This former youth camp and National Park Visitor Center turned special event venue has rustic charm and earthy elegance to spare. Breathtaking views of Ohio’s National Park woodlands, rock outcroppings, and hiking trails provide an excellent backdrop to mark your special day. To ensure all aspects of your day are covered, our guest services team will help you plan your event and be with you on your special day. For the convenience of your guests, Happy Days Lodge is located only 30 minutes from Cleveland and Akron.
Our 4,000 square-foot Great Hall and breezy screened-in porch—all surrounded by a rolling meadow—provide the ideal setting for a memorable wedding. This unique venue, built in the 1930’s by the Civilian Conservation Corps, is on the national register of historic places and is a gorgeous example of a wormy chestnut and sandstone structure. The Great Hall can host up to 200 guests for a seated dinner.
Please contact our Sales Manager for more information on our facilities, services offered, and to schedule a tour!
Cierra Kitts
Sales Manager
ckitts@forcvnp.org
Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park
1403 West Hines Hill Road | Peninsula Ohio 44264
Cell: (234) 223 - 6534 Office: (330) 657 - 2909 ext 130.
Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park Reviews
Kimberly Gosciak(bride)5 out of 5 Rating Wedding Date 14-10-2022 We held our wedding at Happy Days Lodge in Peninsula! The lodge was beautiful and provided the perfect vibe we had in mind. Our ceremony was on the screened porch area and could not have been more beautiful with the peak fall colors in the background. We had a great experience with every person who worked with us from planning the hall set-up to our bar package. The day ran smoothly from start to finish! We did not have to worry about anything on our day. Everything was taken care of! We love to hike in Cuyahoga Valley so being able to get married there meant a lot to us! LGBTQ friendly staff made us feel so special and we had a perfect day. Reviewed on 10-01-2023
Angela Jett(bride)5 out of 5 Rating Wedding Date 29-05-2022 Our wedding being at Happy Days Lodge was one of our best decisions we made during our wedding process. The staff are easy to communicate with, the prices are reasonable & the lodge is so stunning you won't need much decor. We can't thank them enough for making our wedding so special! Reviewed on 09-08-2022
Andrea D(bride)5 out of 5 Rating Wedding Date 20-03-2021 Happy Days Lodge and the staff who work at the Conservancy were amazing for our wedding. The venue is gorgeous as is and also allows for you to bring in your own decor to customize the space. Staff is extremely friendly, courteous, and made the wedding day itself absolutely wonderful! Reviewed on 05-04-2021
Katrina Peters(bride)5 out of 5 Rating Wedding Date 06-11-2020 We loved having our wedding reception at the Conservancy! What is not to love about Happy Days Lodge? It will feel so special, especially if you love the outdoors like us. The venue is absolutely stunning. You don't need much to add to decor. It was perfect for our fall wedding.The girls who work there are great. Everyone who worked with us was calm and professional. When COVID hit, communication was very open and we were pretty shocked to see they were offering full refunds if our plans had to change. It really took the stress out of pandemic planning with their attention to detail and safety measures. We were provided with informative open houses and layout plans to adjust to guidelines. Overall, the only thing we can really negatively say revolves around price. This place isn't cheap, but we would rather have our money go to the CVNP than to a golf course or something. There are preferred caterers to hire, and they are all required to be full service (that turned out to be a nice thing though, truly). Also, we had multiple changes to plans with the bar and alcohol cost. I won't get into details, because I think this was all attributed to COVID related stress on the conservancy, though.Overall, we loved having our wedding here. We truly recommend it. It helped make our day perfect and we could not imagine having had it anywhere else. Reviewed on 26-12-2020
Jensen Hanna(bride)5 out of 5 Rating Wedding Date 02-09-2018 Booking Happy Days Lodge as our venue was the first decision (and one of the best) we made in the wedding planning process. CVNP served as a beautiful back drop for our big day, and the lodge had plenty of space for our guests. The staff was accommodating through the process and on event day. Definitely check out this space. We fell in love with it! Reviewed on 30-10-2018
Deirdre Murphy(bride)5 out of 5 Rating
We just had our ceremony and reception at Hines Hills. This is such a hidden gem! The location is absolutely beautiful! If you’re looking for an outdoor venue, this can’t be beat. Our wedding theme was rustic elegance and this was the perfect place to fulfill our vision! One thing we really loved about Hines was that you have the venue space on both Friday and Saturday. We had a “Family Fun Day” with all of the wedding party, children, and a lot of our wedding guests. It was nice for both sides of the family to meet and for out of town guests to get settled in before the big day. We also took advantage of everyone’s help and did a lot of our own set up that day! We were blessed and had the most perfect weather. There are buildings for a rain plan, however, it would be a tighter squeeze for anything over 100. Katie was easy to work with and very responsive to all my emails and texts! I would definitely recommend going with one of their preferred vendors who know the area, have worked at the venue before, and know the rules. Reviewed on 08-08-2018
