel Park is for sale. It’s got some pretty nice online reviews, so hopefully a new owner can be found.

A recent view of the park entrance

Aerial view of the park today (Courtesy Google Maps)