Erica Pence(bride)4 out of 5 Rating Wedding Date 07-07-2018 The venue for Hines Hill worked beautifully! Our guests loved the option to spread out and play lawn games or sit by the fire. All of the companies we worked with were familiar with the staff and the rules of the park which was also helpful. We did, however, stop hearing from the coordinator as the wedding became closer. Up until that point, the staff was very responsive and helpful. Reviewed on 03-08-2018
Nicole McCusker(bride)5 out of 5 Rating Wedding Date 18-05-2018 We had our wedding and reception at Happy Days Lodge this past May. I could not have been happier with our choice of venue. We decided a few months prior to have our ceremony on the screened-in porch (which is absolutely gorgeous) because I did not want to worry about rain. It gave us the exact same rustic outdoorsy feel of being outside. Kayla was an absolutely pleasure to work with! She was very prompt in answering all of my questions and concerns. She was wonderful, and I highly recommend this venue to anyone that wants a rustic themed wedding! Reviewed on 13-06-2018
Lauren Hiengphothichack(bride)5 out of 5 Rating Wedding Date 03-05-2019 We had a winter wedding at the Happy Days Lodge and we loved it. We love the National Parks so getting married in one was perfect for us. The space is great and the staff helpful and cool. We rented a heater for the screened in porch, had the ceremony there and then reception in the heated hall. We barely did any decorating because the place is already so beautiful! Reviewed on 03-03-2018
Julia Port(bride)5 out of 5 Rating Wedding Date 06-01-2018 I got married on January 6 and we held our reception at Happy Days Lodge. It was absolutely the most perfect wedding. Every detail was made possible because of how well the Lodge is run. First, Kayla is incredible. She was so flexible with me and allowed me to go into the lodge numerous times for planning purposes. She answered every question and worked with me as I changed the table set up multiple times and did things different than most brides have done there. The lodge itself is so flexible. We looked at many venues in different price categories and Happy Days was not only the most affordable, but also the most \"workable.\" The space is a masterpiece just waiting for creativity to take its part in making it perfect. The venue allows candles which is huge! (as long as they're in glass votives.) They allow you to hang things from the ceiling (if you bring your own ladder), and actually the gorgeous stick and branch canopies we made with lights and crystals are still at the lodge for anyones use, just ask them about it! And can we talk about how its impossible to find a venue with long tables?! Well, Happy Days has them!! If you are looking to use table runners made of full and beautiful greenery this place allows that! Which is another huge bonus! We also had a fire going and it just added to the romance and ambiance. It was negative 10 degree win chill on our wedding day and the walk from the parking lot under the tunnel to the lodge wasn't an issue at all, no one complained about it. The screened in porch was marvelously heated with a propane heater that we rented, and the lodge was warm also! I would do my wedding a thousand times over the exact same way it was done, the exact same place, at the beloved Happy Days Lodge which holds such a special dear place in our hearts now! Reviewed on 26-02-2018
Amanda Williams(bride)5 out of 5 Rating Wedding Date 08-10-2017 We got married recently at Happy Days Lodge and it could not have been a more perfect venue for us! It's rustic without being *too* rustic, historical, and set within beautiful Cuyahoga Valley National Park. And we loved that we could have both the ceremony and reception at one venue. There was a change in the guest services staff leading up to our wedding, but I only have good things to say about working with the staff at Happy Days! Everything went smoothly, and they were easy to communicate with. Reviewed on 18-10-2017
Caitlin O'Connor(bride)5 out of 5 Rating Wedding Date 02-09-2017 We got married at Hines Hill Conference Center on September 2, 2017. Katie was absolutely phenomenal to work with and made everything go so smoothly! Our guests have been raving about how beautiful it was. Even with a little rain, our guests still had fun and Katie made sure we were more than ready for a rain back up plan. I couldn't have imagined it going better and Hines Hill is really a gorgeous venue! Reviewed on 05-09-2017
Laurel T(bride)4 out of 5 Rating Wedding Date 17-04-2017 We had our reception at the Virginia Kendall Lodges Shelter. The speace felt cozy and intimate, which is exactly what we were looking for. It's a rustic venue that speaks for itself mostly. It is set in the park so there was plenty of room for kids to run outside or adults to take a quiet hike. We didn't want everyone to feel like they had to stay in the shelter. We only added a few decoration details that really took to a classy rustic wedding reception. The only bad thing I might say, and it is not a knock against the venue itself but really the people at the park is it is a public park so some people who were interested in what was going on would venture in not realizing it was a private party. Since it is also a locked facility and the park doesn't have the staff to come and let you see it, you kind of have to peek through windows before and have an eye and mind for space planning. It all came together beautifully for us, but admittedly I was worried with not really having been IN the space beforehand. Reviewed on 13-05-2017
Katie Woodling(bride)5 out of 5 Rating Wedding Date 29-05-2016 Our wedding was absolutely incredible at Happy Days Lodge. As another reviewer mentioned, there was a lot of turn over in staff in the months prior to the wedding, but this didn't really effect much for us. We came and saw the venue multiple times, had good response time on questions asked via email, and my mom attended several of the bridal shows they had there. Brittany Filko did a great job, she helped coordinate the vendors in the hours prior to the ceremony, and pretty much kept to herself throughout the rest of the night unless someone had question. We would absolutely recommend this venue to anyone! -Katie & Andy Reviewed on 19-06-2016
Courtney Bryant(bride)3 out of 5 Rating Wedding Date 08-01-2016 \rGetting married at Happy Days Lodge was so beautiful! We loved the venue and it made for an awesome wedding. However, there have been a lot of staff changes there and who we originally started working with when we booked the venue, but many people changed and left throughout the process. On the day of the wedding, a few things went wrong and the team at Happy Days refused to take any responsibility for the errors. Additionally, the staff who was there the night of the wedding were not helpful and seemed very uninformed on how to control things. We are disappointed because we were very excited about the venue and getting married there, but unfortunately we did not enjoy the experience with the staff. I would not recommend this venue to people with the current staff there. Reviewed on 27-01-2016
Laureen T(bride)5 out of 5 Rating Wedding Date 21-09-2014 We were on a very tight budget and only looked at CVNP because we go hiking here. It was the BEST decision we made for the ENTIRE wedding. We had our wedding at Happy Days Lodge in September.\r\rThe ceremony was on the screened in porch because it was a bit too muddy outside. However, this did not ruin anything. The porch may have even been better. The breeze felt like we were outside yet we were protected from the sun. It was beautiful. The main room was more than perfect. It was spacious yet not empty.\r\rBrittany is the most amazing person we dealt with for our wedding. She is very prompt at returning calls or emails and answers every question and concern. She had no problem changing plans up to the day of the event and the setup and running of the event was perfectly smooth. She helped plan where the buffet table would be, where the bar would be, the DJ, the head table, the guests, everything. And all her suggestions were amazing. I don't think we can ever say enough good things about her. She made our day excellent.\r\rThe other staff were great too. As I was waiting for the ceremony to start, I had some nerves. I was alone in the room, everyone else standing outside. They talked to me, gave me some water, and assured me everything was great in the other room. And they were right. Everyone was simply wonderful.\r\rThe building itself does NOT have to be or feel rustic. We went for a casual fall-themed wedding and succeeded. No one said it looked rustic - which is good because that is not what we were going for. However, you can play up the rustic if you want. Reviewed on 25-09-2014
Lauren Saito(bride)5 out of 5 Rating Wedding Date 03-05-2014 We had a spring wedding at Happy Days Lodge. It is literally the perfect rustic venue. (Not too rustic though - the temperature was very comfortable the whole time!) There are ample photo ops around the venue, including a big green field and a nice underground tunnel. Finally, the wedding coordinator (Brittany) was more than helpful during the whole process! She answered all of our questions, let us visit multiple times prior to the wedding, and was extremely pleasant. LOVED her and the venue! Reviewed on 31-05-2014
17 Reviews, with a Rating of 4.76 out of 5.0
Contact Info for Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park
Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park on the map
Meet the Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park Team
Cierra Kitts (Manager)
I have helped so many couples make their dream become a reality andlook forward to helping you. Please reach out with any questions youmay have. I look forward to potentially meeting you on a tour or atone of our monthly open houses!